Lesson Idea: Monarchical Succession (a la Risk)

In history, there have always been people who want to be in control, so much so that they'd be willing to kill for it. Usually, these people will either become kings, queens, or anything in between, and they can range from the most peaceful leaders to ruthless dictators. Because of its vast significance in shaping almost all of the regions of the world, it's important for students to be able to comprehend their importance. Not only have the leaders of the world decided the outcome of the future, but they may also have set precedents still being followed today (the Magna Carta and William III come to mind) or outwardly banned (Hitler and eugenics come to mind). So, what better way to teach these almost polar opposite ideals than an upgraded game of Risk? (Yes, the Ukraine is not a game to you*)

To set up Monarchical Succession, we'll follow the basic rules of Risk. The regions are still the same (North America, Eurasia, etc.) with the exclusion of Antarctica. However, due to the length of regular Risk, this game will be limited in length to preserve the purpose of the lesson and the teacher's sanity. There will also be governing bodies as players instead of singular play. They go as follows:

• Democracy: Begins in Greece, with an elected leader.
• Monarchy: Begins in the UK or France, with the oldest student as leader.
• Stateless: Begins in Africa, with everyone as co-leader.
• Dynasty: Begins in China or Japan, with the oldest student as leader.
• Dictatorship: Begins in Italy, with whoever the teacher chooses as leader.

The goals of Monarchical Succession is to show how governments worked in history, and how many times it was extremely hard for the "commoners" to like or appreciate one person in charge. The name is derived from the British line of succession, and how it was almost completely chaos until just recently in historical accounts. The end goal is to take over the world, but the real winner is whoever was able to have the least amount of succession "squabble"(basically, who can go in a straight line). The rules are as follows:

1. Democracies must hold an election for leader every four turns, between two students. One student can only be leader for a consecutive 8 turns before giving someone else a chance. Once everyone has been leader, they can choose past contenders. If the democratic system is disrupted, the government becomes a dictatorship.
2. Monarchies are a little tricky: the leader must choose their successor, who will take over whenever the current leader sees fit. If the heir-apparent is disliked by everyone else, they can try overthrowing them or the leader; however, in order to remain a monarchy, the new leader must choose a new heir. Failure to do so turns the government into a dictatorship.
3. Stateless societies have to work together in order to function, but if one student shows constant leadership, they can be given the option to become a government. They also cannot invade other countries until such an option is chosen.
4. Dynasties are also tricky; like monarchies, the leader chooses their heir, who takes over when appropriate. However, a "shogunate" can be formed within the group to represent the real leader if the "emperor" is disliked; any attempt to overthrow the other turns it into a dictatorship.
5. Dictatorships are pretty self-explanatory; the leader can do whatever they want and can "banish" group members for disagreeing. If deposed, can be replaced with any other government or a new dictatorship.

Besides these rules, the rules of Risk remain the same. The added learning/fun comes in trying to see the students stray as little as possible from their established rules, much like governments in real life did. However, they'll all discover that they have their own little Cromwells and Maos within their ranks, and by the end of the game (or as close as you can come to the end), there should have been at least one coup in each group. The group that stayed the closest to their governing succession wins, no matter how much land they conquered.

The real point of this game is to show how leadership in history was messy: at one point in time, you could never trust that the guy in charge would stay that way for long. Even today, when Presidents and Queens can seem immortal, you never know when a change of hand can occur. Food for thought.

-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep

*This scene from the show "Seinfeld" shows Kramer's own little game of Risk, and how it went so wrong.