CZECHOSLOVAKIA WITHIN THE 20TH CENTURY IN MAPS

Abstract

As a part of the Czech Historical Atlas project, the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague prepare a printed atlas devoted to the history of the former Czechoslovakia in the 20th century. The atlas is now in the process of creating and reviewing individual maps. This paper deals with the thematic division of the atlas, the use of individual cartographic methods and important notes on the creation of historiographical maps. From the thematic-focus point of view, the content of the atlas is very diverse. Among the most important maps of the whole content the maps concerning the territory of Czechoslovakia and its development within 1918–1992 may be ranked. War maps represent other important group of maps. In particular, the themes of the Liberation of Czechoslovakia, the advance of the US Army in May 1945 or the Slovak National Uprising were processed. As for cartographic processing in particular, these maps are probably the most complicated. They contain a number of motion lines and their graphical load is enormous. There are also other maps related to World War II – transports of the Jewish population or displacement of the German population after the war. The Atlas further documents movements of the Czech population (minorities, emigration) as well as important 8-number-year topics in the Czechoslovak history (1918, 1948, 1968, 1989).