A model-diplomacy game simulating the 1815 Congress of Vienna. An in-person event utilizing a custom interactive online map and curated background materials on country policy and international relations theory (based on The Tragedy of Great-Power Politics by Prof. John J Mearsheimer).

I created this game with my friend John Hurlbut, and it was modeled closely after our experiences in Model UN and a simulation of the Congress of Vienna that our teacher Mr. Neale runs every year in his 10th-grade World History class. We wanted to create a simulation that was more engaging, easier to participate in, and followed historical principles.

John and I designed a custom digital map that splits Europe into its historically accurate provinces. We used this map to eliminate the guesswork typical to resolutions concerning territory.

To encourage delegate creativity, we stressed principles of international relations theory to govern their actions instead of listed goals. We summarized Professor John J. Mearscheimer’s ‘Offensive Realism’ theory, allowing the delegates to make independent decisions based on principles of security maximization and balance-of-power.

We wanted to make this event extremely accessible, and eliminate ahistorical decisions made by delegates because they under-researched. To this end, we wrote concise country guides giving delegates all the necessary context they needed, as well as compiled statistics and wrote game rules.

I moderated the congress while impersonating Austrian Emperor Francis II (with my custom made mask).