What if the Union Army had machine guns at the Battle of Gettysburg? What if Robert E. Lee had observation balloons to spy on his opponents? These are the sorts of questions that tempt alternative history buffs. The popularity of speculative novels and movies demonstrates that humans can't resist the chance to explore what might have been.
But some are putting alt history to a more practical purpose: teaching U.S. military officers to deal with the impact of new technologies. New weapons, such as drones and hypersonic missiles, have revolutionized war and sent armies scrambling to devise new tactics.
So why not use the past to spur thinking about the future? That's why the RAND Corporation think tank devised a Gettysburg wargame for the U.S. Army's Futures program, which deals with questions such as what equipment and doctrine the Army will need in coming years.
"The whole idea is to create an historical laboratory," Gian Gentile, a retired Army colonel and historian who is now director of RAND's Arroyo Center, told Popular Mechanics. "Using counterfactuals that will allow the players to learn from them, and apply them to their present and future thinking."
The RAND game took an historical event, but made a few counterfactual changes. This Battle of Gettysburg would feature the historical armies, but they would be armed with advanced equipment—not with lasers or guided missiles, but technology that was actually available in 1863, yet which the Union and Confederacy failed to take advantage of. |
What if the Union Army had machine guns at the Battle of Gettysburg? What if Robert E. Lee had observation balloons to spy on his opponents? These are the sorts of questions that tempt alternative history buffs. The popularity of speculative novels and movies demonstrates that humans can't resist the chance to explore what might have been.
But some are putting alt history to a more practical purpose: teaching U.S. military officers to deal with the impact of new technologies. New weapons, such as drones and hypersonic missiles, have revolutionized war and sent armies scrambling to devise new tactics.
So why not use the past to spur thinking about the future? That's why the RAND Corporation think tank devised a Gettysburg wargame for the U.S. Army's Futures program, which deals with questions such as what equipment and doctrine the Army will need in coming years.
"The whole idea is to create an historical laboratory," Gian Gentile, a retired Army colonel and historian who is now director of RAND's Arroyo Center, told Popular Mechanics. "Using counterfactuals that will allow the players to learn from them, and apply them to their present and future thinking."
The RAND game took an historical event, but made a few counterfactual changes. This Battle of Gettysburg would feature the historical armies, but they would be armed with advanced equipment—not with lasers or guided missiles, but technology that was actually available in 1863, yet which the Union and Confederacy failed to take advantage of. |
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