Karl Haushofer facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Karl Haushofer
Major General Karl Haushofer, c. 1920
Birth name	Karl Ernst Haushofer
Born	(1869-08-27)27 August 1869 Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria
Died	10 March 1946(1946-03-10) (aged 76) Pähl, Free State of Bavaria, Allied-occupied Germany
Allegiance	German Empire
Branch	Imperial German Army
Years of service	1887–1919
Rank	Major general
Spouse(s)	Martha Mayer-Doss ​ ​ (m. 1896; died 1946)​
Children	Albrecht Haushofer
Other work	Professor at University of Munich

Karl Haushofer was a German general, professor, and geographer. He lived from 1869 to 1946. His ideas, especially about "Geopolitik," greatly influenced Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Geopolitik was a way of thinking about how geography affects a country's power.

Haushofer taught Rudolf Hess, who was a close friend of Hitler. He even visited them in prison. Haushofer created the term Lebensraum, meaning "living space." Hitler used this idea to justify taking over other countries.

Even though Haushofer influenced the Nazis, his own family faced problems. His wife was partly Jewish, which meant she and their children were considered "Mischlinge" (mixed-race) under Nazi laws. His son, Albrecht Haushofer, was later arrested and killed for being involved in a plot to stop Hitler.

Early Life and Career

Karl Haushofer was born in Munich, Germany, in 1869. His father was a well-known professor and writer. In 1887, Haushofer joined the Bavarian Army. He studied at military schools and became a teacher at the Bavarian War Academy.

In 1896, he married Martha Mayer-Doss. Her father was Jewish. They had two sons, Albrecht Haushofer and Heinz Haushofer.

Travels and Studies

In 1908, Haushofer went to Tokyo, Japan, as a military expert. He studied the Imperial Japanese Army and advised on artillery. He traveled with his wife through India and Southeast Asia. They met important people in Japan.

After returning to Germany in 1910, Haushofer became ill. During his recovery, he studied for his doctorate of philosophy at Munich University. His thesis was about Japan's military strength and future. He became a leading expert on the Far East.

Haushofer also helped start a monthly magazine called Zeitschrift für Geopolitik. He co-edited this magazine until World War II ended.

World War I and Its Impact

Haushofer continued his military career in Imperial Germany. He taught War History at the Military Academy in Munich. During World War I, he led a brigade on the Western Front.

The war made Haushofer feel strongly against the United States. He also developed strong anti-Jewish feelings. He believed Germany needed a powerful leader to solve its problems.

After leaving the army in 1919 as a major general, Haushofer became friends with Rudolf Hess. Hess later became a top leader in the Nazi Party, second only to Hitler. In 1919, Haushofer became a professor of political geography at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Geopolitik and Hitler's Rise

Haushofer joined the university to help Germany recover after World War I. He thought Germany lost the war because it lacked geographical knowledge. He combined geography, history, economics, and politics into a new field called Geopolitik.

Haushofer believed that a country was like a living thing. It needed "room to live," or Lebensraum, to grow. This idea was later used by Hitler and the Nazi Party to justify taking over other lands.

Teaching Hitler and Hess

In 1923, Hitler was jailed after a failed attempt to take power. Rudolf Hess joined him in prison. Haushofer visited them often, teaching them about politics and his ideas.

Historians say Haushofer's teaching greatly influenced Hitler. His son, Albrecht, noted that his father's status as a general and professor gave his ideas much weight.

From 1925 to 1939, Haushofer gave monthly radio talks about world politics. This made him well-known across Germany. He also wrote many articles and books, especially on Asian topics. He made sure Nazi leaders received copies of his works.

Influence and Decline

After the Nazis came to power, Haushofer remained friends with Hess. Hess helped protect Haushofer's wife from the strict Nazi racial laws because she was partly Jewish. Haushofer also helped link Japan to the Axis powers before the war.

Haushofer became very influential under Hitler's rule. However, his influence dropped sharply after Rudolf Hess flew to Scotland in 1941. Hess was removed from the Nazi Party. The Haushofer family, with their Jewish background and ties to Hess, came under suspicion.

In 1944, Haushofer's son, Albrecht Haushofer, was involved in a plot to kill Hitler. Karl Haushofer was arrested and held in Dachau concentration camp for a month before being released.

Albrecht was arrested in December 1944. Karl wrote a letter to Hitler asking for mercy for his son, but he never sent it. On April 22–23, 1945, just days before the war ended, Albrecht and other prisoners were shot by the SS. Albrecht had written poems in prison, which were later published as The Moabit Sonnets. In one poem, he criticized his father for helping to unleash the Nazis' brutality.

Karl Haushofer was heartbroken by his son's death. Even after all this, he continued to blame "New York's finance Jews" for the destruction of Munich.

Geopolitics Explained

Haushofer developed Geopolitik from many sources. These included ideas from other geographers and thinkers.

Geopolitik influenced Nazi foreign policy, especially the idea of Lebensraum. It added five main ideas to German foreign policy:

• The state as a living thing (organic state).
• The need for "living space" (Lebensraum).
• Self-sufficiency (autarky).
• Large regions of influence (pan-regions).
• The difference between land power and sea power.

Haushofer's Geopolitik was both descriptive and gave advice for national policy. It saw the national interest in a very simple way. It presented itself as a cure-all for Germany's problems after World War I.

Haushofer used his position at the University of Munich to spread his ideas. In 1922, he founded the Institute of Geopolitics. His ideas became more popular with the book Volk ohne Raum (People without Space) in 1926. Haushofer taught his students to think about continents and movement in world politics. While Hitler's speeches attracted crowds, Haushofer's writings influenced thinkers.

Key Ideas of Geopolitik

Geopolitik took older ideas and gave them a scientific look:

• Lebensraum was a new form of taking over colonies.
• Autarky was a new way of protecting local industries.
• Controlling key areas was like controlling important canals.
• Pan-regions divided the world into areas of influence, similar to the British Empire or the American Monroe Doctrine.
• Borders were seen as flexible, based on the needs of ethnic groups.

The main change was focusing on land-based empires instead of naval empires.

Haushofer's ideas built on those of other thinkers. He believed a state was like an organism that needed to grow. He justified taking over other nations for a state's growth.

Haushofer defined Geopolitik as "the duty to protect the right to land." This meant not just land within Germany's borders, but also areas where German people and culture lived. He believed culture helped a country expand safely. He even thought cities showed a nation's decline, as it lost control over its land.

For Haushofer, a state's survival depended on living space. Germany had many people in a small area. Older colonial powers had fewer people in larger areas. This, he thought, gave Germany a reason to expand into resource-rich areas. He also believed small states were a sign of disorder. He felt these small states around Germany should join a larger German order.

Haushofer's idea of autarky meant that the earth would eventually have too many people to feed. He thought there would be no more increases in food production.

Haushofer's school of Geopolitik wanted a "New European Order." Then, they wanted a "New Afro-European Order," and finally a "Eurasian Order." This idea was called a pan-region, inspired by the American Monroe Doctrine. It was about countries being self-sufficient within large regions.

Haushofer also supported the Heartland Theory by Halford Mackinder. This theory suggested that if Germany controlled Eastern Europe and Russia, it could control a key area safe from sea power. Teaming up with Italy and Japan would further strengthen Germany's control over Eurasia.

Relationship with Nazi Leaders

Historians disagree on how much Haushofer influenced Hitler. Some say his influence was greater than he admitted. Others say Hitler used Haushofer's ideas but changed them to fit his own goals. Haushofer claimed Hitler never fully understood Geopolitik.

Most writers agree that Haushofer gave Hitler and the Nazis intellectual support. He provided them with ideas and words to justify their war and terror.

Haushofer went on many propaganda missions with Hess. He also took part in talks between Nazis and Japanese leaders. However, he claimed that Hitler and the Nazis only used parts of his ideas. He said they often misunderstood them. Haushofer believed only Hess and Konstantin von Neurath, the German Foreign Minister, truly understood Geopolitik.

Father Edmund A. Walsh, a professor who interviewed Haushofer after the war, disagreed. He believed Hitler's speeches and the Nazis' use of Haushofer's maps and language showed his ideas were indeed used. Even if distorted, Walsh felt it was enough to link Haushofer's Geopolitik to Nazi war crimes.

There have been many unproven claims about Haushofer. Some said he was a student of a mystic named George Gurdjieff. Others claimed he was part of secret societies like the Vril Society or the Thule Society. There were also rumors that he helped write Mein Kampf or that he was Hess's father. Historians dismiss these as "rumors."

Haushofer denied helping Hitler write Mein Kampf. He said he only knew about it after it was published and never read it. However, scholars have found that new ideas appeared in Mein Kampf after Haushofer taught Hitler. These included ideas about Lebensraum, defense, natural borders, and balancing land and sea power.

Haushofer was never a member of the Nazi Party. He sometimes disagreed with the party. He was suspected because he had contacts with some socialist figures within the Nazi movement. He also supported an alliance between Germany and Russia. Haushofer did express loyalty to Hitler and made anti-Jewish comments. However, he focused more on land and space than on race. He believed in environmental factors over racial ones. He claimed that after 1933, his writings were often changed under pressure. This was because his wife needed protection due to her Jewish background.

The influence of Haushofer on Nazi ideas is shown in the 1943 documentary film, Plan for Destruction.

Works

• The Japanese Empire in its Geographical Development. 1921.
• Geopolitics of the Pacific Ocean. 1925.
• Building Blocks for Geopolitics. 1928.
• World Politics Today. 1934.
• Napoleon I.. 1935.
• Kitchener. 1935.
• Foch. 1935
• World Seas and World Powers. 1937.
• German Cultural Policy in the Indo-Pacific Region. 1939.
• Geopolitical Foundations. 1939.
• Borders in their Geographical and Political Meaning. 1939.
• Military Geopolitics: Geographical Foundations of Military Science. 1941.
• Japan Builds its Empire. 1941.
• The Becoming of the German People: From the Diversity of Tribes to the Unity of the Nation. 1941.
• The Continental Block: Central Europe, Eurasia, Japan. 1941.
• The Reich: Greater German Becoming in the Occident. 1943.
• On Geopolitics. 1986.
• English Translation and Analysis of Major General Karl Ernst Haushofer's Geopolitics of the Pacific Ocean. 2002.

See also

In Spanish: Karl Haushofer para niños

• Geojurisprudence
• Intermediate Region
• Alfred Pringsheim
• Nazi Ideologues, Philosophers, and Sociologists