The weekly map “Positions of the Austro-German Troops on the Russian Frontline (due to official data)” as a valuable source of historical and geographical information

The article deals with studying an advertising and cartographic work of the WWI, weekly map "Positions of the Austro-German troops on the Russian Frontline (due to official data)". The research is based on clarification of its origin’s circumstances, the history of its creation, identification of the author and publisher, confirmation of authenticity, determining relationship with historic events or others and defining the source-studying value of the cartographic materials. In the course of the work, connection with the historic events of the War was revealed. The maps of the publication enabled tracing the weekly changes in the Russian front line and the course of battles at all fronts. Judging by the content of the advertisements located in the margins of the maps, you can see the entire historic period of the military campaign, as well as changes in the socio-political moods which took place in the Russian society. The biography of the map publisher G. Y. Footman was studied in detail, previously unknown archival documents were revealed, they allow us to build various hypotheses on the initial goals of creating the studied cartographic work