We studied the long-term causes of the war and the short-term trigger cause: the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austro-Hungary. Nathan Averboukh, a student in his last year at Le Sallay, had an idea: what if the nations of Europe had something like a United Nations conference in which they could find a compromise and avoid war?

With his usual energy and enthusiasm, Nathan designed a role-playing game that was quite extraordinary. Nathan wrote rules that included individualized strategy guides for each nation. The handouts explained the country’s strategic objectives, national wealth, military and technological capabilities and weaknesses as well as its alliances. This process took several days to research and create with my guidance.

The conference was opened by the history teacher Jelena, who welcomed everyone in multiple languages including Serbian, Turkish, Greek, English, German and French. A tribute to Jelena’s skills as a linguist. Then Nathan introduced the situation and the rules.

The day is June 28th, 1914. Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria has been assassinated. Each of you are representatives from a different country, each of you are looking for an advantage while stopping Europe from breaking out into war. If you are unable to procure an agreement between yourselves, then history will remain unchanged, and you will go to war. But war is avoidable. All of you are diplomats from different countries, and you have come to talk about what could be done, to avoid all-out war.

To increase the difficulty, each nation had a “secret” objective that they could not reveal or would lose points in the game. In order to achieve their objectives, each nation’s representative would have to work with their enemies and so the negotiation began.

Options included:

• Giving territory to another country;
• Giving money to another country;
• Giving resources like funding for industrialization and new technologies;
• Giving secret technologies that could change the course of any war;
• Give ships, planes, and airships;
• Make alliances with other countries, both military and trade alliances;
• Form coalitions and redraw the map of Europe and Africa.

Each representative was given time to read their handouts and draft an opening statement lasting no longer than one minute. In their opening statements, each student expressed their desire to avoid war and what they hoped to achieve in the conference.

And then began the debate. The rules of the debate were simple. One representative could speak at a time, and no interrupting under any circumstances. It began with the Austrian representative re-stating what they wanted in exchange for not invading Serbia and asking other nations for those things. Then a nation would agree to certain terms, but if they could get something in return. And that would trigger a conversation. They presented their alliances, agreements, and exchanges to the Moderator (Nathan) who kept track of the deals. A complicated business to be sure.

Some examples:

• Italy and the Ottoman Empire allied. Italy would support the Ottomans in exchange for trade routes through the empire.
• Russia promised Serbia support and promised to take over the weak Ottoman Empire.
• Austria agreed to give Slovenia to Italy in exchange for five battleships.
• Britain gave Northern Nigeria to Germany in exchange for Germany’s acceptance of Belgian neutrality.
• Italy joined an alliance with Britain, Russia, and France in exchange for colonies in Rhodesia.
• Germany joined with Britain and Italy by giving both 6,000 dollars and Britain gave half of Nigeria to Germany.
• Germany agreed to return Alsace-Lorraine to France.
• The Ottoman Empire received investments from several countries to industrialize in exchange for an alliance.

At one point most of the major nations had decided the solution was to invade Russia thereby negating its support of Serbia. Austro-Hungary would get more control over the Balkans, Germany more territory in the east, France received Alsace-Lorraine from Germany and they would neutralize the threat of the powerful Russian Empire. History would certainly have been different if this had happened! Though as students of history know, the first rule of European history is “never invade Russia.” The outcome might not have been what they hoped. They also failed to prevent a world war.

The conference was only intended to last two class periods. But the bargaining was unfinished and students requested time on their day off to finish. The chance of winning the game through the increase of territory, security, economic gain, and political influence engaged students. The credit goes entirely to Nathan, with some help from his friend, partner, and comrade, Max Chechelnitsky

Historical role plays, when successful, can help students understand, from the inside out, the motivations and fears that drove nations toward war. Students participated in the exchange of territories and populations with no regard for the inhabitants in the name of national interest. A diplomatic practice that will reappear in the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 and beyond. As a history teacher, my goal is to help students see the connections between past and present. Students were able to see parallels between the territorial claims of Russia, the Ukrainian struggle to remain independent, and 1914. History never repeats itself in exactly the same way, but there are still lessons to be learned.