Chris Hughes exhibit - Summer 2025

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1

Conflict, Information, and the Limitations of Maps
Conflict, Information, and the Limitations of Maps

2

Battle of Blenheim
Battle of Blenheim

3

A Famous Victory
A Famous Victory

4

How clearly?
How clearly?

5

Battle of Blenheim (Again)
Battle of Blenheim (Again)

6

Another Map of the Battle of Blenheim
Another Map of the Battle of Blenheim

7

The Tradeoff
The Tradeoff

8

Aire-sur-la-Lys
Aire-sur-la-Lys

9

Siege of Maastricht
Siege of Maastricht

10

The Siege of Alkmaar (Het Beleg van Alkmaar)
The Siege of Alkmaar (Het Beleg van Alkmaar)

11

William of Orange crossing the English Channel
William of Orange crossing the English Channel

12

The Tradeoff?
The Tradeoff?

13

William Faden's 1777 Battle of Trenton Map
William Faden's 1777 Battle of Trenton Map

14

Getting creative
Getting creative

15

Minard Hannibal and Napoleon
Minard Hannibal and Napoleon

16

Centuries Later
Centuries Later

17

Video of the Battle of Blenheim
Video of the Battle of Blenheim

18

Thank You
Thank You

19

Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments

Conflict, Information, and the Limitations of Maps

Image 1 of 19 | e698 | i36716 | 3300x2550px
Conflict, Information, and the Limitations of Maps
0

Battle of Blenheim

Image 2 of 19 | e698 | i36695 | 6828x8715px
Battle of Blenheim

This map depicts the Battle of Blenheim during the War of Spanish Succession. The war began following the death of Charles II of Spain, who left behind no direct heirs. In his will, Charles left the Spanish crown to Philip of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV of France. Fearing a consolidation of French power, England, the Dutch Republic, Austria, and Prussia formed the Grand Alliance, backing Archduke Charles of Austria for the Spanish throne.

In 1704, the French and their Bavarian allies were threatening Vienna, and with it, the fate of the Spanish crown. However, in just five weeks, the first Duke of Marlborough's army had marched more than 250 miles from the low countries to Bavaria to meet and attempt to stop the French at Blenheim.

Anna Beek, 1704, The Hague, Courtesy of Rich Breiman

0

A Famous Victory

Image 3 of 19 | e698 | i36719 | 3300x2550px
A Famous Victory

For his hard-fought victory at Blenheim, John Churchill was awarded land and funds to construct a palace by Queen Anne. The palace was named after the victory and it is where Winston Churchill, a direct descendant of the Duke of Marlborough, was born.

0

How clearly?

Image 4 of 19 | e698 | i36703 | 3300x2550px
How clearly?

The example of the Battle of Blenheim shows that a battle map can contain a lot of information, but how much would you all have understood if not for this explanation?

0

Battle of Blenheim (Again)

Image 5 of 19 | e698 | i36770 | 6828x8715px
Battle of Blenheim (Again)
0

Another Map of the Battle of Blenheim

Image 6 of 19 | e698 | i36696 | 1200x850px
Another Map of the Battle of Blenheim

Here's another map of the Battle of Blenheim. Despite its style, it is a contemporary map made by John Fawkes. This map is more legible, and not just because it is in English. The positions of the armies are clearly intelligible, but one loses the motion of the battle. What is gained in intelligibility is lost in information.

Map from BritishBattles.com

0

The Tradeoff

Image 7 of 19 | e698 | i36717 | 3300x2550px
The Tradeoff

That brings us to what I see as the principal tradeoff of battle maps, between legibility and information. This is a tradeoff faced by all mapmakers, but it may be most obvious in battle maps because of the sheer quantity of non-geographic information they contain, like time. In making battle maps, cartographers must carefully balance the two, and Beek's map of Blenheim is just one approach to the problem.

0

Aire-sur-la-Lys

Image 8 of 19 | e698 | i36697 | 8715x6828px
Aire-sur-la-Lys

Beek's map of Blenheim appears so busy in part because of the complexities of battle. Unlike a feature like a river or street, there's no obvious way depicting the movements of troops across a small field over time.

One way to get around the tradeoff is not to depict a battle at all. If troop movements are hard to map, why map them? Instead, this map provides an overview of the French city of Aire-sur-la-Lys as it appeared following the Treaty of Utrecht (1713-1715), which ended the War of Spanish Succession. Although it does not show an active conflict — there was none at the time — it provides a detailed view of the fortifications surrounding the cities, which would doubtlessly be helpful to any would-be invaders.

0

Siege of Maastricht

Image 9 of 19 | e698 | i36698 | 8715x6828px
Siege of Maastricht

This map shows the 1676 Siege of Maastricht, an unsuccessful attack by William of Orange to retake the now-Dutch city from France during the Franco-Dutch war.

It strikes a balance between geographical and military information by including both a map (without troop movements) and an image of the proceedings. Perhaps most interestingly, it includes a side profile of the city’s fortifications, which would doubtlessly be useful to the Dutch army.

0

The Siege of Alkmaar (Het Beleg van Alkmaar)

Image 10 of 19 | e698 | i36699 | 8715x6828px
The Siege of Alkmaar (Het Beleg van Alkmaar)

This 1703 depiction of the 1573 siege of Alkmaar is almost entirely pictorial. The siege, which took place in the Netherlands during the Eighty Years War, was a victory for Dutch rebels, who successfully held off their Hapsburg Spanish rulers.

Instead of splitting the depiction into separate map and pictorial elements, this image combines the two, with a geographically faithful creation of the city's surroundings in the background and an image of the Hapsburgian armies in the foreground. While the course of the siege is clearly visible, as are some geographic details, neither is as detailed as Beek's map of Blenheim, the entire thing, however, is much more legible without further context.

0

William of Orange crossing the English Channel

Image 11 of 19 | e698 | i36700 | 8715x6828px
William of Orange crossing the English Channel

Military information is often scarcely legible on a map, so why include a map at all? This 1698 image depicts of the armada of William of Orange and Mary Stuart crossing from Hellevoetsluis, in the Netherlands, to England at the beginning of the Glorious Revolution in 1688. The massive armada is correctly and carefully pictured, but not in any particular place.

This is a presentation on maps, after all, and the map is not without geographic detail. At the top of the map the south coast of England and its principal cities are laid out accurately.

0

The Tradeoff?

Image 12 of 19 | e698 | i36718 | 3300x2550px
The Tradeoff?

It is difficult to map an individual battle, all of the approaches we have looked at, some more creative than others, have succeeded in some areas and fallen short in others. Maps can't depict a battle alone, and in many of the cases we've examined, an image or written description can better serve a viewer. Today, videos can provide compelling and readily graspable depictions of battles, too.

So perhaps maps are not the ideal medium for depicting a single battle, but the cost of the tradeoff between legibility and information could be lessened by changing the information depicted in a map. Instead of focusing on a single battle, maps of military campaigns focus on a larger conflict, and are more successful in transmitting complex information legibly.

0

William Faden's 1777 Battle of Trenton Map

Image 13 of 19 | e698 | i36701 | 4880x3680px
William Faden's 1777 Battle of Trenton Map

Image courtesy of Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division. Many thanks to Ron Gibbs for walking me through this image.

https://www.loc.gov/item/gm71000654/?loclr=blogmap

0

Getting creative

Image 14 of 19 | e698 | i36772 | 3300x2550px
Getting creative
0

Minard Hannibal and Napoleon

Image 15 of 19 | e698 | i36720 | 3072x2662px
Minard Hannibal and Napoleon

These maps are by Charles Joseph Minard, a French who pioneered the use of numerical information on maps.

Like the Revolutionary War maps we saw previously, both maps focus on military campaigns, with the upper on Hannibal's march through the Alps and the lower map focusing on Napoleon's invasion of Russia. Imposed on a geographic map are lines with three relevant details, the position of the army, the date they reached their position, and army's size.

0

Centuries Later

Image 16 of 19 | e698 | i36758 | 3300x2550px
Centuries Later

Centuries later, we may have "solved" the aforementioned tradeoff through a new medium: video

0

Video of the Battle of Blenheim

Image 17 of 19 | e698 | i36733 | 0x0px
Video of the Battle of Blenheim

[ 2025-06-24 18:09:20 ]

0

Thank You

Image 18 of 19 | e698 | i36721 | 3300x2550px
Thank You
0

Acknowledgments

Image 19 of 19 | e698 | i36771 | 3300x2550px
Acknowledgments
0

Conflict, Information, and the Limitations of Maps

Image 1 of 19
e698
i36716
3300x2550px

Battle of Blenheim

This map depicts the Battle of Blenheim during the War of Spanish Succession. The war began following the death of Charles II of Spain, who left behind no direct heirs. In his will, Charles left the Spanish crown to Philip of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV of France. Fearing a consolidation of French power, England, the Dutch Republic, Austria, and Prussia formed the Grand Alliance, backing Archduke Charles of Austria for the Spanish throne.

In 1704, the French and their Bavarian allies were threatening Vienna, and with it, the fate of the Spanish crown. However, in just five weeks, the first Duke of Marlborough's army had marched more than 250 miles from the low countries to Bavaria to meet and attempt to stop the French at Blenheim.

Anna Beek, 1704, The Hague, Courtesy of Rich Breiman

Image 2 of 19
e698
i36695
6828x8715px

A Famous Victory

For his hard-fought victory at Blenheim, John Churchill was awarded land and funds to construct a palace by Queen Anne. The palace was named after the victory and it is where Winston Churchill, a direct descendant of the Duke of Marlborough, was born.

Image 3 of 19
e698
i36719
3300x2550px

How clearly?

The example of the Battle of Blenheim shows that a battle map can contain a lot of information, but how much would you all have understood if not for this explanation?

Image 4 of 19
e698
i36703
3300x2550px

Battle of Blenheim (Again)

Image 5 of 19
e698
i36770
6828x8715px

Another Map of the Battle of Blenheim

Here's another map of the Battle of Blenheim. Despite its style, it is a contemporary map made by John Fawkes. This map is more legible, and not just because it is in English. The positions of the armies are clearly intelligible, but one loses the motion of the battle. What is gained in intelligibility is lost in information.

Map from BritishBattles.com

Image 6 of 19
e698
i36696
1200x850px

The Tradeoff

That brings us to what I see as the principal tradeoff of battle maps, between legibility and information. This is a tradeoff faced by all mapmakers, but it may be most obvious in battle maps because of the sheer quantity of non-geographic information they contain, like time. In making battle maps, cartographers must carefully balance the two, and Beek's map of Blenheim is just one approach to the problem.

Image 7 of 19
e698
i36717
3300x2550px

Aire-sur-la-Lys

Beek's map of Blenheim appears so busy in part because of the complexities of battle. Unlike a feature like a river or street, there's no obvious way depicting the movements of troops across a small field over time.

One way to get around the tradeoff is not to depict a battle at all. If troop movements are hard to map, why map them? Instead, this map provides an overview of the French city of Aire-sur-la-Lys as it appeared following the Treaty of Utrecht (1713-1715), which ended the War of Spanish Succession. Although it does not show an active conflict — there was none at the time — it provides a detailed view of the fortifications surrounding the cities, which would doubtlessly be helpful to any would-be invaders.

Image 8 of 19
e698
i36697
8715x6828px

Siege of Maastricht

This map shows the 1676 Siege of Maastricht, an unsuccessful attack by William of Orange to retake the now-Dutch city from France during the Franco-Dutch war.

It strikes a balance between geographical and military information by including both a map (without troop movements) and an image of the proceedings. Perhaps most interestingly, it includes a side profile of the city’s fortifications, which would doubtlessly be useful to the Dutch army.

Image 9 of 19
e698
i36698
8715x6828px

The Siege of Alkmaar (Het Beleg van Alkmaar)

This 1703 depiction of the 1573 siege of Alkmaar is almost entirely pictorial. The siege, which took place in the Netherlands during the Eighty Years War, was a victory for Dutch rebels, who successfully held off their Hapsburg Spanish rulers.

Instead of splitting the depiction into separate map and pictorial elements, this image combines the two, with a geographically faithful creation of the city's surroundings in the background and an image of the Hapsburgian armies in the foreground. While the course of the siege is clearly visible, as are some geographic details, neither is as detailed as Beek's map of Blenheim, the entire thing, however, is much more legible without further context.

Image 10 of 19
e698
i36699
8715x6828px

William of Orange crossing the English Channel

Military information is often scarcely legible on a map, so why include a map at all? This 1698 image depicts of the armada of William of Orange and Mary Stuart crossing from Hellevoetsluis, in the Netherlands, to England at the beginning of the Glorious Revolution in 1688. The massive armada is correctly and carefully pictured, but not in any particular place.

This is a presentation on maps, after all, and the map is not without geographic detail. At the top of the map the south coast of England and its principal cities are laid out accurately.

Image 11 of 19
e698
i36700
8715x6828px

The Tradeoff?

It is difficult to map an individual battle, all of the approaches we have looked at, some more creative than others, have succeeded in some areas and fallen short in others. Maps can't depict a battle alone, and in many of the cases we've examined, an image or written description can better serve a viewer. Today, videos can provide compelling and readily graspable depictions of battles, too.

So perhaps maps are not the ideal medium for depicting a single battle, but the cost of the tradeoff between legibility and information could be lessened by changing the information depicted in a map. Instead of focusing on a single battle, maps of military campaigns focus on a larger conflict, and are more successful in transmitting complex information legibly.

Image 12 of 19
e698
i36718
3300x2550px

William Faden's 1777 Battle of Trenton Map

Image courtesy of Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division. Many thanks to Ron Gibbs for walking me through this image.

https://www.loc.gov/item/gm71000654/?loclr=blogmap

Image 13 of 19
e698
i36701
4880x3680px

Getting creative

Image 14 of 19
e698
i36772
3300x2550px

Minard Hannibal and Napoleon

These maps are by Charles Joseph Minard, a French who pioneered the use of numerical information on maps.

Like the Revolutionary War maps we saw previously, both maps focus on military campaigns, with the upper on Hannibal's march through the Alps and the lower map focusing on Napoleon's invasion of Russia. Imposed on a geographic map are lines with three relevant details, the position of the army, the date they reached their position, and army's size.

Image 15 of 19
e698
i36720
3072x2662px

Centuries Later

Centuries later, we may have "solved" the aforementioned tradeoff through a new medium: video

Image 16 of 19
e698
i36758
3300x2550px

Video of the Battle of Blenheim

[ 2025-06-24 18:09:20 ]

Image 17 of 19
e698
i36733
0x0px

Thank You

Image 18 of 19
e698
i36721
3300x2550px

Acknowledgments

Image 19 of 19
e698
i36771
3300x2550px
Dots count
1
1
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 26 2025
0.07
0.01
Dots count
8
1
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 20 2025
0.23
0.6
2
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 20 2025
0.29
0.34
3
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 20 2025
0.36
1.12
4
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 20 2025
0.33
0.37
5
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 20 2025
0.27
0.71
6
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 20 2025
0.45
0.63
7
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 20 2025
0.57
0.55
8
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 20 2025
0.24
0.62
Dots count
2
1
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 25 2025
0.3
0.6
2
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 25 2025
0.77
0.58
Dots count
2
1
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 21 2025
0.08
0.07
2
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 21 2025
0.12
0.59
Dots count
1
1
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 26 2025
0.57
0.65
Dots count
1
1
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 21 2025
0.22
0.33
Dots count
1
1
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 25 2025
0.05
0.04
Dots count
1
1
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 25 2025
0.49
0.04
Dots count
2
1
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 25 2025
0.11
0.08
2
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 25 2025
0.49
0.23
Dots count
3
1
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 25 2025
0.13
0.11
2
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 25 2025
0.34
0.55
3
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 25 2025
0.61
0.41
Dots count
2
1
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 25 2025
0.21
0.2
2
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 25 2025
0.54
0.12
Dots count
1
1
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 25 2025
0.57
0.27
Dots count
5
1
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 26 2025
0.2
0.26
2
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 26 2025
0.21
0.25
3
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 26 2025
0.36
0.3
4
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 26 2025
0.48
0.4
5
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 26 2025
0.79
0.21
Dots count
1
1
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 26 2025
0.49
0.16
Dots count
7
1
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 25 2025
0.04
0.4
2
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 25 2025
0.14
0.18
3
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 25 2025
0.78
0.27
4
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 25 2025
0.09
0.63
5
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 25 2025
0.93
0.48
6
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 26 2025
0.39
0.69
7
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 26 2025
0.1
0.67
Dots count
1
1
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 26 2025
0.23
0.11
Dots count
0

No dots yet

Dots count
1
1
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 26 2025
0.04
-0.02
Dots count
1
1
Christopher Hughes
(@chughes)
Jun 26 2025
0.05
0.04
1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
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1
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Place a DOT on the image