Geopolitics originated from political geography. German geographer F. Laczer put forward the theory of national organism in the book "Political Geography" published in 1897, and later published a paper on the theory of living space, applying the biological concepts such as natural selection and survival of the fittest of C. R. Darwin to the growth and development of a country, thinking that a country, like an organism, has a process of prosperity and decline, and its prosperity needs to be broad. Swedish scholar R. Xie Lun accepted Ratze's thought and put forward the term geopolitics in the book "Country as a Life Form" published by 19 17. He believes that the conditions for a country to become a world power are: vast space, control over all its citizens and the right to move freely.

1904, Mackinder, a British geographer, published the article "Geographical Hub of History" and established the theory that land rights correspond to sea rights. He called the center of Eurasia the hub area, which is the hub of world politics. 19 19, Mackinder changed the concept of "hub zone" to "heart zone" of "world island" and collectively referred to Europe, Asia and Africa as "world islands". Heartland theory thinks that Eastern Europe is the center of the world island. If you control the heart, you control the world island, and if you control the world island, you control the world.

After the First World War, German scholar K. House Hoff used and distorted the theory of national organic and living space, and heartland theory of British geographer h·J· Mackinder to serve Nazi Germany's aggression and expansion. He believes that Germany lacks the necessary living space and sufficient natural resources, and advocates the redistribution of world territory. War is the only way to solve the living space. In addition, he also divided the world into several pan-regions, in which the whole of Europe, Africa and the vast areas of West Asia are regarded as pan-European regions under the influence of Germany, and Germany is the core of the pan-region. Because he linked geopolitics with A. Hitler's Third Reich, geopolitics had a bad reputation and declined for a time.

After World War II, Nicholas Speakman, an American geographer, put forward the corresponding "marginal zone" theory based on Mackinder's central zone concept. He believes that both world wars occurred in the fringe, which surpassed the heart in economy and population. Therefore, controlling the edge is the key to controlling Eurasia, and controlling Eurasia is the key to controlling the world.

1960, L.K.D Christopher proposed to restore the reputation of geopolitics as a science. Geopolitics is a medium between politics and political geography, and its research should objectively analyze the influence of natural environment on politics.