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Last edited Jun 17, 2025
Created on Jun 17, 2025

Napoleon's Russian Campaign Visualization

This project recreates Charles Minard's famous 1869 visualization of Napoleon's disastrous Russian campaign of 1812. The visualization shows the devastating losses suffered by the French army during both the advance to Moscow and the catastrophic retreat in the Russian winter.

Visualization Features

  • Troop Movement: The width of the path is proportional to the number of troops
    • Advance path: Colored in tan (#e2c992) showing the army's march to Moscow
    • Retreat path: Colored in dark gray (#222222) showing the devastating retreat
  • Geographic Context: Cities and rivers are marked on the map with appropriate labels
  • Temperature Chart: Shows the dropping temperatures during the winter retreat
  • Interactive Elements: Hover over cities and troop paths for additional information

Historical Context

This visualization depicts one of history's most famous military disasters:

  • June 24, 1812: Napoleon's Grande Armée of 422,000 soldiers crosses the Neman River into Russia
  • September 14, 1812: Only 100,000 troops reach Moscow, finding it abandoned and burning
  • October 19, 1812: Napoleon orders the retreat from Moscow as winter approaches
  • November 25-29, 1812: The catastrophic crossing of the Berezina River in freezing temperatures
  • December 6-7, 1812: Temperature plunges to -30°C, accelerating deaths
  • December 14, 1812: Fewer than 10,000 soldiers survive to cross back over the Neman River

Implementation Details

This visualization is built with modern web technologies:

  • D3.js (v7): For data visualization and geographical mapping
  • Responsive Design: Scales appropriately for different screen sizes
  • Tufte-inspired Styling: Minimalist aesthetic with high data-to-ink ratio

The implementation follows Edward Tufte's visualization principles, focusing on clear data representation with minimal chartjunk while honoring Minard's original concept.

Data Sources

The visualization combines several data elements:

  • Troop movements with size information for three army groups
  • Geographical locations of cities and rivers
  • Temperature data during the retreat
  • Key dates and events of the campaign

Based on Charles Joseph Minard's original 1869 flow map, which Edward Tufte called "probably the best statistical graphic ever drawn."

MIT Licensed