Outlines of the Social Field of Military Simulations

The article is interested in the phenomenon of wargaming. Turning to history and development of war games in the XIX and XX centuries, the analysis examines the characteristics of such practices and tries to situate them. The aim of the article is to outline the social field of artificial warfare and the complex constellation of „players“ ‒ military officers, politicians, academics from the universities and the non-governmental sector, military entrepreneurs and manufacturers, etc. The article describes this field as a specific field in which techniques, mechanisms, practices, knowledge, discourses are deployed to objectify and subjectify the players involved in warfare and war decision-making.