The Revenge of Geography

The book's main theme corresponds to its title. It claims that geography is a critical feature in determining social, political, economic and military outcomes of conflicts between and within nature. Kaplan appeals to a number of ideas and theories of geopoliticians and intellectuals both in the relative past and the present. The idea is that critical changes in history can be tied to the evolving relationship between populations and geography. In his brief history of historical hotspots, Kaplan covers their climates and topographies as much as anything else. For instance, Russia is both cold and mostly flat, leaving it with few warm water ports and natural barriers to invasion, making it especially insecure. This is why the Soviet Union sought to control Eastern Europe.

So the revenge of geography is the fact that whether we like it or not, geography will determine much of history...