Rolly Martin Country: War Atlas, Part 1 - The Stopping Power of Water (and Winter)

This atlas came from an antique store in Perth. It was relatively expensive, but there is considerable value in an artifact which describes its own historical era. Measuring 9 x 11 inches, the maps required 2-4 scans for each image presented below. So it would travel better along its historic journey, the atlas had been folded in half - which added to the irregularities in the paper's surface.

Maps from this atlas have illustrated a few posts in the past. However, it seemed like a good moment - as everything is so 'geo-political' these days - to share the whole thing in serialized posts.

I have inferred that the original owner purchased this atlas while posted overseas. My casual research suggests he was a company quartermaster sergeant in the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders ...

After the American Revolution, certain British military veterans were settled in eastern Ontario to help protect British North America from an invasion by the Americans. Indeed, some of these settlers fought in the War of 1812. Their regimental descendants also fought in the Rebellions of 1837-8, the Fenian Raids, the Great War, World War Two and the NATO-invoked mission in Afghanistan. They were at the amphibious operation at Normandy and experienced the phenomenon which I will describe next.

Back around the turn of the century, I read The Tragedy of Great Power Politics; John J Mearsheimer; 2001; WW Norton & Co. A few hours ago, I pulled this book from 'the stacks' and was surprised to discover that the author (whose name I had forgotten) is someone whose ideas I have recently watched on YouTube.

The most enduring idea from this book was 'the stopping power of water'. Why have the countries of Canada and the United States had the option of spending little on national defence? The stopping power of water. After the Spanish-American War, the US slipped into isolationism before the two world wars because it could afford to - it was protected. Belgium, Poland, Ukraine - for example - did not have this option, residing with other countries on the European continent. Even today, it is impossible to imagine how any conventional army could successfully invade the US from the sea.

I gave 'winter' its own stopping power, simply because readers looking at these maps will remember how Hitler and Napoleon were both defeated as their supply lines grew too long and their armies were weakened and defeated by winter ... and generally inappropriate winter clothing, inadequate food supplies and unsuitable weapons. One should never sell short the importance of quartermasters and their logistical brethren.

From Mearsheimer ...

(Some of this may sound familiar from the news.)

How do great powers go about maximizing their share of world power?

Regional hegemony - Remember that total global hegemony would bring pesky water as a limiting power.
Maximum wealth - Control as much of the world's wealth as possible.
Build a pre-eminent land power - Necessarily supported by a strong air force and navy.
Nuclear superiority - 'Why can't we use them? ...' as a US president asked in recent history.

How does a great power gain power?

War - Take what is needed - eg. oil fields.
Blackmail - 'Coercive threats and intimidation - not the actual use of force - produce the desired outcome'.
Bait and Bleed - Secretly provoke a conflict between two great powers and stay out of it.
Bloodletting - In 1941, Vice President Harry Truman thought it would be strategically beneficial to help the loser of the new German-USSR conflict - so that as many as possible would be killed on both sides. Recall that Hitler had suddenly turned on his ally in Operation Barbarossa.