The Big Four · Paris 1919

This is a constrained simulation, not impersonation. Each card simplifies a leader / state’s negotiating position so Year 9 students can experience conflicting goals. Students should speak as a delegation making decisions, not perform accents or claim access to a leader’s inner thoughts.
United States

Woodrow Wilson

Your problem: how do you stop Europe rebuilding the same rivalries that produced war?

Push hard for: League of Nations; rules-based international order; self-determination language; a settlement that can survive.

Resist: pure revenge and secret wartime deals.

Complication: self-determination is not being applied consistently to colonised peoples or every border.

Private victory conditions:
  • League of Nations must appear in the settlement.
  • Lose points if reparations become your group’s largest spending category.
  • Bonus if you can persuade another delegation to defend the League publicly.
France

Georges Clemenceau

Your problem: France has been invaded and devastated; Germany remains next door.

Push hard for: French security; reparations; German military weakness; guarantees against another invasion.

Resist: a settlement that leaves Germany quickly able to threaten France again.

Complication: punishment severe enough to feel secure may make future reconciliation harder.

Private victory conditions:
  • Security + German military restrictions together must receive at least 35 of your 100 points.
  • Lose points if Germany emerges with no meaningful military restriction.
  • Bonus if Britain supports one of your security demands.
British Empire

David Lloyd George

Your problem: voters expect punishment, but Britain also needs a workable European economy and a favourable balance of power.

Push for: security, some reparations, German military restrictions, protection of British / imperial interests.

Balance: punishment with trade and future stability.

Complication: dominions such as New Zealand are asking for more visible international status.

Private victory conditions:
  • No single issue may receive more than 35 points: you are balancing pressures.
  • League may survive, but British interests cannot disappear beneath Wilson’s programme.
  • Bonus if you broker a compromise between France and the USA.
Italy

Vittorio Orlando

Your problem: Italy entered the war after Allied promises about territory and expects gains that can be defended at home.

Push hard for: Italian territorial claims and recognition as a major power.

Resist: Wilson using self-determination selectively to block Italian claims while other empires retain possessions.

Complication: Italian claims collide with other peoples’ own claims and identities.

Private victory conditions:
  • Territory / borders must be one of your top two priorities.
  • Lose points if Italy leaves the talks with no visible gain.
  • Bonus if another delegation acknowledges the inconsistency in how self-determination is being applied.

Preparation · before talking to anyone

  1. Spend your 100 influence points.
  2. Circle your two non-negotiables.
  3. Underline one thing you could trade away.
  4. Prepare a 20-second opening statement based on your card — not on invented feelings.

Teacher shock cards · use mid-negotiation

Authority gateway: US Office of the Historian: Paris Peace Conference