The 23rd of October, 2013; a day we, the history students of grade
9 IGCSE, had all been waiting for, excitedly.
On that day, we were going to have a mini
conference in our history class, conveniently scheduled in the last
two periods.
We were going to replicate the Paris Peace
Conference of 1919.
The Paris
Peace Conference was an approximately year-long series of discussions between
diplomats of more than 30 countries on how to deal with Europe's post-WWI
situation (especially dealing with the defeated Central Powers: Germany,
Austro-Hungary and Turkey). It was at the Paris Peace Conference that the famed
Treaty of Versailles, an official ending to the First world war, was signed.
The main contributors at the conference were leader
of the 'big three' Georges Clemenceau, prime minister of France; David
Lloyd-George, Prime Minister of Great Britain and Woodrow Wilson, president of
U.S.A.
We were divided into groups of four roughly a week
ago. Each group represented a country. There were a group from France, Germany,
Great Britain, USA and Soviet Union. The conference itself proceeded smoothly,
with little problem. Within minutes of commencing debate, the room was already
bursting with discussion, each delegate wishing to be heard and to defend their
country's best interests all while trying not to break character.
The conference was productive; we managed to
resolve a few major issues despite pushing for time.
All in all, it was a great experience and it
was an amazing group assignment that everyone enjoyed and contributed to
fairly.
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