Restoring the World, 1945

John E. Moser, Nicolas W. Proctor

Description

The devastation of the Second World War is coming to an end. As victory for the Grand Alliance draws close, the leaders of Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States gather at Yalta, a resort town on the Black Sea, for the most important summit meeting of the war. Can the great powers finalize their plans for a new world order, or will their often antagonistic ideologies prevent them from forging a lasting peace? Restoring the World immerses students in the Yalta Conference as they take on the roles of Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin, as well as the members of their military and diplomatic delegations. They all want peace, but what kind of peace will they create?

Sujets

• Histoire
• Segunda Guerra Mundial
• Yalta Conference
• Military
• World War II
• History
• Seconde Guerre mondiale

Informations

• Publié par: The University of North Carolina Press
• Date de parution: 15 mai 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781469659855
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

Restoring the World, 1945
 
REACTING TO THE PAST is an award-winning series of immersive role-playing games that actively engage students in their own learning. Students assume the roles of historical characters and practice critical thinking, primary source analysis, and argument, both written and spoken. Reacting games are flexible enough to be used across the curriculum, from first-year general education classes and discussion sections of lecture classes to capstone experiences, intersession courses, and honors programs.
Reacting to the Past was originally developed under the auspices of Barnard College and is sustained by the Reacting Consortium of colleges and universities. The Consortium hosts a regular series of conferences and events to support faculty and administrators.
Note to instructors: Before beginning the game you must download the Gamemaster’s Materials, including an instructor’s guide containing a detailed schedule of class sessions, role sheets for students, and handouts.
To download this essential resource, visit https://reactingconsortium.org/games , click on the page for this title, then click “Instructors Guide.”
 
Restoring the World, 1945
SECURITY AND EM PIRE AT YALTA
NICOLAS W. PROCTOR AND JOHN E. MOSER
The University of North Carolina Press
Chapel Hill
 
© 2022 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Set in Utopia and The Sans by Westchester Publishing Services
The University of North Carolina Press has been a member of the Green Press Initiative since 2003.
Cover illustration: Kukryniksy. A Thunderous Blow , 1942. The Art Institute of Chicago. Made available under Creative Commons Zero (CC0).
ISBN 978-1-4696-5984-8 (pbk.: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4696-5985-5 (e-book)
 
With the war’s general outcome starting to become clear, the endgame is best thought of as a discussion over what the details of the final settlement will be and what will happen after the shooting stops. The problem is that that discussion, whether implicit or explicit, takes place under extremely trying circumstances. At least some officials on both sides may now be considering sheathing their swords, but they are doing so against the backdrop of the fighting itself: the triumphs and disasters experienced, the blood and treasure spent, the hopes and passions raised. By this point, moreover, leaders and publics have usually gotten so caught up in beating the enemy that they find it hard to switch gears and think clearly about constructing a stable and desirable political settlement. So they rarely handle endgame challenges well and usually find themselves at the mercy of events rather than in control of them.
Gideon Rose, How Wars End
 
Contents 1. INTRODUCTION Brief Overview of the Game Prologue: The New World Order Across the Atlantic By Air from Britain Defending the Motherland How to Play This Game Game Setup Game Play Game Requirements 2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Wilsonian Idealism, Power Politics, and the Desire for Security 1942: Problems in the Grand Alliance 1943: The Road to Tehran 1944: New Victories, New Problems Timeline of Events 3. THE GAME Major Issues for Debate The Issues Rules and Procedures Objectives and Victory Conditions National Leaders (The Big Three) Formal Speeches Resolving Issues Council of Foreign Ministers Working Groups Basic Outline of the Game Setup Sessions Plenary Sessions Preparation of the Final Protocol Debriefing Assignments Formal Speeches Debriefing Essay Maps Counterfactuals 4. ROLES AND FACTIONS United States of America United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 5. CORE TEXTS Speeches of the Big Three Franklin D. Roosevelt, “State of the Nation Address,” 1945 Winston Churchill, “War Situation and Foreign Policy,” 1945 Joseph Stalin, “Speech at Celebration Meeting of the Moscow Soviet of Working People’s Deputies and Moscow Party and Public Organizations,” 1944 Ideological Documents Eduard Bene š , “The Organization of Postwar Europe,” 1942 Franklin D. Roosevelt, “The Four Freedoms,” 1941 Joseph Stalin, “The International Character of the October Revolution,” 1927 Joseph Chamberlain, “The True Conception of Empire,” 1897 Diplomatic Documents Anthony Eden, Papers on Strategy, 1944 Henry Morgenthau Jr., “Suggested Post-Surrender Program for Germany,” 1944 Tehran Conference: Tripartite Dinner Meetings, 1943 Moscow Conference, 1943 Atlantic Charter, 1941 Selected Bibliography Acknowledgments
 
Restoring the World, 1945
 
1
Introduction
BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE GAME
This game explores the diplomacy between the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union during the final months of the Second World War. For the past three years, these nations have been joined together into a Grand Coalition against Nazi Germany, but with victory in Europe close at hand, cracks have started to appear.
The Yalta Conference is focused on compromise. It culminates in the drafting of a shared written document: the Final Protocol, which may be augmented by secret agreements. Achieving consensus can be a challenge, especially given the complexity of the issues and the desire of each of the Big Three to be first among equals. If too many issues are left undecided, the conference will collapse, Germany and Japan will take heart, the war will continue, hundreds of thousands more will die, and everyone will lose the game.
Each attendee is determined to shape the postwar world. Together, the players must decide the fate of millions of inhabitants of Eastern Europe, Germany, and East Asia. At the same time, they must work to ensure that the proposed United Nations organization will function after the war ends.
When it comes time to compromise, they must make sure that their nation is not making too many concessions, especially on the issues about which they care the most, but they must also recognize that if they do not give way on some issues, the conference will collapse.
Through this exploration of the multipolar grand strategy, players should develop a deeper understanding of the ideologies of the main Allied Powers during the Second World War, the key decisions that were made at the end of the war, and the origins of the Cold War.
This map of Eastern and Central Europe shows pre-1938 political borders. German forces remain in control of most of Germany, Austria, Denmark, western Czechoslovakia, and northern Italy. The map also shows the Curzon Line, the projected boundaries of the different occupation zones for Germany, and the provinces of Prussia and Silesia.
PROLOGUE: THE NEW WORLD ORDER
Across the Atlantic
Your journey to Yalta began with a secretive, predawn departure from the naval base at Newport News, Virginia, on the morning of January 23, 1945. Aboard the heavy cruiser USS Quincy , you and other members of the U.S. delegation slipped away from the east coast of North America under cover of darkness.
It took over a week for the Quincy and its accompanying flotilla of destroyers and cruisers to cross the Atlantic Ocean and sail through the western Mediterranean Sea to the British fortress-island of Malta. Throughout the passage, friendly aircraft hung in the sky. The main danger supposedly came from German submarines, but few people seemed particularly concerned. At this point in the war, the Kriegsmarine is beaten. Even if the Germans could position a “wolf pack” of submarines in your path, they would be foolish to attack such a large and well-organized force. Still, every precaution was taken to avoid detection. At night, the ships ran without lights. If a message needed to be sent, a destroyer would leave the group, transmit, and then continue on another course.
This map of East Asia shows most of the theater of operations. Japanese forces remain in control of all the islands that appear on the map, but U.S. forces have liberated the southern portion of the Philippines. The Japanese also control Indochina, Korea, eastern China, and Manchuria.
President Roosevelt celebrated his sixty-third birthday while you were at sea. His health seems to have declined; you hope that he will rebound by the time you arrive at the conference. Without his charm and skill, it will be difficult to settle any of the many territorial issues that he has postponed deciding. These issues—particularly in relation to Poland—have become more immediate due to military necessity. As the Soviet, British, and American armies crush the German Reich between them, determining the shape of postwar Europe becomes an increasingly pressing matter.
As the war in Europe grinds to a bloody conclusion, the conflict in the Pacific rages on. Consequently, many of the military leaders accompanying the delegation agitate for greater effort against Japan. Most hope to persuade the Soviet Union to abrogate its neutrality treaty so that it can bring pressure on Japan’s large and undefeated Kwangtung Army in China.
Complicating all this is the president’s determination to breathe life into the new United Nations organization. The Soviets committed to joining the organization in the fall of 1944, but important details remain to be worked out. You know that Roosevelt has great hopes for the organization, but he otherwise plays his cards notoriously close to his chest. His negotiating style often features abrupt changes of direction, which occasionally lead him into contradictory positions. Indeed, he once remarked, “I never let my right hand know what my left hand does … I may have one policy for Europe and one diametrically opposite for North and South America. I may be entirely inconsistent, and furthermore I am perfectly willing to mislead and tell untruths.” 1
You are concerned that this approach, combined with the lack of seasoned diplomats (Secretary of State Edward Stettinius Jr. is in his second month in office), could prove disastrous. Still, when the Quincy arrived in Valetta harbor on February 2 and was met by a British b