
Archive of old military maps published - edward
https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2020/01/29/huge-archive-of-old-military-maps-published/
======
jackfoxy
Centuries ago you could get executed for possessing the wrong map. Maps were
considered military intelligence assets, a threat to national security in the
wrong hands.

Kipling's novel _Kim_ is based on the true history of how the British
incrementally mapped the territory of India and neighboring regions.

~~~
chrisseaton
> Maps were considered military intelligence assets, a threat to national
> security in the wrong hands.

Do you think that's not the case today?!

~~~
pathseeker
Well ones that just contain basic elevations, etc are all very available to
the public now so that's no longer the case. It's true that placing critical
resource locations on the map makes that the case, but that's not what OP is
referring to.

------
cgh
This is a fantastic resource, thank you. I really enjoy these old hand-drawn
maps. I've collected a few myself, including a German map of the north coast
of BC, Alaska and eastern Russia, including Kamchatka, unfortunately undated
but I believe it's pre-sale of Alaska to the US. It's primarily an
ethnographic map made for the "Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie", or Journal of
Ethnology, which I guess was a German anthropological journal. The various
Inuit groups are represented in different colours.

Another nice one is labeled "Polar Regions of British Nth America" and is
principally of Canada. It dates from 1839 and shows Devon Island connected to
Greenland, amongst other inaccuracies. It's beautifully drawn and quite small,
perhaps 20 cm a side.

~~~
mcguire
" _It 's primarily an ethnographic map made for the "Zeitschrift fur
Ethnologie", or Journal of Ethnology, which I guess was a German
anthropological journal._"

Still is, I think.

[https://www.dgska.de/zeitschrift-fuer-
ethnologie/](https://www.dgska.de/zeitschrift-fuer-ethnologie/)

~~~
azepoi
Still is. [http://www.reimer-mann-
verlag.de/controller.php?cmd=detail&t...](http://www.reimer-mann-
verlag.de/controller.php?cmd=detail&titelnummer=661441&verlag=4)

------
lqet
If such maps or the aesthetics of copper engravings interest you, I strongly
suggest to have a look at Matthaeus Merian's "Topographia Germaniae" [0].

Some highlights:

Prague
([https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/Pr...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/Prag_im_Prospect_%28Merian%29.jpg/1920px-
Prag_im_Prospect_%28Merian%29.jpg))

Vienna
([https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Statt_Wi...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Statt_Wien_%28Merian%29.jpg))

Strasbourg
([https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/To...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/Topographia_Alsatiae_%28Merian%29_p_023.JPG/1280px-
Topographia_Alsatiae_%28Merian%29_p_023.JPG))

Nuremberg (Map:
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/De_Meria...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/De_Merian_Frankoniae_090.jpg),
View:
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/De_Meria...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/De_Merian_Frankoniae_092.jpg))

Lübeck
([https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c7/Lv...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c7/Lvbecca_%28Merian%29.jpg/1920px-
Lvbecca_%28Merian%29.jpg))

Frankfurt (Map:
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/De_Meria...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/De_Merian_Hassiae_075.jpg),
View:
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/De...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/De_Merian_Hassiae_081.jpg/1920px-
De_Merian_Hassiae_081.jpg))

[0]
[https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Topographia_Germaniae](https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Topographia_Germaniae)

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owlninja
The site: [https://militarymaps.rct.uk/](https://militarymaps.rct.uk/)

------
germinalphrase
I know we are not supposed to discuss dead comments, but Gusen is some kind of
odd propaganda bot, right? Those comments are bonkers.

------
nl
There are some great maps[1] of the 1684 Siege of Vienna which IMHO is the
most undertold story in European history.

The desperate plight of Vienna, with only 15,000 troops defending against the
150,000 strong Ottoman army. The creation of a relief coalition in only 6
days.

The arrival of the 70,000 strong Polish and allies army under Sobieski and
their decision to attack immediately at daylight the next day. The attack of
the Ottomans on the walls of Vienna in an attempt to breach it before they
were attacked.

The day long battle, with Sobieski holding back his famed cavalry. And then,
at 6:00pm the biggest cavalry charge in history - 18,000 horses led by the
3000 of the heavy Winged Hussars which had spent the past 70 developing their
reputation as the best heavy cavalry in Europe.

AFIAK there isn't even a decent novelisation of this story, which I find
astonishing.

[1] [https://militarymaps.rct.uk/ottoman-habsburg-
wars-1521-1791/...](https://militarymaps.rct.uk/ottoman-habsburg-
wars-1521-1791/great-turkish-war-1683-99)

~~~
flukus
For those that prefer their stories in a Swedish power metal music video
format:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuJk6MDUZFM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuJk6MDUZFM)

~~~
diggernet
That music video got its visuals from the movie The Day of the Siege.

[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1899285/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1899285/)

Which, based on nl's description of the events, I think I need to watch.

------
arethuza
Some fascinating maps on there - e.g. this one of the 1746 Battle of Culloden,
the last pitched battle on Britain:

[https://militarymaps.rct.uk/other-18th-19th-century-
conflict...](https://militarymaps.rct.uk/other-18th-19th-century-
conflicts/battle-of-culloden-1746-plan-of-the-battle-of-3)

~~~
OJFord
For anyone else unfamiliar with the term:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitched_battle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitched_battle)

------
openfuture
Do they have an API or does someone have an archive with all the pictures?

One of the other frontpage things pointed at this:
[https://robottini.altervista.org/cartesio-low-cost-
cartesian...](https://robottini.altervista.org/cartesio-low-cost-cartesian-
plotter-robot)

and now I want to build it and find some nice maps to have it draw and then
see if I can build boardgames on them!

------
ng7j5d9
IANAL but the prominent

    
    
       (c) The Royal Collection Trust
    

overlaid on each map caught my attention.

Shouldn't these very old maps be in the public domain?

~~~
teh_klev
It'll be the digital (and any physical) reproductions that will be subject to
copyright, not the maps themselves.

~~~
monoideism
No. At least in the US, an exact replication of a public domain work is also
public domain. They may be claiming public domain, but it wouldn't hold up in
a US court of law (no idea about elsewhere).

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_Publications,_Inc.,_v._R...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_Publications,_Inc.,_v._Rural_Telephone_Service_Co).

Now, if someone makes a database of digitized old books in some particular
category, whose compilation required creativity and originality, that work
might fall under copyright. But just a digitized book? No.

~~~
tingletech
Another wrinkle is that the copyright clock traditionally starts at the time a
work is published. So, unpublished manuscripts are not necessarily in the
public domain, even if they were written 100s of years ago. If these were the
King's personal maps, and just now published, they might still be under
copyright.

~~~
monoideism
> So, unpublished manuscripts are not necessarily in the public domain, even
> if they were written 100s of years ago.

This may well be the case in the UK, but this assertion would likely not apply
in the US, for multiple reasons. For one thing, manuscripts that have been
displayed in a museum would be counted as published. Also, in the US copyright
expires 120 years following creation, at the very latest.

------
bfors
Has anyone had success making prints of maps from image files? Some of these
would look great hung up on a wall.

~~~
lqet
Yes. 5 years ago, I printed the Turgot map of Paris roughly 1.5 meters wide
from this file:

[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Turgot_m...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Turgot_map_of_Paris_-
_Norman_B._Leventhal_Map_Center.jpg)

It is hanging in my living room and look great.

------
ghostbrainalpha
Interesting that this "map" of the Royal Navy in 1804 looks so much like the
infographics that are popular today.

[https://militarymaps.rct.uk/napoleonic-wars-1803-15/royal-
na...](https://militarymaps.rct.uk/napoleonic-wars-1803-15/royal-
navy-1804-a-view-of-the-royal-navy-of-great-britain)

