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Background Guide Letter from the Director Dear delegates, My name is Dan Seo and it is my distinct honour to welcome you to the Historical Crisis Committee at Panorama Ridge Model United Nations 2021. I am a rising senior at Moscrop Secondary in Burnaby and my hobbies include binge-watching anime, reading and visiting exotic locations around the Lower Mainland. It is my wish for everyone to have an amazing time regardless of the difficult times the world is going through and for HCC to spark your interest in the all amazing crisis committee sector of Model UN and continue to do so for those who are more experienced than others. I, alongside your Chair, Enoch Huang, and Assistant Director, Rishabh Verma are excited to see everyone engaging in an enthusiastic, compelling debate on the day of the conference. As the dais team, we want to give you, the delegates, the best experience possible and we will be ready with enthusiasm and dedication to making sure that HCC for PRMUN 2021 will be a fun and memorable experience at the end of the day. For the Historical Crisis Committee this year, we will be travelling back to the period of the Imperial Crisis (235–284 AD), when the Roman Empire was on the verge of collapsing due to the combined pressures of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression. Delegates, each under the role of a senator in the Roman Empire must work with each other to come up with solutions to the continued problems the Roman Empire is facing. On behalf of the dais team, we wish everyone the best during these uncertain times and do not be afraid to reach out to us if you have any inquiries. Welcome to the Historical Crisis Committee and PRMUN 2021! Sincerely, Dan Seo HCC Director — PRMUN 2021 1 • PRMUN 2021 | HCC Backgrounder Committee Overview The Historical Crisis Committee (HCC) is a crisis committee that simulates scenarios in a real historical event. It calls upon all parties involved to settle a dispute by peaceful means and recommends methods of adjustment or terms of a settlement. However, delegates hold the power to “resort to imposing sanctions or even authorize the use of force to maintain or restore international peace and security”. Within the Model United Nations community, HCC’s have been regarded as simulations that are both exciting and challenging. The topics assigned to HCC’s can be fiction, historical fiction, or based on historical crises throughout the history of the United Nations. As a fictional committee, it was founded purely for the enjoyment of debate and does not have a presence outside of model united nations. Given its status, it gives delegates a lot of freedom during the debate in what they can do. As a crisis committee, the delegates will have to work together to resolve the continuous obstacles the Dias team will be providing throughout the day and anything will be possible depending on the flow of debate created by the delegates. That being said, the majority of events happening throughout the day must be in the region of reality. For example, it would not be in the bound of reality for a senator to vote and proceed with using technologies that did not exist in this time period for the upcoming war. The running of HCC for PRMUN 2021 will all be dependent on each decision made by every delegate. Whether there will be a peaceful negotiation or a full-out war would be all determined by the flow of debate and the decisions the senators bring forward. As stated above, the rules throughout the day will follow the major rules in normal crisis committees but extra features can be added so long as they are realistic boundaries. Crisis Rules of Procedure Due to the nature of this committee, there will be slight changes to the Rules of Procedures. The committee will proceed with a perpetual moderated caucus with periodic crisis updates by the dais. In addition, delegates will not be able to send notes or messages to the dais when submitting directives due to PRMUN 2021 being a virtual conference. Instead, there is a submission form for all directives and notes will be passed via private message on Zoom. Delegates are welcome to message each other to collaborate on ideas, as such is the main method of acquiring sponsors and signatories, given that they stay on topic. Directives will be either approved or rejected. Once approved, it will be shown to the rest of the committee after the current speaker finishes and voted on immediately. 2 • PRMUN 2021 | HCC Backgrounder Topic Overview The Crisis of the Third Century began with the assassination of Severus Alexander in 235 AD. When Alexander was killed, the throne was open to whoever was strong enough to claim it. A civil war broke out in the Roman Empire, placing the entire empire in the midst of chaos. Different parts of Rome started nominating their emperors and a power divided became prevalent within the empire. The remaining generals who remained in Rome started fighting each other to prove their military superiority. These men are usually called the “barracks emperors” because of their overwhelming military background. Most of these emperors were either killed in battle or assassinated, and their reigns averaged less than two years each. During this period, the military made and broke emperors, and any man who wanted to rule had to carefully court the army. During the Crisis of the Third Century, most emperors remained in power by continuously bribing a large number of soldiers for their aid in the civil conflict. This brought on desperation for wealth and as a result, the senators started to decrease the silver content in coins and added less valuable metals like bronze and copper. This, however, caused inflation, as the value of these coins decreased. As the Roman currency was continuously devalued, the citizens of Rome abandoned their current currency system. The government of Rome faced bankruptcy and the country suffered an economic depression. Rome’s economic problems hampered their military power while they were on the verge of annihilation. To make matters worse, the Roman Empire faced a massive outbreak of a plague which would later be known as the Plague of Cyprian. It devastated entire towns and villages, killing several farmers along with the soldiers that the stability of the empire relied on. The plague also had a great impact on Rome's military power as it decreased the ability to recruit new, healthy, and capable soldiers. During these disastrous times, Rome was constantly attacked by barbarians, large Germanic tribes from the second century as well the aggressive Persians. Rome’s greatest loss, however, was from the Sasanians. Far more aggressive than the Persians, they won multiple victories over the Romans, overrunning the eastern fronts of the Roman Empire, sacked several important cities, and even captured the Roman emperor Valerian. In a time of outright devastation and near demolition, it is the delegate's responsibility as the senator to come up with a resolution to come out on top and save the Roman Empire. 3 • PRMUN 2021 | HCC Backgrounder Whether it be from speeches, the actions taken throughout the day or a combination of teamwork from every delegate, the fate of the almighty Roman Empire rests in your hands. Timeline 235 AD​ – Death of Emperor Alexander Severus, who was killed when his troops mutinied. Maximinus Thrax is recognized by the senate as his successor. 238 AD [The Year of the 6 Emperors]​ – A civil war broke out within the generals in the Roman Empire as they were trying to seize the military power that was now seeking a new candidate for the throne. In these war times, many Emperors died: Death of Emperor Maximinus Thrax, who was killed when his soldiers mutinied. Death of the Emperor Gordian I, who hanged himself. Death of the Emperor Gordian II, who was killed in battle. Death of the Emperor Pupienus Maximus, who was killed when his bodyguard lynched him. Death of the Emperor Balbinus, who was beaten and dragged naked through the streets of Rome before being killed by the Praetorians.​1 258 AD​ – The territories of Gaul, Spain, and Britain broke free of Roman control, nominating their own emperors, and naming their newly found state the Gallic Empire. 260 AD​ – The eastern provinces, Syria Palaestina, Arabia Petraea, and Egypt broke free, becoming the Palmyrene Empire.​2 262 AD​ – The plague begins to spread throughout the Roman Empire. This was known as the Plague of Cyprian. 269 AD​ – Emperor Claudius II defeated the Goths at the Battle of Naissus, driving them out of Roman territory. 270 AD​ – Claudius ll succumbs to the plague. Aurelian took over and won more victories against the Goths and the Alamanni before embarking on a campaign of reunifying the Roman Empire. 1 ​http://antiikki.taivaansusi.net/timeline.html 2 https://resources.saylor.org/wwwresources/archived/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/HIST301-7.2.4-CrisisThirdCentury-FINAL.p df 4 • PRMUN 2021 | HCC Backgrounder 274 AD​ – Senators start devaluing the currency by reducing the total amount of silver ratio in their coins in order to print more money in order to pay the soldiers. This marked the beginning of the inflation and the financial crisis.​3 275 AD​ – Due to the high inflation, the citizens of Roman Empire stopped using the currency and the government faced bankruptcy as they were dependent on the tax revenues. 275 AD​ – Aurelian was murdered by the Praetorian Guard in 275 AD, and civil war broke out once more.
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