Military simulations, also known informally as war games, are simulations in which theories of warfare can be tested and refined without the need for actual hostilities. Military simulations are seen
Soldiers from Britain's Royal Artillery train in a "virtual world" during Exercise Steel Sabre, 2015
Graf Helmuth von Moltke is nowadays regarded as the grandfather of modern military simulation. Although not the inventor of Kriegsspiel, he was greatly impressed by it as a young officer, and as Chief of Staff of the Prussian Army promoted its use as a training aid.
HMS Exeter at the Battle of the River Plate in 1939. As predicted by Pratt's naval warfare model, despite taking heavy damage the lighter British cruisers were able to defeat their much larger opponent, the German battleship Admiral Graf Spee.
A mock-up of Battleship Row at Pearl Harbor. This image was recreated for a later Japanese propaganda film.
A military exercise, training exercise, maneuver, manoeuvre, drill or war game is the employment of military resources in training for military operations. Military exercises are conducted to explore
Military simulation
…governments test and refine their military and political policies. The term military simulation can cover a wide spectrum of activities, ranging from full-scale field-exercises, to abstract computerized models that can proceed with little or no human involvement—such as the Rand Strategy Assessment Center (RSAC). As a general…
Marines moving between cover during a bilateral military exercise between the United States Marine Corps and Italian Armed Forces, 2019
British Army soldiers with a Covenanter tank during a World War II military exercise, 1942
A joint naval exercise between the Indian Navy, United States Navy, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and Royal Australian Navy in 2020