Worldbuilders, table-top gamers, and map-makers rejoice!
This collection of over 3000 military maps depicts key strategic locations and scenes of historic battles waged between the 16th-18th centuries.
Are you ready for something neat?
How neat, you ask?
Imagine standing amid a field in not far outside of Boston, fellow countrymen at your left and right. You stare down a line of British calvary in full charge. With frantic fingers, you reload your musket as the sergeant calls for the next volley. The air is ripe with gunpowder smoke. Thundering cannons resound from the hills ahead of you.
… Okay. That’s a bit unfortunate of a situation to be in.
What if, instead of finding yourself in that position, you can appreciate a glimpse of those battles from a historic, strategic vantage point?
What if, perhaps more appropriate to this blog, you were looking for inspiration for your next table-top game, battle map, or world-building session?
Regardless of where your passions lie, I have some very cool stuff to show you!
An Amazing Collection of Historic Maps!
On January 29th 2020, more than 3,000 military maps, illustrations, and other works collected by King George III were made available online by the Royal Collection Trust for public viewing. Many of these prints hid away in the British royal family’s archives, unwitnessed by the public for centuries. Now, with the magic of modern technology, the entire world gets to see them firsthand!
Their release comes in time for the 200th anniversary of King George III’s death.
The collection includes a variety of maps. Some come from the American War for Independence. Others depict the Seven Years War, the Napoleonic Wars, War of Spanish Succession, Eighty Years War, and many others!
Preserved Throughout the Ages
Maps in this collection go all the way back to some of the earliest wars of the 16th century. Once used in strategic campaigns, they exchanged hands between Italian art collectors, the Pope, and then to King George III himself.
This vast catalog was a collaborative effort by King George III, and his uncle, William Augustus. Upon his death, the greater part of 55,000 published works left for the royal library. These consisted of topographical maps, sketches of various ships, statistical charts, military plans, and others. All items saw distribution to the British Museum soon after.
However, the Kings Military Collection continued to be used by Georges successor, George IV. The royal family kept them in private until finally being released. The Royal Collection Trust took upon themselves to digitize these works so that the public at large can appreciate them, as they’ve done with so many other works of history an art.
Sketches That Capture the Imagination
Only just this month, these astounding illustrations became digitized and published, and every one of them captivates the imagination!
Each one is time machine, porting us back to a specific moment in Europe’s long, bloody history. Wars of various peoples, monarchies, newfound republics raged onward through this quarter millennia. I can just see all of my historian friends gush over these well-preserved depictions famous battles, where took place, and who was fighting them.
Not just historians, of course, but creators as well. Writers, readers, world-builders, map-makers, table-top gamers, war gamers, medievalists, renaissance/romance era enthusiasts, and a wide variety of other creatives whose inspiration soars when witnessing relics like these.
Far be it from me to glorify war, of course!. … However, having been a reader of fantasy fiction, and being enraptured in the worlds of Tolkien, Jordan, Salvatore, Hobb, Clarke, Sanderson, Rothfuss, and various others, I see artifacts like these as direct inspiration for creating speculative worlds with intriguing, and complex histories.
These pieces of history now revealed to the world will no doubt go towards inspiring the next generation of storytellers and historians.
Check out these AMAZING maps here: https://militarymaps.rct.uk/
Please note that all images in the stated collection are property of the Royal Collection Trust. ChaoticanWriter claims no rights over the images provided. All images posted are unrelated public domain images.
- How the IGDN Supports Diverse Voices in Tabletop Gaming - November 13, 2024
- Storytelling: Three Act Structure, and How it Works! (Act Two) - September 30, 2024
- 5 Awesome Fantasy Map-Making Tools on Steam - September 9, 2024
