Great Powers Game Debrief

In the Great Powers Game that took place during the last few classes Yoon Ah and I were assigned the country of France. Building our empire up by buying colonies, industries, armies, and navies was thrilling. It made us feel powerful and in control. Certain countries had the advantage at the beginning of the game by starting off with more points. We were in the middle of the group with 3 points to begin with. The more powerful nations had 4 points, and the less powerful nations had 2 points. In the long run, it was best if your country had a balance of armies, navies, colonies, and industries. For example, owning colonies was useless if there were no armies or navies to protect them. For this reason, you need enough armies and navies to protect several colonies, with multiple industries. Balance was the key. Our country did well by buying quite a lot of colonies at the beginning, know that they would soon run out. We also wanted to develop these colonies by buying industries. By buying these two things we could get more spending points. But, because we were neutral for the great war, we didn't need much military. We continued like this for a while, becoming more and more powerful. I would have only changed one strategy of ours. I would have chosen a side for the great war. Because we didn't choose a side, both groups were unhappy with us, which is why we were attacked by Germany. They left us with only one industry, thus starting from the very beginning. The alliances were very unsuccessful. No one stuck to the alliances, even if written down on paper and signed. Therefor, our allies ended up disloyal, and eventually destroyed our country of France. No one could be trusted in the game, causing everyone to be wary of their "allies". I learned three specific things about conflict during this game. First, becoming neutral in a situation of conflict could potentially be hurtful. Secondly, alliances can be made, but also broken. Do not fully rely on anyone for support. Lastly, anything could happen in a short period of time. Some conflicts could be resolved, while others intensify. The Great Powers Game was very useful in showing us how conflicts operate.

Image: http://montagesl.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/conflict-resolution.gif