The Czar’s Will On 1944 Europe

Predicting future tensions with postwar borders.

This fascinating presentation of Russian imperialism in Europe, issued just a few months before D-Day, highlights the impetus for American intervention on the continent. The Soviet Union’s 1939 boundaries are supplemented by huge swathes of territory allegedly intended for postwar annexation, including the strategically important Bosporus Strait. A large sphere of influence also permeates throughout the Balkans and Czechoslovakia, with a land corridor connecting the regions designed to impede Western support. The image was created to accompany a 1944 book review of Russia and Postwar Europe by David Dallin. The author of the review claims “In the Czar’s secret archives the Bolsheviks found a plan of the Russian territorial and political demands after World War I.”

This mysterious plan is the foundation for the territorial claims in the map, designed by Robert M. Chapin, Jr. and originally published in the April 3, 1944 issue of TIME Magazine. Chapin was a professionally trained architect who found jobs to be in low demand during the Great Depression. He took a job in the photo department at Newsweek in 1933, where he apparently picked up a knack for cartographic design. By 1937, he was hired by Time (a rival of Newsweek) as the head of the cartography department, a position he would hold until his retirement in 1970.

During his long tenure at Time, Chapin’s prolific output helped establish a pattern for 20th-century newsroom cartography. The use of bold colors, uncluttered design, and legible typography was immensely popular, and the maps were reprinted for distribution in classrooms and public spaces throughout the country. Despite their widespread appeal, the maps are uncommon on the market and often overlooked in institutional collections. This version is listed in only two examples in WorldCat as of May 2024 – Franklin & Marshall College and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. An additional example has been located at Oregon State University.

Sources: OCLC# 320454127; TIME Magazine archives