Greenland!

President Donald Trump’s comments about purchasing Greenland are neither a new nor a far-fetched idea.  They stem from a combination of strategic & economic considerations to wit:  Greenland’s location in the Arctic makes it a critical asset for national security. The island hosts the U.S. Space Force Pituffik Space Base (formerly Thule Air Force Base), which plays a vital role in missile detection and space surveillance.  Control over Greenland would enhance the U.S.’s ability to monitor and respond to activities in the Arctic region, especially amid increasing Russian and Chinese interests

Greenland is also rich in natural resources, including rare earth minerals essential for modern technologies.  As global demand for these minerals grows, securing access could reduce U.S. dependence on other suppliers, particularly China.  But interest in Greenland is nothing new.  In 1868, Secretary of State William Seward went on a territory-shopping spree.  A year earlier, Seward had negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million.  And if Seward’s acquisition of Alaska hadn’t been branded a “folly”  he may have gotten his wish to add Greenland (and Iceland) to an expanding United States of America.

The United States has had a longstanding interest in Greenland, however, if Alaska was considered terra incognita to Americans in the mid-19th century, even less was known about Greenland.  But there was a degree of excitement about Greenland. and as he had done with Alaska, Seward promoted Greenland as a land of nearly inexhaustible natural resources that would be easily and economically mined and close to good harbors.  However, the purchase of Alaska was being actively mocked in newspapers as “Seward’s Folly,” “Seward’s Icebox” and “Andrew Johnson’s Polar Bear Garden,” and it would be decades before the Yukon gold rush proved Alaska’s value.  Consequently, congress and the American public had no appetite for another frozen territory, and Seward’s proposed purchase of Greenland fizzled.

In the early 20th century, other schemes were in the works to acquire Greenland including a deal to acquire it via a three-way trade. This proposal, engineered by the U.S. ambassador to Denmark, wasn’t for America to buy Greenland, but to acquire it through an elaborate three-way trade that included Germany, Denmark and the U.S., but no action was ever taken on the Greenland swap.

~ World War II ~

Even though Denmark was a neutral country Hitler invaded in 1940 and placed it under Nazi occupation.  And since Denmark still ruled Greenland, there was great concern in the U.S. that Germany would invade Greenland too, giving the Nazis a North American base of operations.  To preclude this eventuality, in 1941, the U.S. entered into the Defense of Greenland Treaty that made the U.S. responsible for Greenland’s defense during the war and gave the U.S. military the right to build any necessary facilities to land its planes.  Meanwhile, Greenland proved such a strategic asset during World War II that there was great interest at the top levels of government in buying the island from Denmark and the idea of paying Denmark $100 million in gold in exchange for all of Greenland was rejected by the Danes.

~ The Cold War ~

Shortly after the end of World War II Greenland was at the geographic midpoint between the United States and the Soviet Union.  “If there is a third war,” declared General H.H. “Hap” Arnold, “its strategic center will be the north pole.”  So, instead of exiting Greenland after WWII the U.S. signed a new treaty with Denmark in 1951 that gave the American military even more latitude to use Greenland as its base of arctic operations.  And under the code name “Blue Jay” the U.S. built a massive air base on the Northwest coast of Greenland.

The construction of the Thule Air Base between 1951 and 1953 has been compared to the Panama Canal in terms of its difficulty and complexity, requiring 12,000 workers.  And at the peak of the Cold War the Thule Air Base in Greenland housed 10,000 American soldiers and airmen providing the U.S. with rapid response to Soviet nuclear threats, since American bombers taking off from Thule could reach targets like Leningrad and Moscow in a matter of hours.

The U.S. even experimented with the construction of military installations underneath Greenland’s ice sheet, starting with an outpost 150 miles from Thule Air Base called Camp Century, a nuclear-powered city under the ice with a bowling alley, religious chapels, a mess hall and a library.  Camp Century (which was abandoned in 1966) was a proof-of-concept for an even more ambitious scheme called “Project Ice-worm.”  For that project, the U.S. military wanted to build a network of railroad tracks under Greenland’s ice to shuttle around nuclear missiles capable of reaching the Soviet mainland.  However, and rather thankfully for those soldiers and airmen who might have been stationed there, Project Ice worm remains on the drawing board.

Denmark granted Greenland “home rule” in 1979, meaning that Greenland operates as a sovereign nation, however Denmark remains involved in its defense and in its foreign affairs.  It’s going to be interesting to see what transpires in the Arctic Circle these next few years.