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https://reunido.uniovi.es/index.php/RCG/article/view/15601

Ería, 2021, vol. 41, p. 79-99.

One of the most important topographical works carried out by the Spanish General Staff Corps in the 1860s was the mapping of the scenes of Julius Caesar’s battles in Hispania. This work was done at the request of Napoleon III, to illustrate the Histoire de Jules César, which was directed by the French emperor. It was an ambitious and complex work, due to the scale used (1:20,000) and the area covered (4,637 km2). The work was carried out in the southern regions of the province of Córdoba, in 1864 and early 1865, and the result was presented in Paris in June 1865. A copy of the final maps, together with 12 watercolours of landscapes, is preserved in the Library of the Royal Palace. This work reinforced the prestige of the General Staff Corps. The success of the undertaking supported the decision of General and Prime Minister Narváez to entrust the Army with the work on the national map in 1866. In 1867 the General Staff carried out a second phase of the work, with the aim of completing the mapped area up to the margin of the planned plates. However, for various reasons, the atlas was not published until 1887, which included 4 plates resulting from the topographical work carried out by the General Staff officers, although without indicating in any way the origin of the maps. A rather paltry end to the enormous, rapid and effective work carried out by the Spanish military between 1864 and 1867.