  Benjamin Member Username: Benjamin Post Number: 140 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 216.59.235.129 |
This is the result of some recent musings of mine, and I'm interested in getting some preliminary reactions. I want to see this become a reality, but at the moment it's simply a series of thoughts. http://www.geocities.com/greym alkinsociety/ Benjamin A. Vazquez, U.E. | ||
Andyguard73 Member Username: Andyguard73 Post Number: 50 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 64.25.200.14 |
Greymalkin is the cat from Macbeth, isn't it? | ||
Benjamin Member Username: Benjamin Post Number: 141 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 216.59.235.129 |
Actually, it is. The name comes from a group in my own high school which was something of an inspiration. It's only a working title. Benjamin A. Vazquez, U.E. | ||
The_aram Member Username: The_aram Post Number: 4876 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.41.124.8 |
so... would you mind elaborating on what you mean by "Greece and the Ottomans" in that section listing countries and regions? | ||
Hamtramck_steve Member Username: Hamtramck_steve Post Number: 2948 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 71.148.29.71 |
Sounds like you better make it a good elaboration, too, Benjamin! | ||
Benjamin Member Username: Benjamin Post Number: 142 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 216.59.235.129 |
Sure. The idea comes from a facinating reenactment of the period leading up to the war which was done in one of my high school history classes. For what it's worth I was assigned France, and wound up resigning in disgust when the remainder of my countrymen wouldn't even consider a German proposal which I continue to believe was eminently reasonable. Nevertheless, the exercise taught everyone something about the dynamic leading up to WWI. My second encounter with the possibility occoured when I tried orginizing something similar as a sort of conflict-resolution exercise for my Sunday School. It never did wind up happening, but it did give me a good excuse to think the exercise over and rifine it a little. I added representatives from a few more groups which would have had an influence in the period, and I considered creating tension within the countries by appointing "Kings" in these states which remained absolute monarchies, everyone else being restricted to advising said individual. This represents a further refinment, and one largly made possible by the fact that large numbers of people could be involved. As stated, no one would now represent countries or groups. Everyone would represent a specific historic character. The fact that schools would be invited to send multiple students rather than simply seeking out students individually, is a matter of simplification, both for ourselves and for the involved students. In the case of the first six countries, the involvment with the leadup to WWI was intense enough that I believe eight important individuals could easily be selected for students to represent. A single school would supply all eight English representatives in order to allow them to engage in some advance planning, and to allow the representatives to already be familiar with each other. Slots six through ten represent multiple countries - where a school would be asked to send some representative for one country, and some from another, the total making up eight. This does not mean that these countries would be expected to cooperate. As the Aram pointed out, Greece and Turkey were itching to go to war in the early 20th century. Greece's revolution against Turkish rule was within living memory on both sides, and Greece made no secret of it's desire to move it's capital from the "temporary" Athens to Constantinople. In fact the "Grand Idea" involved a Greek state covering all the territories which had formerly been Greek at that people's height - a region incluting all of Anatolia, plus most of the Eastern Mediterranian and Black Sea Coasts. On the other hand, the "sick man of Europe" wanted to proove that he was capable of standing back on his own feet again, and felt that recapturing Greece and Bulgaria would be the ideal way to do so. History shows that within five year of the Great war's end, Greece and Turkey exchanged their substantial minority populations - an event which had limited populaur support and continues to breed bad blood to this day. While I have not investigated which eight individuals would be represented, the greatest liklihood suggests that they would come four from each state, and that they would be encouraged not to talk to each other on the subject until the actual event. The next two groups are similar, but refer to powers outside Europe. The final two groups refer to individual revolutionary leaders and potential revolutionary leaders throughout Europe, not the revolutionary groups they led. Benjamin A. Vazquez, U.E. |
