Charles Minard (1869) Napoleon's Russian Campaign of 1812

Created by Charles Minard in 1869 to tell a story of the losses of Napoleon’s troops on their 1812 march to Moscow, this data visualization is regarded as one of the greatest data visualizations of all time. It consists of six variables: the size, location, distance, and direction of the army, dates of travel on the return trip, and changing temperatures on the return trip. The visualization shows how disastrous the trip was, largely because of the great distance traveled in subzero temperatures. The size of the army was 422,000 men at the beginning of the trip and by the time the army completed the march, fewer than 10,000 men remained. One version of the original hand-drawn data visualization can be found here: https://www.nealvonflue.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Minard-napolean-chart3.jpg