Diplomacy: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Allan B. Calhamer's Diplomacy (1954/1959) stripped the wargame of dice and left only seven players, one map of pre-1914 Europe, and the human capacity for betrayal. Its roots run through Harvard lecture halls, Edwardian geopolitics, and 19th-century Prussian Kriegsspiel; its descendants run through postal fanzines, the play-by-email internet, and modern negotiation games.

The Kynda mix for Diplomacy

• Key Influence · The Origins of the World War by Sidney Bradshaw Fay (1928). Calhamer studied European history at Harvard, where Sidney Fay's account of the alliance systems that produced 1914 supplied Diplomacy's entire premise: seven Great Powers whose written agreements bind nobody. Fay's thesis that the war emerged from secret treaties, shifting coalitions and mutual distrust rather than one villain is precisely the game's design logic, where every alliance is provisional and every border a negotiation.derived from the board's 1901 setup.>
• Influencia Obscura · The Geographical Pivot of History by Halford Mackinder (1904). Mackinder's heartland theory — that control of the Eurasian interior governs world power — is legible in Diplomacy's lopsided map, where Russia starts with four units and the greatest reach while England sits insulated behind fleets. Calhamer, trained in geography as well as history, built a board whose supply-centre distribution encodes Edwardian geopolitical thinking rather than mere symmetry or balance.
• Local Roots · The Strategy of Conflict by Thomas Schelling (1960). Written at Harvard in the same intellectual milieu Calhamer passed through, Schelling's study of bargaining, commitment and credible threats reads as the theoretical companion to Diplomacy. His focus on how adversaries communicate, make promises they may break, and reach tacit coordination without enforcement is the game's negotiation phase formalized — and the reason Diplomacy became a teaching tool in political science departments.
• Beyond the Medium · On War by Carl von Clausewitz (1832). Clausewitz's insistence that war is the continuation of policy by other means is the thesis Diplomacy makes playable: the military phase merely ratifies what was settled in conversation. His treatment of friction and of the primacy of political aims over battlefield technique explains why the game's combat resolution is deliberately trivial — strength is simply counted — while the political layer carries all the complexity.|philosophy → game design
• Peer · Tactics II by Charles S. Roberts (1958). Roberts invented the commercial board wargame and founded Avalon Hill, the company that would publish Diplomacy from 1976 onward. Tactics II codified hex maps, combat results tables and odds ratios — the dice-driven apparatus Calhamer rejected. The two games launched within a year of each other and between them defined the two strands, simulationist and negotiationist, that American hobby gaming followed for decades.
• Key Collaborator · Graustark by John Boardman (1963). Boardman, a physicist and science-fiction fan, launched the first postal Diplomacy zine, inventing the hobby that kept the game alive for decades: a gamesmaster adjudicating mailed orders, players negotiating by letter between seasons. Graustark's numbering and conventions became the standard for hundreds of zines worldwide, and the postal culture it created prefigured the play-by-email and online Diplomacy communities.
• Legacy · A Game of Thrones: The Board Game by Christian T. Petersen (2003). Petersen's adaptation is Diplomacy's most successful descendant: simultaneous hidden order placement, support orders that require a neighbour's cooperation, no dice in the original edition, and a negotiation phase where nothing agreed is binding. Westeros's great houses map onto Calhamer's seven powers almost exactly, and the game is widely discussed as a themed, time-limited refinement of his system.

What influenced Diplomacy

• Hearts. The article identifies Hearts as an inspiration for Diplomacy. “Calhamer also drew inspiration from the card game of Hearts , in which he observed that players were at an advantage when they teamed up against the leader” (Wikipedia)
• Congress of Vienna. Calhamer says an article on the Congress of Vienna suggested a basis for a strategic game. “the system of multiple and flexible checks and balances offered itself as a possible basis for a strategic parlour game of some depth and colour.” (Games & Puzzles)
• Geopolitics by Sir Halford MacKinder. Calhamer names geopolitics in his account of developing Diplomacy’s land-and-sea strategy. “Here I became re-acquainted with the concept of Geopolitics devised by Sir Halford MacKinder in about 1904, which I had already encountered in an article, again in Life .” (Games & Puzzles)
• The Origins of the World War by Sidney Bradshaw Fay (1928). The Origins of the World War (Sidney Bradshaw Fay) — titan for Diplomacy “Calhamer, would later develop and publish the game Diplomacy, based on this thesis).” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Chess (Traditional). Calhamer identifies features of chess that he borrowed for Diplomacy. “From chess I borrowed the number of spaces (80 as opposed to 64) and number of pieces (34 instead of 32). My pieces move as the King in chess” (Games & Puzzles)
• Chess by Traditional. Chess inspired a specific design choice in Diplomacy. “and from the game of chess , which inspired him to use a limited number of spaces and pieces.” (Wikipedia)
• Theory of Games and Economic Behavior by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern (1944). Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern) — culture for Diplomacy (openlibrary.org)
• On War by Carl von Clausewitz (1832). On War (Carl von Clausewitz) — culture for Diplomacy (openlibrary.org)
• The Geographical Pivot of History by Halford Mackinder (1904). The Geographical Pivot of History (Halford Mackinder) — ghost for Diplomacy (wikidata.org)
• The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli (1532). The Prince (Niccolò Machiavelli) — culture for Diplomacy (openlibrary.org)
• La Conquête du Monde (Risk) by Albert Lamorisse (1957). La Conquête du Monde (Risk) (Albert Lamorisse) — titan for Diplomacy
• Der Weltkrieg by Reichsarchiv (German General Staff) (1925). Der Weltkrieg (Reichsarchiv (German General Staff)) — ghost for Diplomacy
• Kriegsspiel by Georg Heinrich Rudolf Johann von Reisswitz (1824). Kriegsspiel (Georg Heinrich Rudolf Johann von Reisswitz) — titan for Diplomacy

Peers and kindred spirits

• The Strategy of Conflict by Thomas Schelling (1960). The Strategy of Conflict (Thomas Schelling) — geography for Diplomacy “According to the publisher, the book "carries forward the analysis so brilliantly begun in his earlier The Strategy of Conflict (1960) and Strategy and Arms Control (with Morton Halperin, 1961), and makes a significant contribution to th…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Risk. Diplomacy (Allan B. Calhamer) — peer for Risk “See also [ edit ] Diplomacy , a similarly themed board game Global War , 1979 Apple II clone game” (Wikipedia)
• Allan B. Calhamer. The article identifies Calhamer as the game's creator. “Diplomacy is a strategic board game created by Allan B. Calhamer in 1954 and released commercially in the United States in 1959.” (Wikipedia)
• Graustark by John Boardman (1963). Graustark (John Boardman) — collaborator for Diplomacy “John Boardman of New York City.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Dungeons & Dragons by Gary Gygax (1974). Dungeons & Dragons (Gary Gygax) — geography for Diplomacy “Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax was also a Diplomacy PBM player in the 1960s.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The General by Donald Greenwood (1976). The General (Donald Greenwood) — collaborator for Diplomacy
• Tactics II by Charles S. Roberts (1958). Tactics II (Charles S. Roberts) — peer for Diplomacy
• Origins of World War II by James F. Dunnigan (1971). Origins of World War II (James F. Dunnigan) — peer for Diplomacy
• Civilization by Francis Tresham (1980). Civilization (Francis Tresham) — peer for Diplomacy
• Acquire by Sid Sackson (1964). Acquire (Sid Sackson) — geography for Diplomacy
• The Gamers' Guide to Diplomacy by Rod Walker (1975). The Gamers' Guide to Diplomacy (Rod Walker) — collaborator for Diplomacy

Who Diplomacy influenced

• Hundred. Hundred is identified as a Diplomacy variant. “Players need to own an existing copy of Diplomacy for the unit pieces and basic rules (or at least they have to know the basic rules and be willing to substitute something else for pieces).” (UK Diplomacy Zine Archive)
• Avalon Hill's Diplomacy. Avalon Hill's Diplomacy is a computer-game adaptation of the board game. “Avalon Hill had taken control of the Diplomacy license in 1976, and in 1984 ported the game to TRS-80 and IBM PC.” (The Wargaming Scribe)
• Diplomacy (1984 video game). The 1984 computer game adapted the board game. “Computer Diplomacy is the exact port of Diplomacy and has been designed at least as much as an assistant to the board game than as a self-sufficient game.” (The Wargaming Scribe)
• Classical. Classical is identified as a Diplomacy variant. “The game uses the standard Diplomacy Rules and a map of the region surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.” (UK Diplomacy Zine Archive)
• Machiavelli. Machiavelli is identified as a Diplomacy variant. “Like the original Machiavelli (which was created by a company that didn’t own the rights to Diplomacy) the game does not advertise itself as being a Diplomacy variant.” (UK Diplomacy Zine Archive)
• Kamakura. Kamakura is identified as a Diplomacy variant. “Similarly to Machiavelli, this game begins with the basic core mechanics of Diplomacy but adds to that some new concepts such as double armies, double fleets, earthquakes and — for that distinctly Japanese flavor — typhoons.” (UK Diplomacy Zine Archive)
• Ard-Rí. Ard-Rí is identified as a Diplomacy variant. “The rules of “standard” Diplomacy ® are valid, unless specifically replaced or amended by these rules” (UK Diplomacy Zine Archive)
• Colonial Diplomacy. Colonial Diplomacy is identified as a Diplomacy variant. “Except as noted below, the standard rules of play for Diplomacy apply.” (vDiplomacy)
• Youngstown. Youngstown is described as a variant extending Diplomacy's map. “The Youngstown variant of diplomacy follows the same rules as standard diplomacy with an expanded map. Three new powers are added: China, India and Japan.” (UK Diplomacy Zine Archive)
• Imperial. The article reports that some describe Imperial as a Diplomacy variant. “This variant follows all of the rules in Standard Diplomacy, except the following.” (The Diplomatic Pouch)
• Diplomacy of the Three Kingdoms. This variant was designed to introduce ideas from Diplomacy. “Based on the Three Kingdoms in Ancient China , it was created by Edi Birsan to introduce the basic ideas of the main game to a Chinese audience” (Wikipedia)
• A Game of Thrones: The Board Game by Christian T. Petersen (2003). A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (Christian T. Petersen) — legacy for Diplomacy
• Churchill by Mark Herman (2015). Churchill (Mark Herman) — legacy for Diplomacy