The Epic Chart of Napoleon's 1812 Russian Campaign by Joseph Minard

Napoleon’s March to Russia was an enormous undertaking and one of the most deadly and disturbing episodes in the history of war. Charles Minard, in his 1869 famous chart on the losses of the Grand Armee in 1812-1813, captured something of the epic bravery and horror of this march. Lauded as one of the most perfect and impactful graphics ever made, Minard’s chart is also a map, incredibly created as a storytelling device.
In this video, we’ll review Napoleon’s march itself and the progress of the Grand Armee, as well as the life of Charles Joseph Minard, and some of the speculation regarding why he made this map and what he meant to say with it. There is some controversy about the meaning of the map, and in fact it was not well-known until the later part of the 20th century, when it became a favorite of designers.
Yet the events depicted by the map are deeper even than Napoleon’s march, and touch on the very nature of war and death and great men. "The Figurative Map of the Losses of the Men of the Grand Armee in the Russian Campaign of 1812-1813" is truly a great map. I hope you enjoy the video.
My goal with this series is to explore the amazing maps that humanity has created over the span of human history, and to use these as ways to connect with our ancestors. I hope you enjoy going on this journey with me, and please let me know if you like this format and if you want to see more videos.
A huge thanks to everyone that helped to contribute to this video and whose works are featured here, including:
Images and Art
- Albrecht Adam
- Faber du Faur
- Vasily Vereshchagin
- Felician Myrbach
- V. Adam
- Jacques-Louis David
- Jean-Louis Ernest
And many other artists, as well as many clips from Pexels.
Audio
John Field (Nocturne in E Minor)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1812 Overture)
Le Marsellaise
Le Marsellaise "sad" ( • National anthem of Fra... )
God Save the Tsar! ( • God Save the Tsar )
Chanson de l'Oignon ( • French Marching Song: ... )
Camille Saint-Saëns (Le Cygne)
Frédéric Chopin (Funeral March)
And sound effects from freesound.org/.
Research
- Norbert Landsteiner (www.masswerk.a..., www.masswerk.a...)
- Edward Tufte's website (www.edwardtuft...)
- Edward Tufte, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Beautiful Evidence
- Minard charts (jenikirbyhisto...)
- Adam Zamoyski, Moscow 1812: Napoleon's Fatal March
- “La méthode graphique dans les sciences expérimentales et principalement en physiologie et en médecine” (heritage.ecole...)
- Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.o..., en.wikipedia.o...)
- Other (ageofrevolutio..., sciencenorway....)
And many more.
More to check out:
- Minard Interactive Map (1812.tass.ru/en)
- • Napoleon's Moscow camp...
- • Napoleon's Downfall: I...
A nod to Great Art Explained ( / @greatartexplained ) for helping me come up with the idea for this series.
And of course, thanks to all the many hands along the course of history that created and shared such works, so we can all learn more from the past.
Love,
Victor
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CORRECTIONS
Edward Tufte did not actually state that the map is an "anti-war declaration". That is from articles summarizing his take on the map. My mistake!
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All the videos, songs, images, and graphics used in the video belong to their respective owners and I or this channel does not claim any right over them. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
#napoleon #history #map #war #cartography #design

[@_TkiT_]

Very high quality for such a niche content, I wish you more viewers in the near future.

[@clivemaishment3212]

Minard's map is indeed an incredible creation, and makes the data come alive. However, your video takes it a step further with a truly moving description of the campaign before moving to a fascinating interpretation of the map itself. Thanks for a great presentation.

[@adambauckman3612]

A thorough and gripping analysis of a man, and a map.

[@user-cd4bx6uq1y]

Truly a great video and a great channel. This video has 116 views within 20 hours at this moment. But it will be remembered for years. This is a very good video that talks about an interesting topic in just the right way. It's not trying to subvert people's understanding of events to give out an atmosphere of epicness. Instead, it's just talking and going over simple things where it needs to. This is something very rare on mainstream youtube. And most channels that commit to something don't break out for years. But, since someone is here reading this comment, thats is the new direction.

[@learnwithmapster]

Thanks for the kind comment! I plan to just keep at it, making content that I think is interesting and valuable, and we'll see where it goes in the future! Thanks again:)

[@joaoedu1917]

great, great video. for many different reasons... you should be proud. Even as "informed individuals" it's easy to distance ourselves and normalize war. And this content serves as a good reminder of what war really is.

[@MeHungy136]

This is such a great video! Please keep making more like this. The style and the narration are amazing, it makes the whole thing so easy to absorb

[@learnwithmapster]

More are coming! Thanks for the nice comment:)

[@user-cd4bx6uq1y]

116 views 20 hours 2 likes and 2 comments. I'm early to the channel

[@Pianomiano]

Top-notch video! I really enjoy your insights and commentary. This channel will grow and be among the giants in no time

[@Soulski-il8lv]

Great video. I've seen this map several times in the past, but your work made me appreciate it ten times fold and taught me a few details that had escaped me until now. Thank you for your work.

[@learnwithmapster]

Thank you very much for watching and the kind comment!

[@BaronsHistoryTimes]

Excellent.

[@Moonbeamblue]

Fantastic video.

[@learnwithmapster]

Thanks so much for watching!

[@lamarackable]

Got given this map by my grandad. Never understood it till now

[@michaelbruns449]

War And Peace - 1967, the greatest movie ever made.

[@MonicaAlvarez-ls6nc]

Hi Mapster, I've seen your leaflet videos. Thank for your videos, I need an advice... Which option do you consider is the best to combine with leaflet to visualize a 3d terrain map?? Thanks

[@learnwithmapster]

Hi! I probably wouldn't try to do Leaflet for 3D terrain -- instead I'd go with Maplibre! It's just got it all built in :) maplibre.org/maplibre-gl-js-docs/example/3d-terrain/

[@emersonolivares9217]

Napoleon had to stay and battle for Moscow while Napoleon would of won the western part of Russia!

[@puliturchannel7225]

Wow! I can't believe I am the first one commenting. Splendid video!