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An Early Multi-Day Battle Plan -- Maps with Flaps!

This map, titled Journal des Mouvemens de l'Armee Alliee de Sa Majeste Britannique de Brunswic depuis le 14 Juillet jusqu'au 2me Aout 1759, illustrates the events surrounding the Battle of Minden, fought on August 1, 1759, during the Seven Years' War. Created to document the movements and deployments of the Allied forces under the command of Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, the map also contrasts these against the positions of the French army under Marshal de Contades. 

The map is of note for being one of the earliest printed maps to employ flaps to show battle progression over time.  The English version of this map is considered the earliest use of this technique on an English map.

Maps with Flaps

This is a very rare and early use of overlaid sections on a printed map. Ashley Baynton Williams explains:

The vast majority of maps, whether printed or manuscript, depict a single moment in time, in essence a cartographic snapshot. One of the difficulties on a two-dimensional map is how to depict, in a coherent way, a progression of events, for example the stages of a military campaign, or more particularly the phases of a battle. For England, overlays on manuscript maps are recorded as early as the sixteenth century, for example Richard Poppinjay's plan of Portsmouth from the 1580s has an additional overlay to depict proposed additions to the defensive works of the port … For some reason, printed maps seem to have lagged behind in the use of overlays, and it would seem that it was not until the Seven Years War that the next recorded examples of maps with overlays can be found, curiously all attributed to the same year, 1760, and with the impetus coming from British mapmakers and publishers.

The map was surveyed and drawn by the famed Scottish surveyor William Roy and was printed in London by Thomas Major. There is a Dutch version as well, engraved by Jacob van Schley and published by Pieter de Hondt in The Hague. Both were released in 1760.

The map is drawn on a scale of paces (2.5 feet per pace) and shows the environs of Minden, now North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany. The central sweep of the plan shows the troop movements, with the two flaps to be fitted over Minden in the middle top of the document. To the left and right are polygonal text boxes minutely describing the troop movements (left) and an overview of the action (right). In the lower right is the key and scale, while the lower left contains a decorative cartouche of a gunner and cannon with a large banner declaring the work to be dedicated to Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick.

Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1721-1792) was a German-Prussian army officer, close friend of Frederick the Great, and a Master Mason in the Order of Freemasons. As field marshal, he repulsed the French from Hanover from 1757-62, as part of the Seven Years' War.

Battle of Minden

The map covers the terrain near Minden, including the River Weser, surrounding villages, and the battlefield. It features detailed topographical representations of hills, forests, roads, and rivers, offering insight into the geography that influenced military strategy. Troop placements and movements are marked with symbols denoting the different nations and unit types that comprised the Allied and French forces. The left side of the map contains extensive explanatory text in French, providing a narrative of the events leading to the battle.

The map is further embellished with an ornate cartouche in the lower right corner, dedicated to Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick. The cartouche features allegorical elements, including military trophies such as drums, cannons, flags, and a lion, symbolizing martial prowess and victory.

The troops from various nations involved in the battle are identified by unique symbols and color codes, as explained in the legend at the bottom of the map:

1. British Forces:

   • Cavalry: Red with diagonal stripes.
   • Infantry: Solid red.
   • Grenadiers: Red with triangular markings.
   • Artillery: Red with yellow corners.

2. Hanoverians:

   • Cavalry: Red and white striped.
   • Infantry: Solid red with white trim.
   • Grenadiers: Red and white striped triangles.
   • Artillery: Red with alternating yellow.

3. Hessians:

   • Cavalry: Blue and white striped.
   • Infantry: Solid blue.
   • Grenadiers: Blue with triangular markings.
   • Artillery: Blue and white alternating sections.

4. Brunswickers:

   • Infantry: Yellow with black trim.
   • Grenadiers: Yellow with triangular black markings.

5. Prussian Dragoons:

   • Green Triangles

The French positions are shown with similar detail, marked in a light green above Minden.

The Battle of Minden/Thonhausen

The Battle of Thornhausen (or Minden) was part of this offensive. It was fought August 1, 1759. Under the Marshall de Contades, the French captured Minden on July 10. A combined English and German force, led by Ferdinand, massed to dislodge them.

On the night of July 31, Contades left his defensive position and advanced on the Allied forces. Through a misunderstanding of orders, six British regiments of infantry, later supported by the Hanoverian Guards, took on the French cavalry. Miraculously, the French cavalry were unable to break the marching lines and suffered heavily in their attacks. Supported by artillery, the Allies overwhelmed the French.

The victory prevented further French designs on Hanover in 1759 and helped to keep the French from Hanover for the rest of the war. George II awarded Ferdinand the Order of the Garter and 20,000 pounds. The British celebrated the victory as part of the Annus Mirabilis of 1759, as that was the year the war turned in their favor on several fronts, thanks to the capture of Fort Ticonderoga, Quebec, and Guadeloupe. The British had also successfully fought off the French who were besieging Madras and the Royal Navy smashed the French in the Battles of Lagos and Quiberon Bay.

For the French, the defeat was a humiliation. After an investigation, the Marshal de Contades was relieved of duty. A particularly prominent casualty of the battle was Michel Louis Christophe Roch Gilbert Paulette de Motier, the Marquis de La Fayette. His son, who would go on to fame during the American Revolution, was almost two years old at the time.

The war continued for three more years. Prussia and Austria fought themselves to a stalemate and the French were suffering under a British naval blockade. Spain had entered the fray after Britain declared war in 1762, allying with Spain's neighbor Portugal. The war in Central Europe ended with the Treaty of Hubertusburg, with both Prussia and Austria returning to the same territorial set-up as 1748. The Treaty of Paris ended hostilities between France and Britain. France ceded Louisiana to Spain and most of New France, now Canada, to Britain. Britain also regained Minorca from France and Florida from Spain. France lost most of its power in India while the British gained allies there. A new world order emerged, with Britain as the foremost global power.

The Map Surveyors

The plan was surveyed and drawn by Captain William Roy (1726-1790) and engraved by Thomas Major (1719-1799). Roy was a well-regarded military map maker, military engineer, surveyor, and antiquarian. By age 20, he was already in the employ of the Board of Ordinance at Edinburgh Castle, where he drafted an official map of Culloden just after the battle in 1746. Following the end of the Jacobite rising, Roy participated in the survey of Scotland, which produced the document known as the Duke of Cumberland's Map.

The survey was interrupted by the Seven Years' War and Roy was appointed an ensign in the Corps of Engineers and a practitioner-engineer in the Board of Ordnance. He eventually attained the rank of major-general in the former and director and lieutenant-colonel in the latter. Roy served in Europe during the Seven Years' War, including at the Battle of Minden. It was there that Roy prepared overlays to more easily show his commanders changes in troop movements, an innovation that was eventually adopted more generally.

After the war Roy moved to London, where he began to advocate for a national survey. In 1767 he was named a Fellow of the Royal Society. He led a survey of the coasts of all British possessions and participated in the Anglo-French Survey measuring the distance between Paris and Greenwich. This triangulation was eventually continued in the form of the Ordnance Survey, a project commenced a year after Roy died and with his work in mind.

The English edition of the map was published by Thomas Major, an engraver, etcher, printseller, and mapseller. He travelled to Paris in 1745 and was imprisoned in the Bastille for three months in late 1746, as reprisal for Frenchmen imprisoned after Culloden. Back in England, he established himself as a print artist and exhibited at the Free Society of Artists in 1762 and was elected to the Royal Academy in 1770. He was appointed Seal Engraver to George III and Engraver to the Stamp Office. After his death, his prints and plates were sold at auction; their volume and the interest in them was considerable and the auction continued for six days.

Rarity

The map is extremely rare.  

We locate 2 examples:  Royal Collection Trust and McMaster University.

The entry for the example at McMaster University provides:

Originally published in: [A collection of plans of the battles, sieges, military positions in connection with the campaigns of Ferdinand Duke of Brunswick]. Supplement to: An atlas of the battles, sieges, military positions in connection with the campaigns of Ferdinand Duke of Brunswick by F.W. de Bawr, Pl. 14, published 1762-1766. 

The Bibliotheque National de France holds a copy of an atlas of battle plans which includes this map.

The English edition of the map is also extremely rare. We locate copies at the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, and the Det Kgl. Bibliotek - København.  

We offered an example of the English map for sale in 2018, which is no in the Rumsey Map Library at Stanford University.