Map animations of history
October 3, 2013 12:12 AM   Subscribe

 
Let's actually spell this out: all of these are done with MS Paint and MS Movie Maker.

He, too, has gone through hell and come back, and we are all better for it.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 12:51 AM on October 3, 2013 [2 favorites]


The next war will be easier to draw.
posted by stbalbach at 1:08 AM on October 3, 2013 [2 favorites]


this one, showing every day of World War 2 in Europe.

The map shows Norway turning completely blue before turning red which is curious. Norway was officially neutral and Hitler justified his invasion of Norway as an effort to "protect" Norway and her neutrality from an impending British takeover. The British indeed had war plans to invade Norway and Sweden and to lay mines along the Norwegian west coast, but German forces landed just ahead of the British navy so I don't think it is correct to show Norway changing completely blue and then red.
posted by three blind mice at 1:22 AM on October 3, 2013


Whoa. That WW2 visualisation shows really dramatically how much of the heavy lifting the USSR did.
posted by dontjumplarry at 1:51 AM on October 3, 2013 [2 favorites]


"Whoa. That WW2 visualisation shows really dramatically how much of the heavy lifting the USSR did."

Yeah. They won the war in Europe and paid the biggest price for it. A sorry legacy of the Cold War is that generations of Americans think the US played the deciding role in Europe and know basically nothing of how hard the Soviets fought and how many of them died.

Though I'm very ignorant of WWII relative to the people who really care about this stuff — I imagine many will take issue with my characterization and point out how important, for example, Lend-Lease was and how, at the very least, the US was complementary and crucial to the Russians' efforts, economically and in the Western Front.

So, yeah, I don't want to minimize how important the US contribution was. But it seems like that except for history buffs, most Americans I've known are pretty much completely clueless about the Eastern Front and what a hard, long, and incredibly bloody struggle it was.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:32 AM on October 3, 2013 [6 favorites]


Yeah. They won the war in Europe and paid the biggest price for it.

The USSR also shares a certain amount of culpability - the Molotov-Ribbentrop gave the Third Reich freedom to maneuver for a few years, and Stalin was still shipping military supplies to Hitler even as the invasion of Russia had begun.

And we certainly studied the Eastern Front in my rural, public high school, so I'm not sure I'd generalize too much about how most Americans are "completely clueless."

(Also, I love animations like this! It's a great way to visualize the forces of history)
posted by kanewai at 3:23 AM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


The map shows Norway turning completely blue before turning red which is curious. Norway was officially neutral and Hitler justified his invasion of Norway as an effort to "protect" Norway and her neutrality from an impending British takeover. The British indeed had war plans to invade Norway and Sweden and to lay mines along the Norwegian west coast, but German forces landed just ahead of the British navy so I don't think it is correct to show Norway changing completely blue and then red.

It's completely reasonable. Up until the time Norway was attacked Norway was neutral, however immediately upon being invaded by German forces Norway accepted assistance from Britain and France. So, it's fair to colour Norway neutral up until the German invasion but show it as Allied gradually shading into Axis from that point on.
posted by L.P. Hatecraft at 4:32 AM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


Whenever an American tries to goad me with the "We saved your asses in WWII" line I goad them right back with "No, the USSR did". What's depressing is how often they have no idea what I'm talking about.
posted by Decani at 4:57 AM on October 3, 2013


I found these most useful in integrating certain aspects of history I had never attempted to visualize before. The WWII one was of particular interest and was frightening and sobering.

Thanks for posting these! I look forward to digging through more of EmperorTigerstar's work.
posted by kinnakeet at 5:03 AM on October 3, 2013


I just watched the WWII one and, in some ways, this brings home the scale of it better than any textbook ever did at school. The scale of suffering I learned about, the scale of deaths, the figures and the testimonies.

But watching this animation, there's a point where nearly all of Europe, Europe which is a fricking big place, is occupied, and the edges have been crawling outwards, and you're watching the days scoot by and thinking, every day of this is a day that millions of people were living in fear and loathing of their friends and neighbours, across a huge swathe of the earth, and dying too in great numbers.

Then the blue areas start creeping back in, and to start with it's so slow, and you're thinking, every little speck of blue there means people died for it to happen.

What I mean to say is, I didn't think it would affect me that much. In the lead-up to remembrance day, I suddenly realise a lot more the scale of what I have to be grateful for.

Thanks for posting.
posted by greenish at 5:10 AM on October 3, 2013 [7 favorites]


Yeah. They won the war in Europe and paid the biggest price for it. A sorry legacy of the Cold War is that generations of Americans think the US played the deciding role in Europe and know basically nothing of how hard the Soviets fought and how many of them died.

The US and British destroyed the German capacity to fight back against the Soviets with constant bombing raids and the Africa campaign, which crippled their industrial output and logistical efforts, while simultaneously reinforcing Soviet materiel support. More, opening a two-front war prevented the Germans from marshalling their full strength to the east.

So, yes, the US played the deciding role in the European theater... as did the Russians. Without the Allies acting in concert, Germany was unbeatable.
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:46 AM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


It's a sad thing that I know about the eastern front from Hogan's Heroes (or maybe I just wasn't paying attention at all in high school and missed it).
posted by zorrine at 7:09 AM on October 3, 2013


That invasion of Normandy is awful small for way too long. It really feels vulnerable. Hard to believe we weren't driven into the ocean when viewing this.
posted by zzazazz at 7:32 AM on October 3, 2013


It's interesting to contrast the WWI and WWII maps for Europe. There's very little movement on the Western Front in either map for a great period of time, but the actual military experience was decidedly different. That the trenches rarely moved in the Great War does little to convey the utter destruction and mounting death toll.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 7:35 AM on October 3, 2013


It would be interesting to see such an animation which doesn't indicate who has control, but simply indicates death rate (say, in a red scale).
posted by stebulus at 7:59 AM on October 3, 2013


Slap*Happy: "The US and British destroyed the German capacity to fight back against the Soviets with constant bombing raids and the Africa campaign, which crippled their industrial output and logistical efforts"

That may not be so clear cut as heretofore thought. The Bombing War: Europe 1939‑1945 suggests that the economic effects of bombing were hugely exaggerated, although it does concede that the Germans diverted resources from Eastern Front to deal with Allied bombing.
posted by Jakey at 9:45 AM on October 3, 2013


I would love to see this guy take on my favorite historical map book of all time: The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History. By the way, if you are into European medieval history and haven't picked up that book yet, do so now.
posted by Triplanetary at 10:04 AM on October 3, 2013


The Western front looked pretty much like a stalemate situation for most of 1942 and 1943. Except for a few desert battles it looked like all the border-moving action was on the Eastern front.
posted by rocket88 at 10:20 AM on October 3, 2013


Notice the Eastern front collapses coinciding with D-Day. The majority of Russia's territorial gains into the German zone happens immediately after D-Day. Why is that? Two front war. Germany could hold one front for a long time, but two fronts caused a rapid collapse.

By December 1941, at the height of Germany's advance, Hitler knew the war in the east was lost, just 6 months after invading. They had expected greater gains before the first winter, to have taken Moscow and most of Russia's capacity to wage war (factories, government). Instead they were stuck outside Moscow for the winter and Russia had time to organize and build. Hitler and his advisers knew the game was over. They doubled down and became delusional believing the West would intervene on Germany's side against the Communists. When the West instead continued to demand unconditional surrender (and likely execution of Hitler for war crimes), Hitler decided to punish the Allies by initiating the Holocaust and going 'nuclear' in a sense, fighting to the last man in a long protracted war.
posted by stbalbach at 10:40 AM on October 3, 2013


zzazazz: That invasion of Normandy is awful small for way too long. It really feels vulnerable. Hard to believe we weren't driven into the ocean when viewing this.

It is my understanding that the Germans did their best to throw the Allies back into the sea, for example by mounting an armored counter-attack in the afternoon of D-Day. But without air supremacy, they couldn't bring the needed troops, equipment and supplies to bear. These map animations show control of land, not control of the air or sea.
posted by Triplanetary at 10:43 AM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


Sorry that this graph doesn't have a reference for it's data, because the figures are really striking.
http://all-that-is-interesting.com/world-war-2-deaths

As a point about "the western front looking like it was stagnant for a long period". This is only a map of the land war. There was a major naval war and air war being fought that is not shown.
posted by Dr Ew at 12:05 PM on October 3, 2013


It is my understanding that the Germans did their best to throw the Allies back into the sea, for example by mounting an armored counter-attack in the afternoon of D-Day.

Then too, in the early the early hours, Hitler was convinced that Normandy was a feint, and held up any serious action. And then he took a long nap.

For more on the subject in general, see this.

Whenever an American tries to goad me with the "We saved your asses in WWII" line I goad them right back with "No, the USSR did". What's depressing is how often they have no idea what I'm talking about.

Of course, the UK only got involved as a favor to Poland. Alas for Poland's ass.
posted by IndigoJones at 12:25 PM on October 3, 2013


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