Crisis - 1914

Crisis: 1914 is a game of international brinkmanship - if you back down too soon, you lose. If you back down too late you lose.

But you also have hawks and doves in your cabinet and in your government, and out of these conflicting views you must somehow formulate a coherent response to the crisis to win the day and prevent war.

June 28, 1914, the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife, plunged Europe into a diplomatic crisis that turned into a war that engulfed the world. In some interpretations, this assassination lit a powder keg that had lain beneath the networked foundations of international relations for decades. But it didn’t have to be this way. The central contention of Crisis: 1914 is that, for all the festering tension, war was avoidable.

The game puts players in the shoes of the highest profile statesmen, representing the nations of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, France, and Great Britain. This became known as the July Crisis. Prestige comes from applying diplomatic pressure - gauge this just right and you will weather the crisis with skill and be declared the winner. Apply too little diplomatic pressure and you will lose. Apply too much diplomatic pressure and you will not only lose, but also be the one to blame for unleashing the Great War.