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Posted by: Cynthia Smith
The Napoleonic Wars began in 1803 and lasted until Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo in 1815. The Geography and Map Division holds numerous maps of the battle. I am sharing images of a few of my favorites. I would like to begin with a brief summary of Napoleon’s final battle and the events that led to …
Posted in: European History, Military History
Posted by: Mike Klein
During World War I, the most hazardous place to be, relatively speaking, was not on the battlefield, but inside a German U-boat. Throughout the war, Germany deployed 375 Unterseebooten, i.e. U-boats or submarines; 202 were lost in action, or about fifty-four percent. Similarly, of the 17,000 sailors who served in them, about 5,100 were lost …
Posted in: European History, Military History
Posted by: Ryan Moore
Filled with heavy topics of war and occupation, War map: pictorial and propaganda map collection 1900-1950 contains maps and messages that frequently are pointed, unapologetic, and echo the anger and desperation of nations at war. The collection of 180 maps typifies how cartographs were used to influence popular opinion and garner support for military and political efforts …
Posted in: Military History, Reference Guides
Posted by: Ryan Moore
Over the years of this writer’s service at the Library of Congress, veterans and their families have sent me questions about maps that show the locations of U.S. forces in Thailand during the Vietnam War. Chief among the reasons that they have sought this information is because some American personnel were exposed to Agent Orange …
Posted in: Asian History, Military History
Posted by: Ryan Moore
The Union ambitiously tunneled 511 feet to reach the Confederate lines during siege of Petersburg, Virginia, in 1864. Unique to this Civil War battle, they set off a massive explosion that created a 170-by-120-feet crater beneath the Confederate lines and stormed the defenses in a failed effort, known as the Battle of the Crater. Thereafter, the Confederates worried …
Posted in: American History, Military History, National Parks
Posted by: Mike Klein
Most historians consider the Italo-Ottoman War, 1911-12, as a prelude to World War I. Although it has fallen into obscurity, some relics, such as this compelling panoramic map of the war’s first major engagement, may revive our interest. Italy’s claims to North Africa were rooted in Roman times. Over the millennia, the provinces of Tripolitania …
Posted in: Military History
Posted by: Ryan Moore
To visit Arlington National Cemetery is to know these United States more deeply. It is a place of remembrance and a microcosm of American history. Beneath the shade of firs, maples, oaks and many other trees, the necropolis gently sprawls across 624 acres. The site is in Arlington, Virginia, just across the Potomac River from …
Posted in: American History, Military History
Posted by: Ed Redmond
During the winter of 1776-1777, two key battles became an important turning point for George Washington’s Continental Army and the American struggle against the vaunted British Empire. In this blog post we will explore three maps that depict the Battles of Trenton and Princeton, all from different collections in the division and drawn by various …
Posted in: American History, Military History
Posted by: Ryan Moore
At 11 am on November 11, 1918, the long and terrible fighting that was known as the Great War ended. The final hour of the final day of World War I, as it is known today, was documented by the United States Army on a large 36″ x 32″ map sheet. The mapmakers used a …
Posted in: Military History