CECsst.253 TITLE: PAPER WARRIORS AUTHOR: Dave Carpenter, Mountain View High School; Orem, Utah OVERVIEW: This activity helps students see the tactics of various war as well as how warfare "progressed" through U.S. History. GRADE LEVEL/SUBJECT: It would work from grades 5-12 in a U.S. History class, although it could be easily modified for World History. PURPOSE: Lectures and films on wars don't always help students understand what fighting may have been like or why certain strategies might have worked in that particular war. This activity personalizes these subjects more, makes them easier to remember, and is also a good way to wake the class up. OBJECTIVES: Students will understand how the American Revolution, Civil War, and World War I were fought by common soldiers, as well as understand why certain tactics worked and certain tactics failed. RESOURCES/MATERIALS NEEDED: 2-3 paper wads per student, desks to either be cleared out of the way or used as cover, depending on the war. ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES: Students fight paper wars, with certain ground rules. The bullets are paper wads. - Make sure you go over the rules first, since students are usually pretty jumpy once they're divided into groups and start getting their ammo. - Emphasize the rule that when students are hit ANYWHERE (except maybe hair) they are out and go to a predesignated "land of the dead." From the mystical land of the dead they watch the other team and make sure they die when they're supposed to. - Divide class into two equal groups (equal in terms of throwing strength). - Have them make 2-3 "bullets" apiece out of paper (or you could use bullets from a previous class or have them take the paper from recycling bins if you have them). - Fight as many battles as you think useful (I usually do best out of three, depending on time and behavior-- doing it more than once helps them adapt their strategy). - Clean up the battlefield (a reading of Carl Sandburg's poem "Grass" seems appropriate). - Discuss and drive home the main points (some suggestions follow each set of rules). Try to tie the points to what they did during the battle. For example, when you discuss the inaccuracy of the musket, you can ask why they had to throw with their opposite arm. Then when they remember the battle they fought, they can tie what they did to how the war was actually fought. ********************************************************* AMERICAN REVOLUTION RULES - Students must face each other in perfectly straight lines (if you feel ambitious, you can put each side in two ranks, one standing and one kneeling--feel free to bark out orders and insults to laggards in the style of a drill sergeant, probably without the profanity, though). - Students may only fire when the command is given (teacher yells out command every 20-30 seconds). - Students may shoot only one bullet at a time. - Students may NOT take cover. - Students may advance only when commanded and must advance together, maintaining their ranks. - Students must throw with their OPPOSITE arms (to simulate the inaccuracy of the musket--they love this one). American Revolution Discussion Suggestions - Weapons: inaccuracy of muskets (balls would sail like a knuckleball), loading procedure (could only shoot 2-3 times per minute)--limited range (only about 100 yards maximum). - Tactics: "gentlemanly" form of war--importance of putting a lot of musket balls in the air at the same time--cowardliness of hiding--why colonials hid sometimes and British usually didn't--what works in this type of war and what doesn't. - Rules: clear-cut rules of war--how strange that seems to us today (the surrender of Burgoyne to Gates at Saratoga is an excellent example of the conduct of war by rules). ********************************************************* CIVIL WAR RULES - Students start in straight lines, but must not be as strictly straight as in the Revolution. - Students may have a line of desks in front of them and may take cover after the second shot (or whenever you feel is most appropriate--you may also put one side on the offensive and one on the defensive--the defense get to kneel behind the row of desks). - Students may still only shoot when the command is given (every 10-20 seconds--while this is not accurate, I've found that if I let students shoot at will they rarely wait long enough to "re-load"-- also, even though a good civil war soldier could only shoot about every 20 seconds, the time is shortened to reflect the longer range of the Civil War rifles). - Students may shoot only one bullet at a time (you may designate one person as the artillery, firing charges of cannister--they may throw as many as they can cram into their hand every 20 seconds). - Students throw with their regular throwing arm (to reflect the relative accuracy of the rifles). - Students may advance individually at a walk (we don't have large field) individually any time after the command to charge has been given by the teacher. Civil War Discussion Suggestions - Weapons: improvement of rifle over musket (faster, more accurate, longer range--around 500 yards)--how the improved range and accuracy had such a large effect on casualties--accuracy and effects of cannister. NOTE: of course there were still a large number of muskets in the Civil War, and most of the rifles were muzzle- loaders, but the switch from musket to rifle was still the fundamental change, as I understand it, between the Revolution and the Civil War. - Tactics: what works--what doesn't--the advantage of defense--why soldiers dug in more as the war continued- -the vulnerability of attackers--how Revolutionary War tactics might work here (a good setting in which to discuss events like the Battle of Fredericksburg or Pickett's charge) - Rules: what had changed since the Revolution--is this a good or a bad change (the loss of the "gentlemanly" aspect of fighting) ********************************************************* WORLD WAR I RULES - Students may use whatever cover the teacher permits (I let them stack up desks as long as they're careful-- they've made some impressive fortifications) and may take cover from the start. - Students may shoot as often as they wish, with as many bullets as they wish (or you may only designate certain students as the machine gunners and have the rest shoot only one bullet at a time). - Students may advance (again at a fast walk or crawl since the field is so short) whenever they want. - If you wish, you may start each battle with an artillery barrage, where students in the trenches simply throw "hook shots" at students in the other trenches. - Be sure to caution your students to be careful on this one--here is where they are most likely to lose control and try Errol Flynnesque stunts without Errol Flynnesque grace and skill. World War I Discussion Suggestions - Weapons: improvement of machine gun over rifles--how machine guns "de-personalize" war (not really aiming at an individual any more) - Tactics: how you win--what happens to those who charge- -what happens to those who hide in the trenches--what happens when both sides stay in the trenches (it is usually interested to see how tactics mature over the course of three WWI battles)--what would happen using Civil War tactics in WWI (again, a good situation for discussing battles like the Somme and Ypres) - Rules: what's happened to them--how valuable is a courageous individual in WWI as compared to the Revolution and the Civil War (although you can point out the exception of people like Alvin York) ********************************************************* WORLD WAR II I haven't come up with a way to simulate things like grenades and bazookas and tanks and dive-bombers etc. and I don't think I want to try. However, sometimes, when students really nag me to "play" WWII, I have them all stand up (and if I feel really nasty I have them prepare bullets and get in lines), then when they're all tensed to go I lob a notebook or something in the middle of the class and explain "At the end of WWII we started atomic warfare. You're all dead." While this seems ridiculous (although it is perversely satisfying to me) it does illustrate the idea that the heroic individual is useless--the bomb kills without discrimination. You can then trace the complete cycle from the rules of the Revolution to the mass destruction of the atomic bomb. TYING IT TOGETHER: I realize an activity like this is open to the charge of trivializing the grim subject of war. Students usually laugh and have a very good time during these battles. Nonetheless, I have found it the most effective way yet to help students understand the natures of these different wars. At the end of each battle, you can inject all the grimness you wish with a phrase such as "now let's see what it's like when the bullets are real" followed by a video footage or grisly details--the level of grimness is up to you, but I usually don't have problems bringing the discussion "down to earth." I also realize this seems complicated to some. These are only guidelines which I use now. I started out much simpler and have added things as I've felt comfortable doing it. Adapt everything here to whatever objectives you want to teach, always remembering that the facts ought to be justified in some way. Good luck (and if you ever decide to throw yourself into the melee to even up the sides, be forewarned that another name for "teacher" is "human bullseye")!