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Sky here with another episode of the History and Plug podcast.

Was Napoleon right when he said that the policies of all powers are inherent in their geography?

Did he mean that geography is destiny, and for example, Britain couldn't help but be a naval power

because it surrounded on all sides by water and had to build a strong navy to expand.

Likewise, the only viable form of government in Russia is autocracy, because when you have people on such a large landmass so far flung from one another,

that the only way to hold it all together is through an iron fist.

This question of geographic determinism that the nature of a state, the nature of its people, is directly

tied to its geography, is an idea that goes back to ancient Greece, to eratosthenes, was repeated

by political theorists like Eben Caldoun, who said that the climate zone one lives in determines

his temperament, and some would argue can be found in Jared Diamond's book Gunn's Germs

and Seal that explains why technology developed in

Eurasia, not as much in North and South America. The historians don't argue along these geographic

deterministic lines anymore, but maybe the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction where we

completely write it out. How do we strike a balance between the two? To explore this question,

we're joined by today's guest, Paul Richardson, author of the book Myths of Geography.

We look at all these questions and see how nations aren't defined by their geography, but

rather have invented their geography to justify themselves.

Hope you enjoy this discussion.

And one more thing before we get started with this episode, a quick break for a word from our sponsors.

History tells us that there have been only two fiat currencies over the last 200 years,

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