Thought this might be a fun one for the history and wargaming crowd here.
Post great maps from history — military maps, ancient maps, exploration maps, campaign maps, or even fantasy maps that you think are interesting.
They could be:
• WWII operations maps
• ancient battle maps
• old exploration charts
• campaign maps
• fantasy maps
Always fascinating to see how people understood the world — or a battlefield — at different points in history.
"Si vis pacem, para bellum." — Vegetius
"Do not hurry to the sound of the guns without knowing why they are firing." — British maxim
"In war, the simplest things are difficult." — Clausewitz
"No plan survives first contact with the enemy." — Moltke
"The side that can most quickly exploit success is the side that will win." — Guderian
Some days you’re the hammer, some days you’re the nail. 🪖🎲
Looking for a game? Challenge me here:
The Babylonian World Map (Imago Mundi), one of the oldest known maps of the world, created in Babylon around the 6th century BC.
This clay tablet shows Babylon near the center, rivers like the Euphrates, and the circular ocean around the world. Outside that circle were mysterious triangular regions called “distant lands.”
A few interesting details about their worldview:
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The sky was thought to be a solid dome holding back cosmic waters.
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The sun, moon, and planets moved across the dome.
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Beneath the earth was the underworld.
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The cosmos was layered like a three-tier structure: heavens, earth, underworld.
So in Babylonian thinking, the world wasn’t a sphere — it was more like a flat disk floating in a cosmic ocean under a dome.
"Si vis pacem, para bellum." — Vegetius
"Do not hurry to the sound of the guns without knowing why they are firing." — British maxim
"In war, the simplest things are difficult." — Clausewitz
"No plan survives first contact with the enemy." — Moltke
"The side that can most quickly exploit success is the side that will win." — Guderian
Some days you’re the hammer, some days you’re the nail. 🪖🎲
Looking for a game? Challenge me here:
The Tabula Peutingeriana, a copy of an ancient Roman map illustrating the empire’s massive road system stretching from Britain to India.
"Si vis pacem, para bellum." — Vegetius
"Do not hurry to the sound of the guns without knowing why they are firing." — British maxim
"In war, the simplest things are difficult." — Clausewitz
"No plan survives first contact with the enemy." — Moltke
"The side that can most quickly exploit success is the side that will win." — Guderian
Some days you’re the hammer, some days you’re the nail. 🪖🎲
Looking for a game? Challenge me here:
The Mercator projection, introduced in 1569 by Gerardus Mercator, a revolutionary world map designed for ocean navigation.
"Si vis pacem, para bellum." — Vegetius
"Do not hurry to the sound of the guns without knowing why they are firing." — British maxim
"In war, the simplest things are difficult." — Clausewitz
"No plan survives first contact with the enemy." — Moltke
"The side that can most quickly exploit success is the side that will win." — Guderian
Some days you’re the hammer, some days you’re the nail. 🪖🎲
Looking for a game? Challenge me here:
The Cantino Planisphere, one of the earliest surviving maps showing the discoveries of Portuguese explorers during the Age of Exploration.
"Si vis pacem, para bellum." — Vegetius
"Do not hurry to the sound of the guns without knowing why they are firing." — British maxim
"In war, the simplest things are difficult." — Clausewitz
"No plan survives first contact with the enemy." — Moltke
"The side that can most quickly exploit success is the side that will win." — Guderian
Some days you’re the hammer, some days you’re the nail. 🪖🎲
Looking for a game? Challenge me here:
A section of a contemporary map of the Battle of Bunker Hill near Boston, fought on June 17, 1775 during the American Revolution.
"Si vis pacem, para bellum." — Vegetius
"Do not hurry to the sound of the guns without knowing why they are firing." — British maxim
"In war, the simplest things are difficult." — Clausewitz
"No plan survives first contact with the enemy." — Moltke
"The side that can most quickly exploit success is the side that will win." — Guderian
Some days you’re the hammer, some days you’re the nail. 🪖🎲
Looking for a game? Challenge me here:
A map of Middle-earth from The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien — one of my favorites, and the one that hangs in my command center.
"Si vis pacem, para bellum." — Vegetius
"Do not hurry to the sound of the guns without knowing why they are firing." — British maxim
"In war, the simplest things are difficult." — Clausewitz
"No plan survives first contact with the enemy." — Moltke
"The side that can most quickly exploit success is the side that will win." — Guderian
Some days you’re the hammer, some days you’re the nail. 🪖🎲
Looking for a game? Challenge me here:
Another favorite that hangs in my command center — a map of The Land from the The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson.
"Si vis pacem, para bellum." — Vegetius
"Do not hurry to the sound of the guns without knowing why they are firing." — British maxim
"In war, the simplest things are difficult." — Clausewitz
"No plan survives first contact with the enemy." — Moltke
"The side that can most quickly exploit success is the side that will win." — Guderian
Some days you’re the hammer, some days you’re the nail. 🪖🎲
Looking for a game? Challenge me here:
Oh my.... The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant are one of my favorite stories. Same applies for entire Middle Earth saga...
anyway, that's good reminder, i might read Covenant again soon.
My first wargame was AH's first edition of this battle. From time to time I've had this map memorized. 😍
"If brute force doesn't work you aren't using enough brute force." - mTk
War does not determine who is right, but it does determine who is left. - B.Russell
"Turn based games don't need a pause key". - mTk
"Overkill is underrated." - Col John "Hannibal" Smith
Senatus Populusque Romanus- SPQR - The Senate and People of Rome (circa 60 BC)
Another favorite that hangs in my command center — a map of The Land from the The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson.
Wow, that takes me back ... read those books in my 20's.
One of the most horrible features of war is that all the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.
- George Orwell, Homage To Catalonia
@panzer-lehr I am mildly surprised that @Nort has not pointed out that the world is actually a flat disk, at least according to the Babylonians.
"Si vis pacem, para bellum." — Vegetius
"Do not hurry to the sound of the guns without knowing why they are firing." — British maxim
"In war, the simplest things are difficult." — Clausewitz
"No plan survives first contact with the enemy." — Moltke
"The side that can most quickly exploit success is the side that will win." — Guderian
Some days you’re the hammer, some days you’re the nail. 🪖🎲
Looking for a game? Challenge me here:
@panzer-lehr I am mildly surprised that @Nort has not pointed out that the world is actually a flat disk, at least according to the Babylonians.
People of Discworld would agree.... and add turtles and elephants into the equation...
@panzer-lehr I just want you to know that I am now cleaning my screen and keyboard off after spraying coffee backed by laughter on seeing your post. Much, much appreciated PL! What a classic! Well played good sir, well played!
The Waldseemüller Map (1507) — The First “America”
In 1507, German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map that did something revolutionary: it treated the newly discovered western lands not as Asia… but as an entirely new continent—and labeled it “America.”
He named it after Amerigo Vespucci, who argued that these lands were not the eastern edge of Asia, but a “New World.”
A few things that make this map special:
• First known use of the name America
• Shows the New World as separate from Asia (a huge conceptual leap)
• Combines medieval geography with cutting-edge exploration reports
• Printed in 12 woodcut sheets—massive for its time
Ironically, Waldseemüller later had second thoughts and tried to remove the name “America”… but it was too late. The name stuck.
A cartographic gamble that ended up naming half the planet.
"Si vis pacem, para bellum." — Vegetius
"Do not hurry to the sound of the guns without knowing why they are firing." — British maxim
"In war, the simplest things are difficult." — Clausewitz
"No plan survives first contact with the enemy." — Moltke
"The side that can most quickly exploit success is the side that will win." — Guderian
Some days you’re the hammer, some days you’re the nail. 🪖🎲
Looking for a game? Challenge me here:
Often called the greatest statistical graphic ever created, this remarkable map by French engineer Charles Joseph Minard tells the story of Napoleon’s disastrous 1812 invasion of Russia with stunning clarity.
At first glance it looks simple.
The thick tan line shows the Grande Armée advancing toward Moscow.
The black line shows the retreat.
But the genius is in what the line represents.
Its width shows the size of the army.
As the line shrinks across the map, hundreds of thousands of men vanish into the Russian wilderness through battle, disease, starvation, exhaustion, and the brutal winter.
Napoleon crossed into Russia with roughly 422,000 men.
Only about 10,000 staggered back out.
The map also overlays rivers, geography, dates, direction of march, and even the freezing temperatures recorded during the retreat. By the time the army recrossed the Berezina River, the Grande Armée had effectively ceased to exist as a fighting force.
What makes Minard’s work so extraordinary is that it transforms raw numbers into something almost haunting. You do not merely read the losses — you watch an empire bleed away mile by mile.
A masterpiece of cartography, military history, and visual storytelling.
“An army marches on its stomach.” — Napoleon
In Russia, even that was not enough.
"Si vis pacem, para bellum." — Vegetius
"Do not hurry to the sound of the guns without knowing why they are firing." — British maxim
"In war, the simplest things are difficult." — Clausewitz
"No plan survives first contact with the enemy." — Moltke
"The side that can most quickly exploit success is the side that will win." — Guderian
Some days you’re the hammer, some days you’re the nail. 🪖🎲
Looking for a game? Challenge me here:
It is an amazing map -- what is often forgotten with the focus on the winter retreat, is how punishing the summer campaigning was (even not counting the blood-letting at Borodino) with heat, thirst, bad food and typhus taking a huge toll before even reaching Moscow.
One of the most horrible features of war is that all the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.
- George Orwell, Homage To Catalonia
I'd watch a reality show of a bunch of flat earther trying to find the edge of the world.... LMAO 🤣
One of the most horrible features of war is that all the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.
- George Orwell, Homage To Catalonia
Guess I'm a Sheep on this one @rico
Happily retired, I worked till I was 72, am now 88, this year 2026 I will be 89
you could say I have earnt my crust