Napoleon's March to Moscow by C. J. Minard
Probably the best statistical graphic ever drawn, this map by Charles Joseph Minard portrays the losses suffered by Napoleon's army in the Russian campaign of 1812. Beginning at the Polish-Russian border, the thick band shows the size of the army at each position. The path of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow in the bitterly cold winter is depicted by the dark lower band, which is tied to temperature and time scales. Minnard's map is famous for the amount of information it conveys in such a limited space. It plots several variables:

• the size of the French army depicted by the width of the bands
• its location on a two-dimensional surface
• the direction of the movement of the advance (upper band) and retreat (lower band)
• the temperature on certain dates during the retreat