ABSTRACT
The 'historical mechanisms' gives a good picture on the rise and fall of states/empires; however, aspects of geopolitics—the actual environment around the state for economic support, dominance and defence—are as crucial to include into the final assessment as the ideas of Machiavelli. The inclusion of these two aspects can round up the overall picture in the assessment of the rise and fall of empires and they play an important role in regards to the stability of states. The chapter describes the short assessment on the impact of environmental aspects on the rise and fall of states/empires gives an indication of how important the environment for the evaluation of states can be. It includes the assessment of Machiavelli— and shows how many different factors do influence historical patterns of the human past. Machiavelli refers to the geographical landscape and thus indicates the importance of geography.
