About 270 men sailed from Spain in 1519 to reach the Spice Islands by going west. Three years later, 18 came home, on one ship, having sailed around the world.

For 53 days in 1453, under 8.000 defenders held the walls of Constantinople against an Ottoman army of 50.000–80.000. Then, on 29 May, the city fell.

"Roll up that map; it will not be wanted these ten years".. That was William Pitt on the news of Austerlitz. Here is how Napoleon redrew Europe, and lost it, in those ten years.

Coats of arms and flags, from Wikimedia Commons. - Kingdom of Prussia: flag 1750–1801, by David Liuzzo, Attribution licence. commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F…

How to read the map: - Lighter red marks Finnish land held by the Red Army before the treaty;full colours appear with the treaty. - Rings mark encircled Soviet columns; they turn blue when the column is destroyed. - Arrows are generalised directions of advance through named places. - Each small flag stands for one army or thrust, not its size or exact position.

Data Sources: Carnegie Endowment, Report of the International Commission on the Balkan Wars (1914), maps pp. 55 and 70.