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In 1871 the unification of the numerous German states forming the „German Reich“ concluded the nation-building phase of the 19th century. It formed a picture of Europe, predominant until the end of the First World War. Depicting exact borders and their changes is one possible method of visualising the evolution of modern Europe. The other one is to focus on the territory of states by using contiguous circle cartograms to maintain the connectivity of adjacent objects (common borders) but to distract from rather complex border changes. This method ensures the recognition of smaller states and emphasises territorial changes, along with the appearance and disappearance of states. The resulting animated map shows the territorial changes, as well as the foundation and dissolution of states on a year-by-year basis, highlighting the political caesurae by increasing movement (e.g. 1918, 1945, 1990/1).