In World War II’s dog-eat-dog struggle for resources, a Greenland mine launched a new world order

Strategic resources have been central to the American-led global system for decades, as a historian explains. But US actions toward Greenland today are different.

By: Thomas Robertson, Macalester College, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: February 17, 2026

Words: 1,671

Last Updated: 3 weeks, 4 days ago

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By Thomas Robertson, Macalester College

On April 9, 1940, Nazi tanks stormed into Denmark. A month later, they blitzed into Belgium, Holland and France. As Americans grew increasingly rattled by the spreading threat, a surprising place became crucial to U.S. national security: the vast, ice-capped island of Greenland.

The island, a colony of Denmark’s at the time, was rich in mineral resources. The Nazi invasions left it and several other European colonies as international …

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