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It might have struck you, as it struck me, how much the history of the game of Diplomacy shares in its chronology with the history of the Beatles. Then again it might not, but when considering the Liverpool supply center, where else could we go but here? And thus, I will tell you a chronology of the Diplomacy hobby, lined up with the chronology of Liverpool's most famous export: The Beatles! The founder of the feast, Allan B. Calhamer, was born in 1931; this doesn't connect especially well with the birthdates of the four Beatles (John and Ringo in 1940, Paul in 1942, and George in 1943), but this is of little consequence as other momentous occasions add up over succeeding decades. While Allan was at Harvard in the early 1950's, graduating in 1953, John Lennon was learning the guitar and honing his skills in grammar school, and famed Beatles' producer George Martin was an apprentice sound engineer at Parlophone Records after quitting the BBC. Both John and Allan continued to work at their respective creations through the rest of the 1950's, 1957 being a particularly noteworthy year when John formed the Quarry Men, John met Paul, and Allan finished up the Realpolitik rules (original name of Diplomacy). Ask that trivia question at your next party, what do the Quarry Men have to do with Realpolitik? In 1959, George joined John and Paul in the Quarry Men and Allan Calhamer copyrighted the first edition of the rules for Diplomacy! But the Quarry Men still weren't quite the Beatles and Diplomacy wasn't quite Diplomacy. But Ringo was on his way, and Switzerland was about to become impassible. 1961 was the date, Hamburg was the place, and George was underage. But Diplomacy became essentially the game that we all know and love and the Beatles became the Beatles, signing that famous Parlophone contract and hooked up with George Martin over that next year! This is also when Conrad von Metzke attempts to get a postal Diplomacy game going, an attempt that fails. 1963 though was the real birthplace of the legend of the Beatles and the Diplomacy hobby. John Boardman started Graustark and the Beatles became a phenomenon! What is amazing is that Graustark is still going strong and has long outlasted the Beatles. Who would have guessed that in 1963? 1964 was the year that the Beatles stormed the US and the postal Diplomacy hobby began to spread throughout the United States. Through the rest of the 1960's, Diplomacy continued to become more and more popular, just like the Beatles. Then came 1969, and John blew the doors off the Beatles, recording the solo song, "Give Peace a Chance," on June 1, 1969, followed by the disasterous Abbey Road sessions. Diplomacy didn't want to give peace any sort of chance and it began to branch out. 1969 also was the year of the first British postal Diplomacy szine, started by Don Turnbull in August of 1969, the same gosh darn date that the Beatles broke up. They last worked in the studio together on August 20th, a date that happens to be the postmark date for the first issue of Albion! What an amazing coincidence!! Another important relationship through this period is in the primitiveness of the duplicating mediums. The Beatles made analog recordings onto a primitive substance called "vinyl" while Diplomacy szines were duplicated through either carbon paper, ditto machine, mimeograph or even hectograph -- the latter three assume access to such "high tech" equipment as the Beatles pioneered in making albums such as Yellow Submarine and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. As the Beatles went their own way in subsequent years, the Diplomacy hobbies around the world began to spread and go theirs. Hobbies sprung up in Europe, Australia, South Africa, and elsewhere. But the popularity of the Beatles and Diplomacy always continued to rise. And in 1995, our last event of note occurred. Some guy named Manus Hand started something called "The Diplomatic Pouch" with these innocuous words, "What you now behold is, as I'm sure you know, the premiere issue of The Diplomatic Pouch." Similar words were used to describe the first installment of the Beatles' anthology, accompanied by a TV show, in a new electronic medium, the compact disc. So yes, the Beatles and Diplomacy have walked and will continue to walk hand in hand as recording media change and editors continue to come along. George Martin, meet Manus Hand!
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