The exhibit combines electronic mapping technology, military strike data and declassified CIA imagery to convey the tragedy of war.
OAKLAND - In 1861, long after his retirement, French civil engineer Charles Joseph Minard created a graphic depicting the devastating human cost of Napoleon Bonaparte's Russian campaign of 1812. The famous chart is chillingly simple in its design.
A thick, triumphant gold line represents Napoleon's Grand Army of 422,000 as it departed Poland, and a withered black line represents the mere 10,000 soldiers who returned home. Minard's obituarist later wrote that the chart "inspires bitter reflections on the cost to humanity of the madnesses of conquerors and the merciless thirst of military glory."
Oct 14, 2026
