Thursday, September 19, 2013

A Staggeringly Complex Infographic Of The Civil War, Drawn 116 Years Ago

A Staggeringly Complex Infographic Of The Civil War, Drawn 116 Years Ago "Once you understand the underlying gimmicks, it’s an impressive piece to be sure. The United States is broken down into a series of columns in a grand vertical timeline. In the loosest possible terms, the Union was working its way left, to Richmond, while the Confederacy worked its way right, to Washington. Yet at the same time, there were several battlefronts operating in unison, depicted in multiple side-by-side columns. And it’s these fronts the chart captures so well. The skirmish lines appear as red, while green (Confederacy) and yellow (Union) armies zigzag back and forth in a fight for territory. Presented en masse, it gives you an appreciation for both the grand choreography and futility of war--along the unparalleled patience of 19th-century data designers, who would have counted and rendered this all meticulously and macro-lessly, by hand."

CivilWarChartFinal jpg CROP article920 large 500

No comments: