Wargaming as a form of historical simulation

Introduction. Wargames are an ancient invention of humankind. A new type of wargames was made in the 19th century. Further it went through the evolution from a military application to historical simulation that can be used as a mathematical model in researching some issues of historical science. Methods. The authors base the research on the tradition of “cliometry” and “quantitative history”, which apply the following methods: variative analysis, method of average, and statistical analysis. Analysis. The paper presents the describtion of the main stages of wargames’ evolution and their influence on militaryarts and historical science. The authors consider the most important transformations: from entertaining board games to practical military guides and further to applied historical studies. The article describes the principals of creating such games and the influence of science subject area on their rules. The paper shows the boundaries of application of this method. The authors highlight advantages and disadvantages of game simulation and its practical potential as an auxiliary historical discipline. The paper also provides short analyses of the main monographs. The authors give examples of wargames that have played an important role in the development of game simulation, describe the main contemporarytypes of wargames, and give the criteria of historical accuracyand analytical potential. Results. Modern wargames allow us to make any military historical research more impersonal and measured. The researcher can adjust the rules more flexibly and determine the science subject borders. American researchers outlined the main principles of self-creating wargames for testing some hypothesis suggested by historians.