The “President’s Globe” is big — really big and important. Weighing in at a whopping 750 pounds and sized at an impressive 50 inches in diameter, the globe was specially designed for President Franklin D. Roosevelt for use during World War II. The massive representation of the earth helped the president gauge distances over water […]
In World War II, the Allies opened an offensive against Fascist Italy in 1943 after successfully defeating German and Italian forces in North Africa. The Allies first captured Sicily and then launched Operation Avalanche, a plan devised to seize the port of Naples, thus ensuring the Allies could resupply, and then to cut across to […]
Following World War I, the United States and the Empire of Japan competed for power and prestige in Southeast Asia. Both nations had secured islands from the defeated German Empire in the South Pacific and had established interests elsewhere in Asia, such as the Japanese occupation of Korea and Manchuria and the American presence in […]
This is part of a series of posts documenting the cartographic history of maps related to the American Civil War, 1861-1865. The posts will appear on a regular basis. Despite the ongoing ravages of the war, as 1861 drew to a close, many northerners seemed to be optimistic, at the very least, about the safety […]
In the morning hours of December 7, 1941, 76 years ago today, the Japanese Imperial Navy launched a stunning and destructive attack on the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. On that “date which will live in infamy,” as President Franklin D. Roosevelt remarked, hundreds of Japanese planes attacked in waves. Four American battleships were […]
The city of Lviv, in what is now western Ukraine, was greatly impacted by the Second World War and the Holocaust. Prior to the outbreak of fighting, it was part of Poland and known as Lwów. It was then a diverse, multi-ethnic city, and its inhabitants included large communities of Jews, Poles, Ukrainians, and others. […]
William A. Bostick was an artist whose talents were utilized in the Second World War to help create chart-maps for the invasions of Sicily and Normandy. After the war, Bostick had a successful career as an artist and administrator of an arts school in Detroit. His works were nationally and internationally recognized. He died in […]
The rise of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union resulted in substantial limitations on where travelers could visit in the opposite nation. When Joseph Stalin, the leader of the USSR, died in 1953, the succeeding Soviet government eased restrictions for Americans wishing to travel there under the auspices of “coexistence.” […]
This is part of a series of posts documenting the cartographic history of maps related to the American Civil War, 1861-1865. The posts will appear on a regular basis. Aerial reconnaissance was first used in 1861 by the War Department using balloons tethered to the ground. Early balloon observers were civilian employees of the Army, […]
During the Vietnam War, Long Binh Post was the U.S. Army’s largest base located in the former South Vietnam. It was situated between Bien Hoa, the location of a large American airbase, and Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. The Geography and Map Division holds a map from the war that was printed and created […]