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Interesting persuasive and data-visualization map, produced in Germany during the period of the First World War, attempting to foment a domestic reaction against Britain's overseas empire.
The map follows a common and - from a 21st-century perspective - strange line of reasoning, which saw British colonial possessions as unjust, not from the perspective of the colonized, but rather vis-a-vis other European powers that had lost colonial possessions to Britain. To that end, the key describes "England vergrößerte sich auf Kosten" (England enlarged at the expense of...) and then goes on to list tables of lands lost by Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, France, the Americas (though not the United States), and the Ottoman Empire.
Although the map is in German, and the audience was thus local, the theme of the map is not that Britain has specifically robbed Germany, but rather that Britain is generally a global bad actor. Perhaps this was part of an effort to recast German aggression during World War I (which was just underway when this map was published), as being far less serious than Britain's historical escapades.
These kinds of maps and related posters were also produced during the Second World War, particularly in Vichy France, where propagandists sought to stir up animosity about historical British overseas victories over France.
Rarity and Variant
The map is reasonably scarce on the market, this being the first time we have handled it.
OCLC shows a single example in North America, at Wisconsin Historical, and a handful of examples in Western European institutions.
There is an updated variant in which a chain surrounding the world links to many British colonies, with a hand reaching out from Britain itself to control the whole.
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