Key
At the selected date, the colour of each place shows who held it. To learn its story, click or tap a country or marker.
Drag to move · scroll to zoom · click a country or marker
To move the map on a touch screen, drag it. Pinch to zoom, or double-tap to zoom in.
What does it take to remake a state, and who bears the cost? This atlas follows two attempts to change the foundations of political and economic life. After 1868, Japan dismantled a samurai order of some 260 domains within a generation and built a centralized industrial empire. After 1985, the Soviet Union’s planned economy and one-party state gave way to a market economy and a new Russian Federation, amid collapse, inflation and war.
Twelve chapters follow the two histories on two maps; the final chapter brings them together for comparison. On the Japan map, red marks the new imperial state. It rises from nothing in 1867 to the whole country in 1871, then extends outward to Taiwan and Korea. On the Eurasia map, red shows the state ruled from Moscow, which broke apart in 1991. Move through the timeline and open a territory’s dossier to see the changes; the Field Exam lets you test what you can explain from the maps.
Keys: ←→ chapters · space play time · +− zoom · ⌘K search · ? all keys.
You can return to the library of twenty-one atlases at any time: select the balloon at the top left.