During Hannibal's invasion of Rome, the Roman army was spread out over many different lands. In addition to this, the Roman Senate was under fire from many groups both local and abroad, for Rome's history of subjugation.
Something that might have helped Romans make faster decisions during Hannibal's invasion of Italy would have been the Roman senate not being so fragmented. It also might have been helpful if the Roman army hadn't been dispersed so far.
The physical geographic features that made invading of Lwo Jima difficult are Mount Suribachi, Ogasawara Islands,and Mariana Islands.
The Alps with an invading army .
By invading North Africa, Rome forced Hannibal to pull out of Italy so he could defend Carthage.
The Alps are a tremendous physical barrier for anyone who wanted to invade Italy from a land route. It is almost impassable in the winter (although Hannibal managed it with his troops, including his war elephants to surprise the Romans). On the other hand, it also meant it was difficult for the Roman Empire to relay troops to other parts of the Empire if needs be.
The Alps being very hard to navigate with the rigid peaks and harsh weather conditions provided a very difficult barrier for any invading forces. Although Hannibal Barker of Carthage eventually navigated the Alps. He lost roughly a third of his men and half his war elephants along the way.
It was difficult because the invading forces were fighting a powerful, organised, efficient army that had conquered Europe and was firmly dug in along the coast.
The mistake was invading Iran, period. Iran is a massive country with a large and sophisticated army and an incredibly mountainous and hilly terrain. It is difficult to advance across in peacetime, let alone in wartime.
1. Declaring war on the US after Pearl Harbor. 2. Invading Russia.
Poland is a relatively flat country and has very few mountains.
The Alps were (and are) high and difficult for any invading army to cross, with all the snow and freezing cold weather.