Cartography has an irreplaceable place in the field of propaganda and has always been closely linked to it. Maps graphically represent and therefore symbolise the state, and the publication of national atlases has been and is of undeniable importance for the self-esteem of individual nations. One of their most interesting types of cartographical materials, on which the ideological transformations of society can be well traced, are historical atlases.
Historický Atlas Revolučního Hnutí (Historical Atlas of Revolutionary Movement) is considered to be one of the best examples of politically motivated propagandistic atlas published in Czechoslovakia. It was not coincidentally also the first important atlas published after the communistic regime took the power of Czechoslovakia in 1948. The atlas shows a clear effort to view the whole of world history from the perspective of Marxist philosophy. Although a dozen more history atlases were produced during the communist period, this work is unparalleled in the history of Czechoslovak historical cartography in terms of the amount of propaganda it contains.
The authors openly admit the source of inspiration were Soviet historical maps , especially the second part, which is basically a compilation of Soviet works.
The atlas is divided into 4 chapters:
- History of the international labor movement
- History of the Communist party of Soviet Union
- History of the Czechoslovak Communist party
- History of fights for freedom of colonial and dependent countries
The individual chapters are preceded by a notebook of several pages, which contains an introductory word and a list of all illustrated maps.
