Description: General introduction to the course. Explanation of the course and syllabus (grading structure and teaching methods). In this first class, the students will be placed into 3 teams in preparation for the first of our three simulations games – Churchill. Some class time will be devoted to explaining the use of Google NotebookLM for this class. Instructions on how to upload materials into notebooks and how to use these to answer historical questions will be given and discussed. (Those students who do not use Google as their browser will need to download it.) The class will then watch – and take notes on – an 80-minute YouTube explanation of the rules for Churchill. (Ben Harsh’s excellent rules channel Harsh Rules, beginning here: https://youtu.be/_QoLONJ-3ak?si=6nPwOtcAJp0IMQ5a .) In assigned teams, we will begin our play of GMT’s Churchill through the shorter, introductory scenario featuring only the final three wartime conferences – Tolstoy, Yalta and Potsdam. A final session will discuss what where we are in the game and what we have learned from it. How has our gameplay served to deepen and enliven our understanding of the Tolstoy, Yalta and Potsdam Conferences? Reading: Students should have familiarised themselves with the rulebook over the weekend before the course begins, found at: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-719-churchill-3rd-printing.aspx + Reynolds, David. Summits: Six Meetings That Shaped the Twentieth Century. London: Allen Lane, 2007 – selections. Assignments/deadlines: Students will be assigned brief AI research activities based upon acquiring a deeper historical understanding of the conference cards, game counters and other selected aspects of the game Churchill.

Description: The class will begin with a small group and then general class discussion of the set reading/s. Students will be quizzed by the instructor on the comprehension and discussion questions. In assigned teams, we will play the 5-conference tournament game, London June 1944- Potsdam July-August 1945. A final session will discuss what we have learned from the game. How has our gameplay served to deepen and enliven our understanding of the World War II conferences? Reading: Reynolds, David. From World War to Cold War: Churchill, Roosevelt, and the International History of the 1940s. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2006 – selections. Assignments/deadlines: Discussion – in groups and as a class – of assigned readings and brief AI research activities based upon acquiring a deeper historical understanding of the conference cards, game counters and other selected aspects of the game Churchill.

Description: The class will begin with a small group and then general class discussion of the set reading/s. Students will be quizzed by the instructor on the comprehension and discussion questions. In assigned teams, we will begin our play of the full campaign version GMT’s Churchill – Casablanca January 1943-Potsdam July-August 1945. A final session will discuss where we are in the game and what we have learned from it. How has our gameplay served to deepen and enliven our understanding of the World War II conferences? Reading: Kershaw, Ian. To Hell and Back: Europe, 1914-1949. London: Penguin Books, 2015 – selections. Assignments/deadlines: Discussion – in groups and as a class – of assigned readings and brief AI research activities based upon acquiring a deeper historical understanding of the conference cards, game counters and other selected aspects of the game Churchill.

Description: The class will begin with a small group and then general class discussion of the set reading/s. Students will be quizzed by the instructor on the comprehension and discussion questions. In assigned teams, we will conclude our play of the full campaign version GMT’s Churchill. A final session will discuss what we have learned from our play of Churchill. How has our gameplay served to deepen and enliven our understanding of the World War II conferences? Reading: Roberts, Geoffrey. “Stalin at the Tehran, Yalta, and Potsdam Conferences,” Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 9, No. 4. (Fall, 2007): 6-40 + Reiber, Alfred J. “Stalin as Foreign Policy-maker: Avoiding War, 1927–1953,” 140-159. In Davies, Sarah & Harris, James, eds. Stalin: A New History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Assignments/deadlines: Discussion – in groups and as a class – of assigned readings and brief AI research activities based upon acquiring a deeper historical understanding of the conference cards, game counters and other selected aspects of the game Churchill.

Description: In this first class, the students will be placed into 4 teams in preparation for the first of our three simulations games – Versailles 1919. The first session will be devoted to some general historical discussion of the Treaty of Versailles (or rather, treaties, as there were more treaties that dealt specifically with questions like the Kingdom of Hungary, Bulgaria, etc.) We will then, in teams, play a short, introductory scenario of Versailles 1919 to teach the basic game mechanics (which differ significantly from those of Churchill and Congress of Vienna.) The final session of the class will be devoted to what we have learned from our day’s gameplay. Research homework, based upon event cards, conference issues, etc., will then be assigned. Reading: How to play material on the GMT website for Versailles, 1919 - https://www.gmtgames.com/p-711-versailles-1919.aspx Assignments/deadlines: Students should have read and familiarised themselves with the Versailles 1919 playbook before the first class – available on the link above.

Description: The class will begin with a small group and then general class discussion of the set reading/s. Students will be quizzed by the instructor on the comprehension and discussion questions. In assigned teams, we will begin our play of GMT’s Versailles 1919. A final session will discuss what where we are in the game and what we have learned from it. How has our gameplay served to deepen and enliven our understanding of the events of the Versailles Conferences? Research homework, based upon event cards, conference issues, etc., will then be assigned Reading: Mazower, Mark. Dark Continent: Europe’s Twentieth Century. London: Penguin Books, 1998, 40-76, or Steiner, Zara. "The Treaty of Versailles Revisited," 13-33. In Dockrill, M. & Fisher, J., eds. The Paris Peace Conference, 1919. Studies in Military and Strategic History. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001. Assignments/deadlines: Discussion – in groups and as a class – of assigned readings and brief AI research activities based upon acquiring a deeper historical understanding of the conference cards, game counters and other selected aspects of the game Versailles 1919.

Description: The class will begin with a small group and then general class discussion of the set reading/s. Students will be quizzed by the instructor on the comprehension and discussion questions. In assigned teams, we will conclude our play of GMT’s Versailles 1919. A final session will discuss what we have learned from our play of Versailles 1919. How has our gameplay served to deepen and enliven our understanding of the events of the Versailles Conferences? Reading: Kershaw, Ian. To Hell and Back: Europe, 1914-1949. London: Penguin Books, 2015 – selections. Assignments/deadlines: Discussion – in groups and as a class – of assigned readings and brief AI research activities based upon acquiring a deeper historical understanding of the conference cards, game counters and other selected aspects of the game Versailles 1919.

Description: The class will begin with a small group and then general class discussion of the set reading/s. Students will be quizzed by the instructor on the comprehension and discussion questions. In assigned teams, we will play of the introductory 1813 scenario of GMT’s Congress of Vienna. A final session will discuss what where we are in the game and what we have learned from it. How has our gameplay served to deepen and enliven our understanding of the War of the Sixth Coalition and the diplomacy of the Congress of Vienna, especially in the critical year of 1813 and the “Battle of Nations?” Reading: Students should have familiarised themselves with the rulebook over the previous week, found at: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-1167-congress-of-vienna-2nd-printing.aspx + Kissinger, Henry. Diplomacy. Simon and Schuster: New York, 1994 – selections. Assignments/deadlines: Students will be assigned brief AI research activities based upon acquiring a deeper historical understanding of the conference cards, game counters and other selected aspects of the game Congress of Vienna. Any student choosing to write their own question for next week’s analytical essay must agree the topic with the instructor by the end of class – Session 8, Thursday June 11th by 17.30/5.30 pm CET.

Description: The class will begin with a small group and then general class discussion of the set reading/s. Students will be quizzed by the instructor on the comprehension and discussion questions. In assigned teams, we will begin our play of the Liberation War for Germany, 1813- Tournament Scenario. A final session will discuss what where we are in the game and what we have learned from it. How has our gameplay served to deepen and enliven our understanding of the War of the Sixth Coalition and the diplomacy of the Congress of Vienna? Reading: Craig, Gordon A., “Problems of Coalition Warfare: The Military Alliance against Napoleon, 1813–14.” In Craig, Gordon A., War, Politics and Diplomacy: Selected Essays. London: Weidenfeld, 1966, 22–45. Assignments/deadlines: Discussion – in groups and as a class – of assigned readings and brief AI research activities based upon acquiring a deeper historical understanding of the conference cards, game counters and other selected aspects of the game Congress of Vienna.

Description: The class will begin with a small group and then general class discussion of the set reading/s. Students will be quizzed by the instructor on the comprehension and discussion questions. In assigned teams, we will continue our play of the Liberation War for Germany, 1813- Tournament Scenario. A final session will discuss what where we are in the game and what we have learned from it. How has our gameplay served to deepen and enliven our understanding of the War of the Sixth Coalition and the diplomacy of the Congress of Vienna? Reading: Zamoyski, Adam. Rites of Peace: The Fall of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna. London: Harper Press, 2007 – selections. Assignments/deadlines: Discussion – in groups and as a class – of assigned readings and brief AI research activities based upon acquiring a deeper historical understanding of the conference cards, game counters and other selected aspects of the game Congress of Vienna.

Description: The class will begin with a small group and then general class discussion of the set reading/s. Students will be quizzed by the instructor on the comprehension and discussion questions. In assigned teams, we will continue our play of the Liberation War for Germany, 1813- Tournament Scenario. A final session will discuss what where we are in the game and what we have learned from it. How has our gameplay served to deepen and enliven our understanding of the War of the Sixth Coalition and the diplomacy of the Congress of Vienna? Reading: Dwyer, P. G. “Self-Interest versus the Common Cause: Austria, Prussia and Russia against Napoleon.” Journal of Strategic Studies, 31(4) (2008), 605–632. Assignments/deadlines: Discussion – in groups and as a class – of assigned readings and brief AI research activities based upon acquiring a deeper historical understanding of the conference cards, game counters and other selected aspects of the game Congress of Vienna.

Description: In assigned teams, we will conclude our play of the Liberation War for Germany 1813 Tournament Scenario. (If we manage to finish earlier, this can be substituted by the 3 turn “Desperate Times: The France Campaign 1814” scenario.) The class will then continue with a final small group and then general class discussion of the set reading/s. Students will be quizzed by the instructor on the comprehension and discussion questions. A final session will discuss what where we are in the game and what we have learned from it. How has our gameplay served to deepen and enliven our understanding of the War of the Sixth Coalition and the diplomacy of the Congress of Vienna? Time will be set aside to complete both the university’s mandated Course Evaluation and the instructor’s questionnaire about the course (the latter being worth 10% of the final course grade). Reading: None for this class. Assignments/deadlines: The assignment “Final Analytical Essay” is due at the beginning of class by 13.30/1.30 pm CET, June 18th, 2026. It must be uploaded to the Turnitin Assignment marked “Final Analytical Essay” on the MyLearning site for this course.