Geography questions

[Philippe]

I happened to glance at the area around Berlin and it raised a few questions, probably because I am not as familiar with this period as I should be.

I was under the impression that the fortress near Berlin was at Spandau (a brick citadel), which, although it exists, doesn't seem to be particularly fortified.

I was also under the impression that Brandenburg was more of a territory than a town, and that it's 'capital' was Potsdam.

Which leaves me scratching my head over the fortress of Brandenburg. Was that a town, and should it really be fortified?

I would love it if someone who was involved in sorting out the geography for the game would come along and set me straight on this.

(And I still think that the western side of Leipzig should be backed up against some kind of river to represent the marshy confluence of the Pleisse and the Elster).

[caranorn]

The capital of the historic province of Brandenburg seems to indeed have been Potsdam at times also Berlin. Several towns and villages named Brandenburg exist (I know for certain of one in Luxembourg and one in Thurinigia). Looking at a Wikipedia map I find one to the west of Potsdam, but I have no idea what importance that place had in the 18th century...

http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:Brandenburg-1904_1-1375x1890.jpg&filetimestamp=20050416194443

[Philippe]

I think the in-game Brandenburg is supposed to represent Brandenburg an der Havel, which is located to the west of Potsdam in the direction of Magdeburg, and not south of Berlin.

I'm now thinking that there was some distortion in how the towns depicted in their areas line up in relation to each other, and that may be causing part of the problem.

In the real world Berlin-Spandau-Potsdam-Brandenburg-Magdeburg form a kind of east-west axis, and in the game they don't.

Perhaps this can be fixed by fiddling with the artwork, but I think it probably should be revisited.

[Philippe]

Just glanced at Kevin Zucker's map for Napoleon at the Crossroads which covers the maneuvering up to the Battle of Leipzig in 1813.

I've seen this before in the maps to F. Lorraine Petre's book on the 1813 campaign, but the main highway crossings of the Elbe are at Dresden, Torgau, Wittenberg (not to be confused with Wittenberge), and Magdeburg. There's a lesser crossing at Meissen (near Dresden) and a couple of little ones downstream from Wittenberg.

There's a major highway running from Halle to Berlin, and it crosses the Elbe at Wittenberg.

Wittenberg is an important location, and I don't see it, its fortress, or the road from Halle to Berlin.

[WhoCares]

Just had a look at the map around Breslau and noticed that the river flowing there into the Oder is called Glatzer Neisse but does actually not pass Glatz.

Looking at Google Maps I found the Glatzer Neisse flowing north through Glatz (fort on the eastern bank), then east through Neisse (fort north), then turns north and ends between Brieg and Oppeln in the Oder.

The river depicted on the game map is actually the (Schweidnitzer) Weistritz.

Just a minor "artistic" error, of course, except if someone feels the urge to actually add the real Glatzer Neisse

[lycortas]

Yes, i can not figure how you guys missed Wittenberg, Saxony.

What is this Wittenberge north of Magdeburg? None of my maps from the 1740's-50's show this city, if there is a city around there it should be Stendal, which is not on the map.

Mike