<P> Important facets of geography such as location (geography), climate, topography, and size play major roles in the ability of a nation to gain national power . Location has an important bearing on foreign policy of a nation . The relation between foreign policy and geographic location gave rise to the discipline of geopolitics . </P> <P> The presence of a water obstacle provided protection to nation states such as Great Britain, Japan, and the United States and allowed Japan to follow isolationist policies . The presence of large accessible seaboards also permitted these nations to build strong navies and expand their territories peacefully or by conquest . In contrast, Poland, with no obstacle for its powerful neighbours, even lost its independence as a nation, being partitioned among the Kingdom of Prussia, the Russian Empire, and Austria from 1795 onwards till it regained independence in 1918 . </P> <P> Climate affects the productivity of Russian agriculture as the majority of the nation is in latitudes well north of ideal latitudes for farming . Conversely, Russia's size permitted it to trade space for time during the Great Patriotic War . </P>

National resources in india as an elements of national power