World War I: Stages of the War

Hi everybody!

Today, at the beginning of the lesson there were some people on the corridor and Paqui has told them to go into the class. Then, we have started the lesson. We have started checking exercise 4, in which we had to explain the stages of World War I. It had four stages: War of Movement, War of Attrition, 1917 Crisis and The end of the war. And we have explained the three first ones:

WAR OF MOVEMENT (1014)

In this war, everybody thought that war would be short. The armies moved towards their enemies and two fronts were created: the Western and the Eastern Front.
- In the Western Front, the Germans attacked according to the SCHLIEFFEN PLAN, but were stopped by the French at the BATTLE OF MARNE.
- In the Eastern Front, the Germans advanced quickly and defeated the Russians in the Masurian lakes and Tannenberg.
Paqui has shown us a map of the PowerPoint Presentation of the unit, where we could see how the armies moved according to the Schlieffen Plan.
By the end of 1914 all the armies had to dig trenches and the fronts stabilized.

Source: http://storiesofusa.com/ww1-battles-timeline-world-war-1-1914-1918

WAR OF ATTRITION (1915-1916)

The trenches became hell for the soldiers (muddy, full of bedbugs, lice, fleas, rats) and they had to live and fight to gain some meters. New countries joined the war (Italy: the Triple Entente; Ottoman Empire: Central Powers) and a THIRD FRONT openned at the Balkans. The bloddiest battle of this war was the Battle of Verdum: there were 800,000 casualties (300,000 dead and 500,000 wounded). In the Eastern Front, the Germans forced the Russians to retire back. The British occupied Palestine from Egypt.

1917 CRISIS

In this stage, all the countries went through serious internal problems and there were soldiers' mutinies in all fronts. The British gained a lot of territories in the Arabian Peninsula with the Arabs' help (convinced by Lawrence of Arabia). (Paqui has told us there is a great song about this man). The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia had a strong impact and the Bolsheviks started negotiations to leave the war. And the U.S.A. decided to join the war due to the German attacks to their ships, which collapsed trade.

Source: http://cman.cx/blog/index.php/2010/11/20/lawrence-of-arabias-original-sin-in-the-mideast/

We haven't finished checking this exercise, so next day, we will explain the last stage of the war: The end of the war (1918).

The new words we have learned today are:
War of Attrition: Guerra de Desgaste
Bedbugs: chinches
Louse/lice: piojo/s
Flea: pulga
Casualty: víctima
To wound: herir

At the end of the lesson, Paqui has looked for the song about Lawrence of Arabia on YouTube, but the bell has rung and we haven't had time to listen to it. If anybody is interested on this song, you can listen to it by clicking this link:

That's all for today! Byeee :)