Dated Events Map The World To Day

Eye-catching perspective of the postwar world.

“This Dated Events Map portrays, in compact form, the world picture – not perhaps as we want it to be – but as it is today” [Text, right side].

The colorful global perspective presents the world on an azimuthal projection and shows the political situation as of early 1948. Vibrant hues identify various nations and their affiliations, with the pink and red of the Soviet Union reflecting the increasing threat of the ongoing Cold War. The United Nations, a new entity organized to prevent any subsequent world wars, is highlighted throughout; with contributing nations labeled and their respective flags flying proudly. Major industrial exports are identified according to the legend in the upper right, including ‘Sources of Uranium (Atomic Energy)’.

Text boxes summarize important events between a period pre-dating WWII and the Communist Coup in Czechoslovakia in February of 1948. Inset maps in the lower left show the suggested partition of Palestine, the occupation of Germany, and part of South America. Taken as a whole, the image is an incredible encapsulation of the postwar world, as the Western victors slowly began to realize they had a new enemy in the U.S.S.R.

This is the first of the postwar maps designed by Stanley Turner and licensed by the C.C. Petersen Company of Toronto. The publishing partnership issued dozens of ‘Dated Event’ maps with a similar aesthetic during the war, with space reserved for advertisements by local printers and distributors. This particular example was printed by Gettier-Montayne, Inc. in Baltimore and issued to promote the St. Bernard Coal Company. For more information on Stanley Turner’s Dated Event War Maps, check out my blog post here.