I have seen this discussion of Michelin maps and acts of war etc.
I would like to propose an alternative and less sensational interpretation.
1. Michelin is a tire company. They would want to promote driving (automobiles) and tourism.
2. They have an international perspective.
I used Google maps, and it is a 7 hour 21 minute drive from Paris to Marsellie of 777 km (485 miles). I suppose in the past it would take longer to drive from Paris to Marsellie. If your traveling is confined to France it is at most a couple days driving out and a couple back.
If you had an automobile and had enthusiasm the question would immediately arise could you drive to Berlin, or Rome, or Lisbon. The thing is that any auto enthusiast would want to do is perhaps hit the road for a few days at least, maybe a week. The drive time from Paris to Berlin is now a 10h 22 min. drive. The drive time from Paris to Rome is 14 hours 2 min. (both per Google maps.) Of course it probably was longer in travel duration then, but they aren't great distances. Michelin merely realized that people would want to hit the road and drive serious distances. The map would have to have a scope in which they could drive these distances.
It is an international perspective in rejection of a nationalist perspective of geography. The world doesn't end at your national border.
This isn't to say that maps can't have pernicious uses. I have been looking at maps for driving in Africa by the French in their material for the 1931 Paris Coloniale Exposition.
But I don't think Michelin maps are pernicious because they recognize a world beyond the borrders of France, unless they had tank routes or marching times included on the map or a portrait of Louis X1V in a corner.
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