When we think about classical geopolitics, Germany often emerges at the forefront. It was a contender for Mackinder’s Heartland Power. And it was a place where geopolitical theory was coopted by the state to justify aggressive expansion - and that tainted geopolitics as a field for some time. At the center of modern Europe, along the northern European plain, Germany has been an important playing field or element of European power relationships for centuries. The unification of the German Empire 150 years ago fundamentally altered the path of Europe and the world.