A History of Military Computer Simulation

Abstract

The history of military simulation dates back to the earliest ages of conflict. Throughout the history, military personnel has employed cognitive devices to comprehend and plan for conflict. This chapter provides a history of military simulation, starting with a review of the board-based war games , progressing through the computerization of those war games and completing with a discussion of the modern world of military simulation encompassing desktop-based analytical simulations, video games, and distributed training and analytical environments. It provides a background for the contributions of the military track that has been a pillar of the Winter Simulation Conference for many years.