|
||
|
|
|
|
A rare French-issued military map charting the peacetime deployment of the Imperial Russian Army in its western military districts in 1888, produced during the formative years of Franco-Russian rapprochement.
Lithographed in color and folded into printed paper covers and pamphlet, the map presents a detailed schematic of unit placements, chain of command, rail infrastructure, and fortress locations from the Baltic to the Black Sea. The layout delineates the headquarters and components of each corps (infantry, cavalry, artillery, and engineering regiments) using a clean symbolic lexicon decoded in the lower right. A second table at upper right identifies the military districts (circonscriptions militaires) by Roman numeral, from the I Corps at St. Petersburg to the XV Corps at Amour. Black lines indicate major rail routes.
Issued by Jules Peelman, a military bookseller and publisher of Le Spectateur Militaire, the map was clearly aimed at a professional readership in the French army, which was closely studying Russian military capability amid deteriorating relations with Germany and Austria-Hungary. Peelman’s shop at 189 Boulevard St. Germain is advertised on the rear wrapper, along with subscription terms to his military periodical and a note on delivery timelines from foreign scientific presses.
This schematic reflects post-Crimean reforms in the Russian Army under Dmitry Milyutin and the organizational logic of the permanent military districts created by imperial decree. At a time when France and Russia were not yet formal allies, French military planners were intensely interested in the dispositions of Russian forces opposite the German and Austro-Hungarian frontiers. Thus, the map embodies a strategic intelligence tool and a printed artifact of pre-alliance coordination between two continental powers.
![Mit Uns Im Osten [With us in the East]](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/101628.jpg)
