Follow the conflict of the Second World War from 1939 to 1945 in this unique volume, published in association with Imperial War Museums, London, featuring historical maps and photographs from their archives, and fascinating commentary from an expert historian.

Trace the epic history of World War 2 across the globe with more than 100 detailed maps. In this stunning visual history book, custom maps tell the story of the Second World War from the rise of the Axis powers to the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Each map is rich with detail and graphics, helping you to chart the progress of key events of World War II on land, sea, and air, such as the Dunkirk evacuation, the attack on Pearl Harbor, the D-Day landings, and the siege of Stalingrad. Historical maps from both Allied and Axis countries also offer unique insights into the events. There are timelines to help you follow the story as it unfolds, while narrative overviews explain the social, economic, political, and technical developments at the time. Fascinating, large-scale pictures introduce topics such as the Holocaust, blitzkrieg, kamikaze warfare, and code-breaking. Written by a team of historians in consultation with Richard Overy, World War II Map by Map examines how the deadliest conflict in history changed the face of our world. It is perfect for students, general readers, and military history enthusiasts.

The First World War was marked by an exceptional expansion in the use and production of military cartography. But World War II took things even further, employing maps, charts, reconnaissance, and the systematic recording and processing of geographical and topographical information on an unprecedented scale. As Jeremy Black—one of the world’s leading military and cartographic historians—convincingly shows in this lavish full-color book, it is impossible to understand the events and outcomes of the Second World War without deep reference to mapping at all levels. In World War II, maps themselves became the weapons. A History of the Second World War in 100 Maps traces how military cartography developed from simply recording and reflecting history to having a decisive impact on events of a global scale. Drawing on one hundred key maps from the unparalleled collections of the British Library and other sources—many of which have never been published in book form before--Jeremy Black takes us from the prewar mapping programs undertaken by both Germany and the United Kingdom in the mid-1930s through the conflict’s end a decade later. Black shows how the development of maps led directly to the planning of the complex and fluid maneuvers that defined the European theater in World War II: for example, aerial reconnaissance photography allowed for the charting of beach gradients and ocean depths in the runup to the D-Day landings, and the subsequent troop movements at Normandy would have been impossible without the help of situation maps and photos. In the course of the conflict, both in Europe and the Pacific, the realities of climate, terrain, and logistics—recorded on maps—overcame the Axis powers. Maps also became propaganda tools as the pages of Time outlined the directions of the campaigns and the Allies dropped maps from their aircraft. ​ In this thrilling and unique book, Jeremy Black blends his singular cartographic and military expertise into a captivating overview of World War II from the air, sea, and sky, making clear how fundamental maps were to every aspect of this unforgettable global conflict.

Features all the major battles and campaigns of World War II, from the invasion of Poland in 1939 to the defeat of Japan in 1945. Specially commissioned maps are accompanied by action photographs and detailed annotation.

Prelude to war, 1941: Blitzkrieg -- Prelude to war, 1943: war in the Pacific -- 1942-1944: breaking Hitler's grip -- 1944-1945: victory over Germany -- 1943-1945: defeating Japan.

Follow the conflict of World War I from 1914-1918 through a unique collection of historical maps, expert commentary, and photographs More than 150 maps, some previously unpublished, are used here to demonstrate how World War I was fought around the world. Small scale maps show country boundaries and occupied territories, large-scale maps cover the key battles and offensives on all fronts of the war, and trench maps show detailed positions of the front line. Maps from newspapers are also included, as well as battle planning maps and propaganda. Key offensives covered include the Battles of the Marne and Ypres; Tannenberg and the Eastern Front; Verdun and the Somme; the Gallipoli Campaign; Battle of Jutl∧ the Advances to Jerusalem, Damascus, and Baghdad; Vimy Ridge and Passchendae≤ and German 1918 offensives and Allied counter-offensives. Along with the maps, key historical events are described, giving an illustrated history of the war from an expert historian.

There is little documented mapping of conflict prior to the Renaissance period, but, from the 17th century onwards, military commanders and strategists began to document the wars in which they were involved and later, to use mapping to actually plan the progress of a conflict. Using contemporary maps, this sumptuous new volume covers the history of the mapping of war on land and shows the way in which maps provide a guide to the history of war. Content includes: The beginnings of military mapping up to 1600 including the impact of printing and the introduction of gunpowder The seventeenth century: The focus is on maps to illustrate war, rather than as a planning tool and the chapter considers the particular significance of maps of fortifications. The eighteenth century: The growing need for maps on a world scale reflects the spread of European power and of transoceanic conflict between Europeans. This chapter focuses in particular on the American War of Independence. The nineteenth century: Key developments included contouring and the creation of military surveying. Subjects include the Napoleonic Wars and the American Civil War The twentieth century including extended features on the First and Second World Wars including maps showing trench warfare and aerial reconnaissance. Much of the chapter focuses on the period from 1945 to the present day including special sections on the Vietnam War and the Gulf Wars.

Experience the world's most significant battles through bold, easy-to-grasp maps. Covering everything from the battlefields of the ancient world to the bomb-scarred landscapes of World War II and beyond, this ebook includes engrossing maps telling the story of history's most famous battles. Using brand new, in-depth maps and expert analysis, see for yourself how legendary military milestones were won and lost, and how tactics, technology, vision, and luck have all played a part in the outcome of wars throughout history. Additionally, historic paintings, photographs, and objects take you to the heart of the action; profiles introduce famous commanders and military leaders and analyze their achievements; and the impact of groundbreaking weapons and battlefield innovations is revealed. Bursting with lavish illustrations and full of fascinating detail, Battles Map by Map is the ultimate history ebook for map lovers, military history enthusiasts, and armchair generals everywhere.

In this fascinating history of Cold War cartography, Timothy Barney considers maps as central to the articulation of ideological tensions between American national interests and international aspirations. Barney argues that the borders, scales, projections, and other conventions of maps prescribed and constrained the means by which foreign policy elites, popular audiences, and social activists navigated conflicts between North and South, East and West. Maps also influenced how identities were formed in a world both shrunk by advancing technologies and marked by expanding and shifting geopolitical alliances and fissures. Pointing to the necessity of how politics and values were "spatialized" in recent U.S. history, Barney argues that Cold War–era maps themselves had rhetorical lives that began with their conception and production and played out in their circulation within foreign policy circles and popular media. Reflecting on the ramifications of spatial power during the period, Mapping the Cold War ultimately demonstrates that even in the twenty-first century, American visions of the world--and the maps that account for them--are inescapably rooted in the anxieties of that earlier era.

"This book highlights more than a hundred maps from every era and every part of the world. Organized chronologically, they display an astonishing variety of cartographic styles and techniques. They range from priceless artistic masterworks like the 1507 Waldseemuller world map, the first to use the name "America, " to such practical artifacts as a Polynesian stick chart, a creation of bent twigs, seashells, and coconut palms that was nevertheless capable of guiding an outrigger canoe safely across thousands of miles of trackless and seemingly endless ocean. Some, like the portolans, or sea charts, of the Age of Discovery, were closely guarded state secrets that shaped the rise and fall of empires; others circulated widely and showed such fabled routes as the Silk Road across western Asia and the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails that opened up the American West."--Jacket.