Table of Contents Welcome from the Dais ………………………………………………………………………… 1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………… 2 Background Info ……………………………………………………………………………… 3 The Beginning of the War ……………………………………………………………… 3 The Postwar Situation …………………………………………………………………… 3 Timeline of Events ……………………………………………………………………… 4 Topics of Discussion …………………………………………………………………………… 7 Topic One: The Fate of the Empires …………………………………………………… 7 Topic Two: The Syndicalist Ideological Challenge …………………………………… 8 Topic Three: The Rise of Nationalism ………………………………………………….. 8 Characters …………………………………………………………………………………… 10 Bibliography …………………………………………………………………………………… 12 Further Readings ……………………………………………………………………………… 12

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Welcome from the Dais Hello Delegates, Welcome to SSICsim 2018’s triple joint crisis committee Legacy of the Weltkrieg. Set in an alternate history where the Central Powers won the First World War (the Weltkrieg), the crisis explores issues as varied as nationalism and national identity, imperialism, colonialism and decolonization, a wide assortment of competing political and economic ideologies, the causes and consequences of political and social instability, and some of the mechanisms that govern international relations. You will be faced with navigating your way through the often-difficult challenges associated with these issues during debate with the rest of your committee. Creativity, prior preparation, and confidence are all essential for your success during the conference. We also ask that you also remain respectful to your fellow delegates and to the SSICsim staff members, especially in light of the somewhat more sensitive nature of this committee’s setting and themes. Depending on which committee you are in, your goals, methods, committee mechanics, and resources will significantly differ. Whether you wish to maintain and eventually expand the hegemony of the German-led Reichspakt/Mitteleuropa, emancipate the global workforce by spreading syndicalism to every corner of the Earth, or restore the Western European empires to their former glory, you will be forced to strike deals both within and outside your committee. Not all problems are solvable through military might alone (though it can sometimes help). For some quick background info on myself, I am a fourth-year student here at the University of Toronto studying International Relations and Global Health (with a minor in German Studies). With most of my studies being focused on Central and Eastern Europe, I’m extremely excited to be able to run this ambitious joint crisis committee. With regards to preparation prior to the conference in November, I highly recommend reading this background guide. You will almost certainly be lost for the first committee session at the minimum if you do not. Supplementary research is a bit more difficult considering the fact that this is an alternate history committee. I have provided a brief bibliography at the end of this background guide if you have the time/interest to do some additional research on your own though. I look forward to getting the chance to meet you all this conference!

Thomas Kariunas Legacy of the Weltkrieg Committee Director, SSICsim 2018

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Introduction The following committee is set in an alternate timeline where the German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires were victorious in the First World War. This committee serves as a historical “what if?” scenario that explores just how the 20th century would have changed based on this premise. The committee itself is based on the popular video game mod Kaiserreich: Legacy of the Weltkrieg for the Hearts of Iron video game series, but prior experience with either the games or the mod is absolutely not required for this committee. This committee will almost assuredly diverge from the events in the source material within the first few minutes of the committee session. All immediately relevant information will be provided in this background guide. As previously mentioned, this is a triple joint crisis committee, with each political faction having their own separate committee room. The first of these is the Reichspakt committee that is formed by the , its dependent puppet states, and its allies. It is the most powerful of the three ideological blocs at the beginning of the committee but has a number of internal and external vulnerabilities that threaten its stability. The second sub-committee is made up of the member states of the Syndicalist International, a politically left-wing conglomerate of socialist and syndicalist states.1 The Commune of France, the Union of Britain, and the Socialist Republic of Italy are its most significant members. Finally, there are the remnants of the Entente, mostly comprised of the former British Commonwealth and the anti-syndicalist French government-in- exile which seeks to restore its fortunes following its humiliating defeat at the hands of the Central Powers in the Great War and the following syndicalist revolutions in France and Britain. The crisis begins on January 1st, 1936, nearly fifteen years after the Weltkrieg ended with the signing of the on November 11th, 1921. Though the previous postwar decade was one of relative global stability and prosperity, international tensions between Imperial Germany and the Commune of France threaten to reintroduce conflict to Europe. Coinciding with this is the ongoing dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire due to the demands of increasingly bold nationalist movements. Finally, the United States of America and the democratic Russian Republic are both on the brink of civil war as competing political factions threaten to pull the countries apart.

1 See page 8 for further explanation of syndicalism, under “Topic Two: The Syndicalist Ideological Challenge.”

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Background Information

The Beginning of the War The Great War (Weltkrieg) began with the Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia on July 28th, 1914 after the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to the throne) a month prior by a group of Serb nationalists. Within a month, the majority of the world’s Great Powers were dragged into war. The two sides of the war were fought by the Entente, an alliance of the British Empire along with its colonies and dominions, France and its overseas territories, and Tsarist Russia. The point of divergence between our reality and this alternate timeline is January 8th, 1917 which saw the leader of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II, reject reinstating unrestricted submarine warfare against the Entente, thus preventing the entrance of the United States of America into the war. Without the surge in Entente troops, the Weltkrieg continued to last well into 1921. Russia experienced two revolutions in 1917 that destabilized the country even further and forced an early withdrawal from the war against the Central Powers, resulting in the cessation of much of Eastern Europe to Germany. The Russian Civil War between the communist Bolsheviks and the anti- communist provisional government was brought to quick close following the assassination of the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin in 1918. With the Central Powers’ victory on the Eastern Front complete, vast numbers of German, Habsburg, and Ottoman troops were able to flood in to the Italian and French fronts. Following German military successes at the Second Battle of Verdun, the complete collapse of the Italian army, and the open rebellion of the French troops against Paris, the Weltkrieg was mostly over by the end of 1919 after a ceasefire was signed in Copenhagen. The British Empire, Japan, and Portugal were the only remnants of the once-mighty Entente but were in no shape to continue fighting. Over the next two years, the Central Powers consolidated their gains and waged proxy wars in Ireland and much of Britain’s overseas colonies before signing the “Peace with Honour” on November 11th, 1921, fully ending the war.

The Postwar Situation The current year is 1936, 15 years after the end of the Weltkrieg. The years following the war have been relatively prosperous for most nations, but far from peaceful. A revolution led by anarcho- syndicalists in France results in the creation of the France Commune while the British Empire is essentially dissolved by a combination of internal dissent, nationalist uprisings in its African and Asian colonies, and the destruction of much of its navy during the war. The British royal family and much of the gentry are forced to flee to the Dominion of Canada following a syndicalist revolution in Britain. Italy is divided into three separate entities, and Germany extends its colonial empire by seizing most French and British colonies and establishing itself territorially in Qing China. In contrast to their ally, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire collapse due to nationalist tensions and economic failure. Inspired by the success of their comrades in France and Britain, syndicalists are a constant threat to the non-syndicalist nations of the world. Both the United States and Russia in particular are at risk of civil war between their liberal, conservative, and syndicalist domestic factions. Pax Germanica seems to be at its end as Germany struggles to

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maintain its European and global empires against both domestic and foreign opposition. It appears that the world will spiral toward the maw of war once more, unless significant changes are introduced that reshape the international order.

Timeline of Events 1914: On June 28th, the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife are assassinated in the city of Sarajevo by Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princep, thus initiating a complicated chain of events that would lead to the Weltkrieg by August. Austria-Hungary and Germany are the two most important players on the side of the Central Powers. They are primarily opposed by Russia, France, and Britain who formed the Entente. Both sides would of course be joined and supplied by their numerous colonies from all over the world. 1917: Up until January 7th, 1917, the war proceeds in the exact same manner as it does in real life. The Ottoman Empire joins the fray in the fall of 1914 after a naval dispute with Britain. Much of the fighting on the western front of the war takes place in Belgium and northeastern France after the German plan to quickly incapacitate their French enemy goes awry. The eastern and Middle Eastern fronts are much more mobile, with the Ottomans struggling to fend off both domestic uprisings as well as British and Russian incursions. Italy also joins the fight against the Central Powers but becomes stuck fighting the Austro- Hungarian military in the Alps and Balkans. January 8th, 1917 marks the point of divergence between our reality and the world of Legacy of the Weltkrieg’s timeline. This divergence is spurred by German Kaiser Wilhelm II’s decision to NOT restart the unrestricted submarine warfare campaign, which was one of the main reasons that the United States of America decided to enter the war on the side of the Entente (after having many of their ships accidentally blown up by the German navy). The Russian Revolution begins with the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the creation of the provisional government under Alexander Kerensky. This provisional government is overthrown in turn by the Bolsheviks, a group of radical leftists led by Vladimir Lenin, in November, starting the Russian Civil War. The British blockade of Europe is partially lifted after the British Royal Navy, wishing to avoid fighting the Americans as well, accidentally torpedoes an American cargo ship. 1918: The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk is signed in March between the Bolsheviks and the Central Powers, effectively ending the war on the Eastern Front and giving Germany and its allies vast swathes of the Baltics, Finland, Belarus, Poland, and Ukraine. The Western Front receives a massive surge of German reinforcements. Vladimir Lenin is assassinated by a leftist later in the year out of revenge for purging many of the non-Bolshevik leftists in the Revolution. The Bolsheviks are left disorganized and confused as a result. The British are unable to maintain their naval blockade of Germany after a stalemate at the massive . 1919: The siege of Paris begins in the spring after the Germans push the French and British armies back to the French capital in a series of successful offenses. Italy capitulates to the Central Powers after Rome is seized in August. Italy’s colonial empire collapses as a result, with

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Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and the Dervish State (Somalia) capitalizing on the opportunity. The French army mutinies due to severely diminished morale while the Germans take Marseilles in the south of France. France, bordering on collapse, has little choice but to surrender to the Central Powers on October 4th, more or less ending the war in Europe. The Treaty of Versailles is signed later in the year with the following terms: Most of the Balkan states, including Serbia, are either annexed or made a puppet of the Austro- Hungarian Empire. Romania gives up most of Transylvania to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and most of its coast to Bulgaria. Italy is dissolved into a number of warring petty states. France gives up much of its northeastern territories near the German and Belgian borders. Belgium becomes a German puppet. A temporary ceasefire is signed in Copenhagen between the last members of the Entente (Britain and its colonies, Portugal, and Japan) and the Central Powers. Though there is still some proxy fighting in the Irish War for Independence, the Weltkrieg is effectively over with the Central Powers as its undisputed military victors. The Copenhagen Ceasefire is succeeded by the Peace with Honour (“Frieden mit Ehre”) that officially ends the Weltkrieg. It was signed on November 11th, 1921. France is caught in the throes of a syndicalist revolution following its surrender, leading to the overthrow of the provisional government and the establishment of a syndicalist French state, the first of its kind in the world. 1920: The Whites (the anti-Bolsheviks) defeat the Bolsheviks at the Siege of Moscow, formally ending the brief Russian Civil War. The Weak Russian Republic has little choice but to ratify the terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. 1921: The Kaiser of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is forced to bow to nationalist demands and promises the enactment of national self-determination for each nation in the empire. In America, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a rising politician, meets a tragically early death from Polio. 1922: Ireland wins its independence from Britain with the help of German weapons and funding. 1923: Germany enters an economic golden age supported by the politically stable leadership of Admiral von Tirpitz and its large military. 1924: Australia and New Zealand enter a political union named the Australasian Confederation, effectively becoming one country. Elections are suspended and martial law is imposed due to the threat of a syndicalist revolution. 1925: Britain succumbs to its own syndicalist revolution, forcing the royal family to flee to Canada along with much of the British elite. The Union of Britain is declared. Most of Britain’s colonies are gobbled up by Germany, the Ottoman Empire, or regional powers. India splinters into three states. China has anther civil war after Pu Yi, the last Qing Emperor, is reinstated to the throne with German help.

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1926: Germany establishes control over much of coastal China as reparations for its aid to Pu Yi. Japan enters the Chinese Civil War but is only willing to establish a puppet state in northeast China due to not wanting to fight Germany. 1927: Romania becomes led by a military junta following the death of its king. 1930: Chancellor von Tirpitz dies, ending the German golden age. He is replaced by Franz von Papen. 1932: America is increasingly being torn apart politically by the tensions between the political establishment led by Herbert Hoover, the syndicalist radicals in the Midwest, and Louisiana politician Huey Long’s populists. South Africa decides to abandon the Entente and declares itself an independent state. 1935: Romania’s military junta is violently overthrown by the extreme-right group known as the Iron Guard. Radically nationalistic, it seeks to reclaim the territories lost during the Weltkrieg while enforcing national conformity. Current Political Map of the World2:

2 “A map of Kaiserreich,” Imgur, December 5, 2016, https://imgur.com/r/paradoxplaza/dpa9sKZ.

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Topics of Discussion

Topic 1: The Fate of the Empires The consequences of the Weltkrieg for the old European empires continue to be felt not just in Europe, but throughout the rest of the world as well. German hegemony over continental Europe seemingly faces few notable challenges. Its reign over much of Africa and East Asia has mostly come at the expense of both European and local empires. The British Empire effectively collapsed following a socialist revolution in the British Isles in 1925. The House of Windsor and much of the former British elite has spent the last decade in exile in the Dominion of Canada, licking their wounds and biding their time to reclaim their lost status. Much of the old empire, while nominally independent, continues to support their former suzerain as a part of the Entente remnant. France has found itself in a similarly precarious situation, overcome by a syndicalist revolution of its own following its defeat in the Weltkrieg, France’s territories were torn between the forces of the now-dominant syndicalist government in Paris and the French loyalists based in Algiers. Both state their claim to be the only legitimate French government and refuse to recognize the other except in combat. Russia has also been the victim of internal conflicts. The country’s territory is substantially diminished from the events of the Weltkrieg. Its leader, Alexander Kerensky, is politically inept and disliked by nearly every faction involved in Russian politics. Russia is weak and unstable, but there is still the chance that it might recover and once again be a powerful player in the international system. To the east, China is on the brink of collapse. The once mighty empire has become divided into three main spheres of influence: the German AOG colonial corporation controls much of the major coastal cities, Japan continues to occupy Korea and Manchuria, and the Qing dynasty’s control is mainly restricted to the northeast of the country. Warlords are the real rulers of western and southern China. Italy, a rising power in Europe prior to the Weltkrieg, is experiencing the disintegration of its fledgling empire after it was cleaved apart by the forces of Austria-Hungary and the Syndicalist movement following its defeat in the Weltkrieg. Even the victorious empires have not fared much better. Austria-Hungary is being driven apart by its increasingly nationalistic subject peoples, shifting from a centralized empire to a loose coalition of semi-independent states united only by their wavering loyalty to the Habsburg emperor. The Ottoman Empire is similarly struggling with its own independence movements whilst also being in the grips of near-bankruptcy after the recent global financial crisis in 1929. Whether these empires are restored to their past imperial glory or disintegrate amid of a wave of both internal and external threats is ultimately in your hands.

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Topic 2: The Syndicalist Ideological Challenge As previously mentioned, multiple states have succumbed to syndicalist revolutions or revolts. Syndicalism is a distinct subsection of socialism that transfers the means of production from the capitalists to workers’ unions. Some common traits of syndicalist groups are favouring federalism over centralism and opposition over political parties, as well as embracing general strikes as useful tools, desiring to replace the modern state (i.e. government) with a “federal, economic organization of society,” and believing that unions should make up the core of this new post-capitalist society.3 In our timeline, syndicalism, despite its prewar popularity amongst many leftist organizations and thinkers, was ultimately supplanted by Soviet-influenced Marxism-Leninism. Due to the failure of the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War, Marxism-Leninism has become mostly forgotten whilst syndicalism has flourished on nearly every continent. This meteoric rise has been bolstered by the success of the syndicalist revolution in France and a sympathetic socialist Britain.

Topic 3: The Rise of Nationalism Much like in reality, the early 20th century in the Legacy of Weltkrieg committee was host to an explosion in nationalist movements all over the world. Nationalism has its historical roots in the 1700s and 1800s, emerging as a product of both the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. Though a political nation is a distinctly modern concept, it is both a continuation and formalization of prior group identities, whether they be ethnic, religious, or regional in nature. So what is a nation, what is nationalism, and why is it important to this committee? A nation is defined as “a large body of people, associated with a particular territory, that is sufficiently conscious of its unity to seek or to possess a government peculiarly its own.”4 This sense of shared solidarity is what helped lead to the disintegration of the vast multinational empires of both our reality and the world of Legacy of the Weltkrieg. Organized and powerful nations or national movements tend to oppose being ruled by people who are not members of their group, commonly leading to mass dissent which can either be relatively peaceful like the case of Mahatma Gandhi’s civil disobedience campaign against the British colonial authorities or a violent rebellion like the case of Poland fighting against Russia during the end of WWI. Nationalism is the belief in the superiority of one’s nation over all others. This tends to create conflict, to put things mildly. A wide variety of atrocities have been committed in the name of protecting or benefitting one’s nation from inferior nations. So how is all this talk of nations and nationalism relevant to this committee? Besides being partially responsible for the outbreak of the Weltkrieg (Gavrilo Princip, the assassin that killed the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand back in 1914 was a devout Serb nationalist that saw Austrian control over historical Serbian territory as a great offense), much of the post-Weltkrieg events have been immensely shaped by nationalist movements. For example, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has more or less dissolved into a loose federation of mostly independent countries as a result of non-

3 Erik Olssen, Marvel Van Der Linden, and Wayne Thorpe, “Revolutionary Syndicalism: An International Perspective,” Labour History, no. 60 (1991): 153, doi:10.2307/27509072. 4 “Nation,” Dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/nation?s=t.

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Austrian nationalist demands. The weakened western European empires of Britain and France maintain only a loose grip on their colonies after their defeat in the Weltkrieg. If a national awakening were to occur in these colonies, there is little the former great powers could do to stop it. Nationalism may be used as a weapon to sow chaos amongst one’s enemies or as a tool to increase domestic political support. Still, you may be victimized by the rise of radical nationalist nation- state – but this is up to the actions of both you and your fellow delegates.

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Character List Full character biographies will be posted to ssicsim.ca soon. Committee mechanics will be available in early November. The Reichspakt/Mitteleuropa: Imperial Germany: Franz von Papen: The Chancellor of Germany and leader of the German Conservative Party (DKP). Hans von Seeckt: Germany’s State Secretary for War and Chief of the German General Staff. Ludwig von Reuter: Germany’s State Secretary for the Navy and Commander of the Kriegsmarine. Manfred von Richthofen: Germany’s Chief of the Air Force. Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg: Germany’s State Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Hjalmar Schacht: Germany’s State Secretary for Finance. Alexander von Falkenhausen: Governor General of the Allgemeine Ostasien- Gesellschaft (AOG). Austria-Hungary: Karl I von Habsburg: Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Kálmán Darányi de Pusztaszentgyörgy: President-Minister of Hungary. The Ottoman Empire: Abdülmecid II: Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Bulgaria: Boris III von Saxe-Coburg-Gotha: Tsar of Bulgaria. Mongolia: Roman von Ungern-Sternberg: Khan of Mongolia. The German Vassal States: Vasyl I Vyshyvanyi: King of Ukraine. Mindaugas III: King of Lithuania. Janusz Radziwiłł: Regent of the Kingdom of Poland. Adalbert von Hohenzollern: King of Flanders-Wallonia.

The Syndicalist Internationale: The Commune of France: Sébastien Faure: Chairman of the Bourse Generale du Travail (President). Marceau Pivert: Chairman of the Comite du Salut Public (Prime Minister). Marcel Déat: Chief of the General Staff of the Communal Army. Pierre Brossolette: Delegate to Foreign Affairs of France. The Union of Britain: Philip Snowden: Chairman of the Union of Britain (President). Arthur Horner: General Secretary of the Union of Britain. Niclas y Glais: Leader of the Autonomist Faction in British politics. The Socialist Republic of Italy: Palmiro Togliatti: President of the Socialist Republic of Italy. Antonio Gramsci: Chairman of the House of Commons (Prime Minister) The Socialist Republic of Georgia:

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Lavrentiy Beria: Dictator of the Socialist Republic of Georgia. The Bharatiya Commune: Lala Lajpat Rai: Leader of Bharatiya Commune of India. Mexico: Emiliano Zapata: President of Mexico. Vincente Lombardo Toledano: Acting President (Vice President) of Mexico. The Syndicalist Republic of Chile: Marmaduke Grove: Chairman (leader) of the Syndicalist Republic of Chile. The Patagonian Workers’ Front: Antonio Soto: Leader of the Patagonian Workers’ Front, the syndicalist guerilla group in Argentina. The Bolshevik Remnant: Nikolai Bukharin: Leader of the Russian Bolshevik Party.

The Entente and the Non-Aligned Powers: The Entente and its Allies: Mackenzie King: Prime Minister of Canada. Inukai Tsuyoshi: Prime Minister of Japan. Billy Hughes: Leader of the Australasian Confederation. Pyotr Wrangel: Chief Commander of the Russian military. Jan Smuts: President of South Africa. Maharaja Ganga Singh: Ruler of the British Raj. Jean de Lattre de Tassigny: Leader of the French government-in-exile. The Non-Aligned Powers: Luigi Sturzo: Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Georgios Papandreou: Prime Minister of Greece. Manuel Carles: Military dictator of Argentina. Otavio Mangabeira: President of Brazil. Emperor Pu Yi: Emperor of the Qing dynasty. Michael Collins: President of Ireland. Fuad I al-'Alawiyya: Sultan of Egypt. Pope Pius XI: Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States. Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja: Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Spain.

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Bibliography “A map of Kaiserreich.” Imgur. December 5, 2016. https://imgur.com/r/paradoxplaza/dpa9sKZ. “Nation.” Dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/nation?s=t. Olssen, Erik, Marcel Van Der Linden, and Wayne Thorpe. "Revolutionary Syndicalism: An International Perspective." Labour History, no. 60 (1991). doi:10.2307/27509072. The Kaiserreich Wiki. http://kaiserreich.wikia.com/wiki/The_Kaiserreich_Wiki.

Further Readings Bayly, Christopher Alan. The Birth of the Modern World: 1780-1914; Global Connections and Comparisons. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2012. Clark, Christopher. Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of , 1600-1947. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008. Howard, Michael Eliot. The First World War: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Retallack, James N. Imperial Germany: 1871-1918. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.

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