They have a road from middle east to africa and they would use Merchant ship routes.
The major way that the geographic location of the united states affected its foreign policy before world war 2 was that it was protected by ocean, meaning it never felt the need to defend itself to a great extent.
One of the largest yes, but not the largest. The largest would be the Scandinavian Peninsula.
Polk believed that it was the destiny of the U.S. to expand
entire continent as part of its Manifest Destiny. He believed that the war with
Mexico fitted well with that vision.
When the U.S. won it took over several territories from the Mexicans.
