Map from 1842 titled Map to illustrate the War in China. — Credit: Map to illustrate the War in China. From the British Library archive.

How Maps Win or Lose Wars

Discover the crucial role maps play in warfare from the frontlines to the war rooms.

Friday 31 October 19.00

About How Maps Win or Lose Wars

We bring together a compelling expert panel together to explore how maps shape military thinking, decision-making and action. From historical campaigns to modern conflicts, they consider how maps influence the conduct and perception of war. They delve into how secrecy and restricted access to cartographic information have shaped the outcomes of war and how maps can be powerful tools of resistance and defiance.

Joining Barbara Bond, former cartographic researcher at the Ministry of Defence, will be military historian Jeremy Black and Dr Sana Murrani, whose work explores mapping and the displacement of people in conflict.

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Venue and bar opening times

This is an in-person only event in the British Library Knowledge Centre. 

The Knowledge Centre and bar open from 18.00.

Please arrive no later than 15 minutes before the start time of this event.  If you have specific access requirements please email customer@bl.uk

Concessions

There are a range of concessions available. These include discounts for British Library Members, Young Persons (16–25s), and visitors on Universal/Pension Credit and free entry for carers.

Dr Barbara Bond
Dr Barbara Bond spent her career as a map researcher in the Ministry of Defence.
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Dr Barbara Bond spent her career as a map researcher in the Ministry of Defence, initially in the Mapping and Charting Establishment, Royal Engineers (now the Defence Geographic Centre), and later in the UK Hydrographic Office, where she became the senior civilian Director and Deputy Chief Executive. She is a Fellow and past-Council member of the Royal Geographical Society, and a past-President of the British Cartographic Society which awarded her its Silver Medal for services to international cartography. She was Chair of the International Hydrographic Organisation’s Antarctic Commission from 1992–97 and was subsequently awarded the Prince Albert Medal, presented in Monaco by HSH Prince Rainier. She was awarded an MBE for services to Higher Education and, in 2017, she was inducted into the US National Geospatial Intelligence Hall of Fame. Since retirement, she has served as a Trustee for the charity MapAction and on the British Library Advisory Board for the exhibition, Secret Maps.
Jeremy Black
Jeremy Black is author of numerous history books.
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Jeremy's books include A Brief History of History, Tank Warfare, and Charting the Past: The Historical Worlds of Eighteenth-Century England. He is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Exeter and a Senior Fellow both of the British Foreign Policy Group and of the Foreign Policy Research Institute. Jeremy is a recipient of the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize from the Society for Military History.
You can follow Jeremy at his on his website – jeremyblackhistorian.wordpress.com
Sana Murrani
Sana Murrani is Associate Professor in Spatial Practice at the University of Plymouth and a Visiting Senior Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre.
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Her work explores how maps, memory and storytelling can capture the experiences of people living through displacement and conflict. Her projects often bring together communities, charities and cultural organisations together to create new ways of mapping places and stories that are at risk of being forgotten. Using methods ranging from digital atlases to pop-up books and exhibitions, she develops creative, collaborative approaches to preserving hidden or silenced histories. Sana’s work spans architecture, geography, heritage and wellbeing, and is shaped by close partnerships with displaced communities in the Middle East, the UK and beyond.