See my reply to BoxOfRain above. The grand chessboard was continental Europe. Britain and its sub 10 million people was a naval nuisance that would not have fundamentally altered Napoleon's self-sabotage on the continent. He called it a "nation of shopkeepers" for a reason.
Chesapeake, on the other hand, sealed the birth of a world-changing nation.
Chesapeake, on the other hand, sealed the birth of a world-changing nation.