SPATIAL PLOTTING OF THE INDIVIDUAL BATTLES, CASUALTY RATES, AND THE STRATEGIC SITUATION OF NAPOLEON’S SIX DAYS CAMPAIGN

Abstract

In the Napoleonic Wars, the Six Days’ Campaign between Napoleon and Marshal Blucher took place in the Champagne Region of France from February 10th to February 15th, 1814. Napoleon commanded around 30,000 inexperienced conscripts, while Blucher led approximately 60,000 hardened veterans of the Army of Silesia, which included Russians and Prussians. The project utilizes the Military Symbol Editor to create daily overlays of units’ dispossession from both armies. These overlays demonstrate how the armies reacted to the individual battles before and after each engagement. The strategic overlay map showing the armies’ dispossession before the campaign’s start offers greater context as to why the battles occurred as they did. Polygons are created around the engagement zones of each battle to apply dot-density overlays to the map. Dot density maps the number of casualties from both armies at each battle, which draws attention to the number of losses and the disproportionate rate after each battle. The project provides a deeper understanding of military campaigns, not just for history enthusiasts but also for students and educators. Using GIS technology, the maps are interactive and provide an immersive experience for the user, allowing them to explore the campaign in great detail and visualize the events as they occurred.