Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft: Bildstatistisches Elementarwerk - Heeresstärken in der Neuzeit : Stehende Heere-Kämpfende Heere [14080.029]
The pattern
This still is filed under Data as proof.
Define
A chart, map, or count that is the argument, not an illustration next to the argument.
Mechanism
Sighted evidence. The reader is asked to believe their eyes: a bar, a share, a spread on a map.
Verdict
The claim is comparative or quantitative and the figure can be read without a caption doing the sell.
Why it works
The same soldier symbol is used at the same size throughout, so the reader measures escalation by how much page the rows consume rather than by reading a number, and the 1918 block lands as a physical shock because it is the first time the figures fill the sheet edge to edge. Splitting the page into standing armies and fighting armies gives two comparable series under one headline without mixing their units. Red versus black is a pure category code for victor and defeated, which lets four battles be compared at speed with no legend lookup. The costume detail changes with the date, so the pictogram carries the century while the count stays honest.
Steal this when
Use this when your point is escalation and the number alone is too abstract to land, so the layout has to run out of room to make the argument. The paired-column victor and defeated device is worth stealing for any head-to-head comparison across several dated events.