During the past two weeks in English class, We played Diplomacy ®, a war-game by Avalon Hill Game Co. which is now out of business. By playing this game, I learned much about politics, motivations, and how to run a country, at least from an international affairs point-of-view. By actually becoming the leader of one of the seven Great Powers just prior to World War I, I intelligently made alliances and advanced my army and navy to great heights. By the end of the game I owned/occupied twenty-four of the thirty-four supply centers on the map/board of Europe, Asia Minor, and North Africa, I owned/occupied 71% of this region. Playing as England, I was able to take over Russia, Germany, the Nordic countries, France, Spain/Portugal, a bit of Austria-Hungary, and a bit of Italy; I was on my way to taking over Turkey as the game came to a close. The English fleets at the end of the game occupied almost all of the bodies of water, and the majority of the coastal countries.
I started the game off with a French/German/English alliance. Together, Germany and I took out Russia fairly quickly. France in the mean time pushed eastward towards Italy. Germany lead the assault on Russia, I sent over two armies that invaded from the Norway into St. Petersburg. I left my fleets in the North Sea and English Channel area to protect my home country. My goal at this point in the game was to get France and Germany out of their homelands and keep their fleets from building on their western borders. After the first turn, I had a chat with Turkey, we decided that we would team up later in the game and take everyone out. We also agreed not to attack each other until we were the only two powers left on the board.
After about a year or two, France decided that she could win without the help of England and Germany, so she turned on us. With all my fleets in the region, I quickly invaded France, as she was attacking Southern Germany and winning. I convoyed mobs of armies across the Channel and took France fairly quickly. At this time, Turkey was coming in and taking Spain and Portugal. I supported one of her attacks on Spain. When she moved her army out of Spain to Portugal, I took Spain and attacked Portugal. Once she was out of the region I told her that I couldn’t let her come into that region because of the access she would gain for attacking me. She said she was getting kind of greedy and said she was sorry, we still had an alliance on, at least it was in her mind.
For the next few years I just built up a front that encircled Germany. It was from Northern Russia, the Nordic countries, the North Sea, and France. At this time, there was a major battle occurring in Austria-Hungary. Austria’s former ally, Turkey was turning on her. At first I helped the assault on Austria. Once most of Austria belonged to Turkey, Austria with the help of Germany and one of my armies in the area, we pushed Turkey out of Austria-Hungary. What I was thinking was that I would keep a battle going on in this region so neither of them would turn against me with the help of Germany. Once Austria was regained, I helped Austria assault Turkey. At this point, Turkey realized our deal was off, since I had attacked her on multiple occasions. At this point, Turkey was now on a decline after gaining many supply centers real fast in the early game.
With Germany out of his home country (he was in Russia,) the front that I had, attacked. For the most part, I just marched right into Germany without much of a struggle. Despite being surrounded by English troops, Germany had no idea the assault was coming because I kept reassuring him that I was moving my armies around him towards Turkey.
With Germany under my control, I next needed to take central Russia. At the same time my assault on Russia was taking place, I began moving fleets into the Mediterranean area. I had planned on next invading Northern Africa, Italy, and invading Turkey from the south. This never happened because we ran out of time. But when the game ended, Germany had one supply center in Sevastopol, Austria and Turkey each owned about four or five. I had an alliance with Austria, and she was going to support my attacks on Turkey. Once Turkey had dropped, Austria would have nowhere to go, she would be surrounded. Even if Austria-Hungary and Turkey mended their relationship and decided to turn on me at this time, their success would be minimum if at all, I owned 70% of the board, and was determined not to lose any of it. Together they would not be able to stop the mighty English Army, and the even mightier English Navy.
I occupied almost every single body of water, this was the key to my success. I realized if any Great Power were to gain a strong navy, I would be in trouble. With my shrewd diplomatic skills, I was able to encourage many battles on land (mostly in Austria.) With this occurring, I would be left unseen because I was in the waters not land. The key to overtaking England is to have a strong Navy, and every time this started to happen, I crushed it quickly to stop a threat. A good example of this is turkey when they took Spain and Portugal, and the Western Mediterranean. England in my opinion is a prime location, it is out of the way and hard to invade. It is very easy to defend, and it has fairly good access to Russia, Western Europe and the Mediterranean if all the right supply-centers are owned. With the other Great Powers out of the waters, I was able to move freely wherever I deemed necessary.
No one really understood what I was doing until I took Germany, At this point, the English were rapidly expanding. Each fall turn I was gaining three military units. This is the point when people, except Austria-Hungary who still trusted me, realized that there was nothing they could do, I was going to win the game. One of the reasons, Austria was still my ally was that she wanted to stay on my good side; she realized I had her cornered. I was to her north, west, and east, Turkey was to the south-east. She could only go across the Adriatic into Italy, and I was there too. Another reason she stayed an ally is because I told her that I was not going to attack her because she is my cousin.
This game was put into my advantage really early on. I knew there was no doubt I was going to win as soon as I owned France. Every one trusted me, and I could easily persuade people to attack, and not attack someone else. I told people stuff that was supposedly to their advantage, but really hurt them. They trusted me enough to listen to my words. By keeping Eastern Europe in much turmoil by diplomatic efforts, I was able to grow to huge heights without much opposition. Then when I found the right time, I struck the world dumbfounded and took over the world. If we played for another year to two, I would have owned the entire board. The English Empire would extend from England on the west to Turkey on the east, and from the Nordic Countries on the north to North Africa on the south.
This simulation has struck a passion in my heart. I was able to make many shrewd diplomatic deals, position my armies and especially fleets in key locations. By making alliances, I was able to gain trust. I would then use them to my advantage and when the time was right, I would turn on them and conquer them without a big fight. I had an alliance with every one on the board, except for Russia who dropped in 1902, at one point or another in the game. Not only did I make and break my own alliances, I pursuaded other great Powers to make and break their alliances. Now, I go after school and play Diplomacy with several others. I also found a web-site online where I can play online. I am now a game master for a Diplomacy ® game, which is played via e-mail. I enjoy Diplomacy ®, and plan to purchase a copy of it for myself. I have recently started to look at colleges, and until we played this game in school, I was looking for a science oriented major. Now, I plan on pursuing a major in International Affairs, or International relations, with a possible minor in Political Science. I enjoy this game so much, I want to pursue a career in this field. Hopefully someday I will work for the United Stated Government. Thank-you for allowing us to play this game in class, it has literally made my life different, and I have gained a lot from Diplomacy ®.