If the geographical environment is properly used, it is often possible to win more with less and win the strong with weakness; However, the impact on the geographical environment is underestimated or misused, and even the superior army may suffer setbacks or even fail. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty in China, Cao Cao defeated Chibi, and French Napoleon I was defeated by Russia. Unfavorable geographical factors are one of the important reasons. Therefore, it is very important for military commanders to fully understand the restriction and influence of geographical environment on military strategy and combat operations, and skillfully use it in actual combat to achieve advantages and avoid disadvantages, strengths and weaknesses.
Military geography is the product of human war practice and develops with the development of war. China is earlier than other countries in military geography research. In ancient times, military geography appeared as a part of the art of war. Sun Tzu's Art of War focuses on the role and influence of natural geography and human geography in war, which becomes the beginning of studying military geography.
During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang proposed "Longzhong Dui" to assist Liguo Liu in questioning Liu Bei in Longzhong, which was an example of analyzing the military geographical situation and grasping the overall strategic situation. Gu Zuyu's Summary of Reading History and Geography in the Late Ming and Early Qing Dynasties focuses on the main administrative divisions of the Ming Dynasty, focusing on the influence of the geographical situation of various fortress areas on the use of troops in history. It is a famous historical geography work in the history of China, with strong military geography characteristics. In addition, Gu's Annals of Diseases in Counties and Countries in the World and Shi's Location of Military Strategists also contain rich military geography contents.
/kloc-in the 0/9th century, due to the development of social economy and the progress of science and technology, weapons such as machine guns and muskets appeared one after another, and the scale and scope of the war expanded. In order to meet the needs of combat, military geography has developed rapidly. Russia, Germany, France, Italy, Britain and other countries have published theoretical works on military geography, and military geography has become a specialized subject.
/kloc-At the end of 0/9 and the beginning of the 20th century, German geographer Laaser, Swedish political scientist Kieron and British geographer Mackinder put forward theories such as "geographical environment determinism" and "continental heart theory", and their views once became the theoretical basis of military geography. After the First World War, Haushofer's Geopolitics proposed that a country's living space should be continuously expanded with the development of its strength, and advocated that Germany should recover its lost colonies and even incorporate most of Europe into its "living space", thus creating a theoretical basis for Hitler's policy of aggression and expansion.
In the process of leading China's revolutionary war, Mao Zedong was good at determining the revolutionary strategic policy according to China's military, political, economic and geographical characteristics. In the struggle to select, establish and develop revolutionary base areas, we can make full use of various favorable geographical conditions for strategic decision-making and campaign command. After the founding of New China, the research and teaching of military geography were carried out in military academies, and various military geography materials were compiled by military leading organs.