Alliance System Game – WWI Alliances Activity

This is an Alliance System Game for World War I.

National Curriculum Standard:

Learners will be able to describe and explain conditions and motivations that contribute to conflict, cooperation, and interdependence among groups, societies, and nations.

Specific Objective:

To understand how the Alliance System led to World War I.

Materials:

Alliance System Activity Worksheet

Procedure:

You may want to start the lecture on World War I by explaining some of the more general reasons why it happened, such as the rise of imperialism, the industrial revolution, nationalism, and even militarism.

Then explain how the competition between European powers and their need for protection led to the formation of certain alliances, the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance.

Then explain how even though the main alliances were explicit, some of the smaller alliances were not. Tell the students they will see how having unclear or secretive alliances is eventually going to lead to WWI.

Then get the activity started. Distribute the worksheet below and explain all the rules listed on it. You may want to read it together with them and explain the rules. Feel free to delete or add more countries depending on your class size. Depending on class size also, assign countries to pairs or individuals. One thing you want to emphasize about the rules is that they have to choose their alliance very carefully. Weakest nations may not want to ask most powerful nations because their likelihood of rejection is very high. 

After the activity is over, ask students how the alliance system led to WWI.

Then you may want to continue the lecture explaining how a small event such as the assassination of Franz Ferdinand led to WWI. (When Austria declared war on Serbia, it wasn’t altogether clear that Russia would get involved precisely because the alliances were not that clear. As you continue the lecture, also let students know that when Germany passed through the little country of Belgium they may not have anticipated Great Britain to get involved. That’s why Woodrow Wilson proposed “No more secret alliances” as part of his Fourteen Points later.)