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TODAY’S DATA LENS

The band gets thinner because the army did.

8 October 2026 One-minute observation
Square Today’s Data Lens card titled ‘The band gets thinner because the army did.’ A simplified Minard-style diagram uses a wide tan band for 422,000 troops at the start, narrowing to about 100,000 at Moscow, then a very thin dark return band for 10,000 troops. The card notes that the final band is about 2.4% of the starting width.

Observation

In Charles Minard’s 1869 chart of Napoleon’s 1812 Russian campaign, band width represents troop strength. The army begins at 422,000, reaches Moscow at about 100,000, and returns near Kowno with 10,000. That final band is only about 2.4% of the starting width.

Width did the counting.