Articles

Danish Expert Looks Back On The Geopolitical Role Of Greenland

 

Donald Trump has reiterated his desire to buy the country and this time does not reject the use of military or economic coercion if he does not get his way. In Beijing, Moscow and several other capitals, Greenland has also risen higher on the agenda in recent years.

Greenland, the world’s largest island, is often perceived as a remote and barren icy wilderness. However, its geopolitical importance has surged in recent years, transforming it into a focal point of international politics. This shift has been driven by a combination of its strategic location, rich natural resources, and the accelerating impact of climate change. Greenland’s future holds implications for global security, trade, and environmental governance. Source: Map / telework.ro

However, this is far from the first time that Greenland has played a strategically important role on the world stage. This was also the case during both World War II and the Cold War.

But why has the cold land to the north been so important both before – and now again today?

In fact, the answer can be boiled down to three things: Location, location, location.

President-elect Donald Trump suggested that he would be interested in purchasing Greenland. Source: Donald Trump / aol.com

Historian and associate professor Rasmus Dahlberg from the Center for Arctic Studies at the Danish Defense Academy explains:

Greenland has several times been geographically right in the middle of some of the greatest events in world history. That is why the island has also several times been given an extremely important role in those events.

If we look at a typical Western world map, it is not immediately clear why Greenland's location should be so interesting to the world's great powers.

It sits a little way up at the top of the map and enjoys itself far away from everything.

But if we change our map here from being flat to being a globe for a moment…

…the importance of the country’s location suddenly becomes clear.

The large island is located right in the middle between the USA on one side – and Europe and Russia on the other.

A location that has been extremely important due to two world-historical events in particular.

World War II

Map showing the 11 southernmost Bluie bases. Source: Map / Historic landscapes

During the war, fourteen bases codenamed Bluie were built in Greenland. Bluie West One to Bluie West Nine emerged on the west coast. Bluie East One to Bluie East Five emerged on the east coast.

The United States became involved in the war after the Japanese attack on the naval port of Pearl Harbour on 7 December 1941. The United States declared war on Japan and Germany and from that moment, the bases in Greenland were actively used for the fight against Nazi Germany. The U.S. Army had 5,300 troops in Greenland by the end of 1943.

Aerial photo of Bluie West Eight, made by the U.S. Air Force on 8 September 1943. 20 x 25 cm gelatin silver print. Collection André Ruiter. Source: Historic landscapes

Bluie East Two

Bluie East Two was an airfield and weather station at Ikateq. It was used by the U.S. Air Force. The weather station began reporting from the location on 1 November 1942 and the 1,500 meter runway was completed a year later. Because of the close mountains and strong winds the airfield never played a prominent role during the war .

The base was mainly used for navigation, search-and-rescue operations and meteorology. Its garrison consisted of two to three hundred men. 

The base at Ikateq lost its strategic importance after the war and the site was abandoned in 1947. Most of the equipment was left behind. It was not until 2019 that work started on cleaning up the airfield and other sites, like the remnants of Bluie West Four at Marraq .

The rusting fuel drums of Bluie East Two had polluted the environment for decades. Cleaning up the approximately 200,000 drums and the vehicles will take years and can only be carried out during the summer months.

The Bluie East Two base in East Greenland was abandoned in 1947, and everything was left behind, including over 10,000 fuel barrels. At the time, leaded fuel was used, which is far more toxic than the fuel used today. Photograph by Ken Bower. Source: National Geographic

During the WWII the Allies needed to be able to have American bombers transported to the European battlefield on the other side of the Atlantic. A trip of over 4,000 kilometers.

But most airplanes at the time could not fly very far, and therefore needed to be able to make stopovers on the way. Greenland was perfect for that end.

The country’s location in the middle of it all made it an obvious part of a chain of stopover stations – or so-called stepping-stones. The United States was therefore very interested in making an agreement with Denmark to build air bases in Greenland. But because Denmark was occupied by the Germans, and the Danish government had a policy of collaboration with the Nazis, this was not really an option.

Therefore, the Americans instead entered into an agreement to build bases with the Danish diplomat Henrik Kauffmann, who was in Washington and who declared himself the only 'free' representative of the Kingdom of Denmark.

Henrik Kauffmann. Photo: The Copenhagen Post

In short, the agreement was that the Americans, while Denmark was occupied, would defend Greenland and keep the Greenlanders supplied with goods.

In return, the United States was allowed to build bases.

And they did so in a big way. A total of 14 different bases were built during the Second World War.

The air base in Narsarsuaq on the southern tip of Greenland was not least important. At its peak, over 4,000 Americans worked there, and it is estimated that 10,000 aircraft during the war stopped at the base en route between Europe and the United States.

An alternative to the stepping-stone strategy was to sail the planes across the Atlantic. But that was both impractical, slow – and not least extremely dangerous.

Because the Nazis' invisible death machines lurked underwater.

The German submarines were particularly eerily effective at the beginning of the war, and almost impossible to stop.

The supply routes across the Atlantic from the USA to Great Britain were particularly badly affected. Supply routes that were literally vital.

The USA was the industrial giant needed to keep Europe supplied during the war. Therefore, supplies across the Atlantic were simply a lifeline. Hitler knew that very well, explains Rasmus Dahlberg.

During the war, German submarines hit a total of around 3,000 Allied ships – with huge death tolls.

Around 1,900 Danish, Greenlandic, Faroese and Icelandic sailors also lost their lives – not least in the Atlantic.

But the losses in the Atlantic could have been much higher if the Allies had not had control of Greenland

The large island was used as part of a long defense chain that made it much more difficult for Nazi submarines and warships to even get out into the Atlantic.

The defense chain covered the 'gap' between Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom, and was therefore named 'The GIUK gap'.

Map depicting the Cold War GIUK gap. Source: Sofrep – Military Content Group

It was effectively the Germans' only way out into the Atlantic, because the English Channel was too narrow and shallow

And although the over 1,500 kilometer long stretch from Greenland to Great Britain was difficult to completely close off, the strategy was a significant success.

Among other things, the Allies' Short Sunderland aircraft were extremely effective against the German submarines.

To meet requirement R.2/33 of the Air Ministry for a general reconnaissance flying boat, Short developed the S.25 Sunderland from their famous S.23 "Empire" or "C-class" flying boat, the flagship of Imperial Airways. The S.25 first flew on 16 October 1937. All in all, 26 German U-boats were lost to Sunderland aircraft. Source: uboat.net

It was of enormous importance for the Allies' long-term ability to wage war that they could keep these convoys alive and limit their losses, says Rasmus Dahlberg.

The Allied control over Greenland was also important during World War II because of a number of small weather stations spread across the large island.

If you know the weather in Greenland, you can predict the weather in Europe with relative certainty – and thus better plan your missions.

The weather is absolutely fundamental to being able to carry out military operations. For example, the entire D-Day depended on a meteorological prediction. It was simply the case that some of the landing craft would not be able to sail if the wave height exceeded 50 centimeters, and then D-Day would have to be canceled. It is down to such a low level of practicality, explains Rasmus Dahlberg.

The Nazis were well aware of the advantage of getting weather reports from Greenland. That is why they also tried several times to set up their own secret weather stations.

However, the precursor to the Sirius patrol tried to prevent this. The patrol was then called the Northeast Greenland Sled Patrol and consisted of just over 10 men, who on several occasions tracked down and destroyed the German weather stations.

There were also occasional firefights and deaths in what was later referred to as the 'Weather War in Greenland'.  and has also been called 'the world's smallest war'.

But despite the small scale, the contribution to the final Allied victory was still significant.

Weather reports were just enormously important back then. Even for a modern military machine, it is still a very important factor, says Rasmus Dahlberg.

After World War II, the Soviet Union became the new adversary for the United States.

Two superpowers with two very different views of the world faced each other.

But not only the enemy image was new. It was also the entire way in which war was to be waged.

One invention in particular changed everything: the atomic bomb.

It was now all about the two superpowers being able to hit each other with atomic bombs, and here Greenland again played a very important role, says Rasmus Dahlberg

Again, Greenland's geographical location was of crucial importance. Because the shortest route from the central United States to the western, and most populated, part of Russia, goes right over Greenland.

Therefore, the bases in Greenland were an important part of the United States' strategy in the Cold War from the very beginning.

In the first 15 years of the Cold War, the bases' most important function was as airports – just like during World War II.

From here – right in the middle of the two superpowers – the United States could both support its own long-range nuclear-armed aircraft on their way to the Soviet Union, and also detect and defend itself against aircraft that might come the other way.

Several other American bases located in the north had the same function, and together they formed an 8,000-kilometer-long defense line called the Distant Early Warning line, or simply the D.E.W. line.

Distant Early Warning line on the map. Source: Nga.mil

This was supplemented by both aircraft and ships with radar on board.

The defense tactic roughly consisted of radar stations spotting the long-range, nuclear-armed Soviet aircraft, after which smaller aircraft - so-called interceptors - could fly up and shoot them down before they could reach the United States, explains Rasmus Dahberg

But the whole idea of ​​being able to defend itself against nuclear bombs at all quickly became obsolete.

By around 1960, both superpowers had already developed rocket technologies that made long-range bombers redundant.

Now Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles could carry nuclear warheads directly from one superpower to the other at extremely high speeds – virtually unstoppable.

Technological developments changed everything, because you could no longer defend yourself. The only option you now had was to fire again, says Rasmus Dahlberg.

And this was precisely the crux of the Cold War.

Both sides knew that if you fired first, you would almost certainly be hit yourself.

It is called Mutual Assured Destruction in English, which is very aptly abbreviated to M.A.D.

But in order to be able to fire again before you were annihilated, you had to know that the nuclear missiles were on their way.

Therefore, the bases now had a new function.

They were to use advanced radar systems to spot any Soviet nuclear missiles as early as possible.

This would give you time to be warned – and launch your counterattack.

The old radar system in the D.E.W. line was designed to spot bombers, not missiles, so a new system was developed and named the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System or simply B.M.E.W.S.

The Ballistic Missile Early Warning System located just outside Thule Air Base has the technology to detect objects as a small as a baseball in low Earth orbit. Thule Air Force Base, Greenland. Photo by Kelly McCarthy (PolarTREC 2016), Courtesy of ARCUS. Source: Media.arcus.org

With the new radar technologies, fewer bases were needed than before, as they could monitor enormously large areas.

But the base in Thule in Greenland was not closed. Its location was perfect - right between the two superpowers. That is why it continued to be a central part of the new defense system.

The radar in Greenland was truly gigantic. They say that it was so powerful that if a bird flew over it, it would fall down like a barbecue chicken, because the microwave radiation was so intense,

says Rasmus Dahlberg

With the gigantic and very northernly located radar system, the USA had a great advantage in being able to spot the Soviet missiles very early, and thus have plenty of time to launch a counterattack with its own nuclear weapons.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union of course also had similar Early Warning radar systems that could spot American nuclear missiles.

But these were typically located on the Soviet Union's outermost borders, thus giving it significantly less time to mobilize and launch its own nuclear weapons.

The two sides constantly tried to reduce the opponent's ability to be warned in good time. This was seen, among other things, when the US deployed nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey, which then prompted the Russians to deploy missiles in Cuba. It was a constant race,explains Rasmus Dahlberg.

After the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Greenland became significantly less important to the Americans, who reduced their presence in the country to an absolute minimum.

Both the US and Russia closed bases all over the world and disarmed as relations improved.

For almost a quarter of a century, few countries actually thought much about Greenland.

However, the economic, cultural and environmental traces of both the World War and the Cold War were still clear to the Greenlandic population, who had only had very little say in the international conflicts between the great powers.

A new key role?

There is much to suggest that Greenland and the Greenlandic people must prepare to once again become a pawn in the game of the great powers.

Over the past 10–15 years, the large country to the north has increasingly become on the agenda in both Washington, Beijing and Moscow.

... and, again, the attention is due to Greenland's geographical location.

This time, among other things, it is about the fact that the ice around Greenland and the Arctic has melted so much that it has become significantly easier to carry out several highly lucrative activities in the area.

Therefore, there is currently a major debate underway about who actually owns which areas in the Arctic, where the potential deposits of, for example, oil, gas and rare minerals are very large.

Estimates from the US Geological Survey USGS, for example, are that up to 13 percent of the world's undiscovered oil is found in the Arctic.

This corresponds to around 90 billion barrels, which in January 2025 has a value of around 50,000 billion Dutch kroner. 

The Northwest Passage, the Northeast Passage and the Northern Sea Route and the Transpolar Sea Route [own work]. Source: Research Gate

The melting ice also means that a number of completely new, and often noticeably shorter, international shipping routes are becoming ice-free enough to make them worthwhile.

For example, a normal shipping route from the Netherlands to Japan goes via the Southern Passage through the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal.

But by sailing via an ice-free Northeast Passage, the route is shortened by approximately 30 percent.

As recently as 2018, Danish Maersk sailed its first container ship through this particular passage.

The Venta Maersk arrives at the port of St. Petersburg on Friday, after setting out from Russia’s Pacific port city of Vladivostok. Photo: Olga Maltseva / AFP/ Getty Images 

The vast majority of the world's goods are transported by container ships internationally, and trade is a multi-billion dollar business.

This suddenly makes it understandable why the new shorter routes are attractive to a large number of countries.

A melting of the Arctic will fundamentally change world trade, and could have the same significance as the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal had in the late 1800s –  simply because the new routes will often be shorter and therefore cheaper, explains Rasmus Dahlberg.

Conflict zone Greenland?

The increased tensions in recent years between Russia, China and the USA in particular have only increased interest in the economically interesting and strategically advantageously located Greenland.

Both China, Russia, the USA and several other countries, both large and small, have really opened their eyes to Greenland and the Arctic within the past five to ten years. It is developing into an economically extremely interesting area. Therefore, there is also a risk that it could become a dangerous area from a security perspective, explains Rasmus Dahlberg.

In recent years, Russia, the United States and several other countries have also increased their military activities in the area.

Exactly where the situation in Greenland and the Arctic is heading is still unknown.

However, it is very likely that this is far from the last time that Greenland plays an important role in some of the major events in world history.

Based on: dr.dk (in Danish)

The North Observer

 
18.01.2025
 
 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *