Geography and Grand Strategy

As a limitation upon the power of states, nothing has proven to be more pervasive and enduring than geography. Indeed, when explaining the direct and indirect influence of geography upon statecraft and strategy, the terms of geographical reference can become so all-embracing that there is danger of a deterministic element creeping in to ambush the unwary.1 With particular, but not exclusive, reference to limitations upon the power of states, this chapter explores several major aspects of the influence of geography upon choice of, and performance in, grand strategy.