Tuesday, 14th of April, 2015

Hello everybody!

I'm Azahara and today it's my turn to write the journal. Today has been a different day, because Paqui hasn't come to the high school, she has gone on a trip to Toledo. Today I couldn't go to class, but my classmates have told me that they have stayed in the class with the teacher Antonio Garrido, and they have started doing the scheme of the different stages of World War 1.

World War 1 was divided into 4 stages:

• 1st stage: War of movement (1914): the armies moved towards the enemy. Fight developed in two fronts. In the Western front the Germans attacked France through Luxembourg and Belgium (Schlieffen Plan, to take Paris: the Germans planned a short fight against France to focus in the Eastern front against Russia. This failed and they had to fight almost alone in two fronts). After the battle of Marne, the French stopped the German advance. In the Eastern Front the Russians advanced through Eastern Prussia and Galitzia. The Germans stopped them after the Battles of the Masurian Lakes and Tannenberg. 

At the end of 1914 Japan joined the Triple Entente and the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers. The Japanese occupied Tsingtao and they didn't do much more during the rest of the war.

    Situation at the 1st stage of WW1.

Source: http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-maps/world-war-i-map-of-europe.html

• 2nd stage: War of attrition (1915-1916): The war fronts stabilized and didn't move since the end of 1914. Soldiers dug kilometres of trenches and tried to keep their positions. Bulgaria joined the Central Powers and Italy and Romania the Triple Entente. In the Western front the German attacked in Verdun and the French reacted at the Somme. The front didn't move, but there were around two million victims. In the Easternt front a big German offensive to the East took place and the Russiand had to retire back.

 A third front opened in the Balkans: the Central Powers occupied Serbia and Romania. The British attacked the Ottoman Empire from Egypt and occupied Palestine, but they were defeated at Gallipoli.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Passchendaele

• 3rd stage: crisis of 1917. There were internal problems in all the belligerent countries: soldiers' mutinies in all fronts, nationalist protests in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Easter Rising in Ireland and a revolution in Rusia: the Bolsheviks took power in October 1917 and decided to sign an agreement with the Germans to take Russia out of the war. In the Middle East, the Arab tribes revolted against the Turks and the British got a lot of territory. The USA and Greece joined the Triple Entente. 

STORMING OF THE WINTER PALACE (Saint Petesbourg)

Source: http://io9.com/5960510/thousands-of-australian-students-are-taught-that-robots-led-the-russian-revolution

• 4th stage: end of the war (1918): two decisive facts took place:

                a) Arrival of refreshment troops from the USA.

                b) Brest-Litovsk Treaty, signed between Russia and Germany. Russia lost Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine.

The Germans could focus on the Western front and launched two offensives: 1st at the Somme and 2nd at the Mame. Revolts in the German army and protests against the government started in Germany. In the Eastern fron Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire surrendered. The Austro-Hungarian army collapsed in the North of Italy and the Balkans. Protests increased in Germany and Kaiser Whilem II abdicated . The republic was proclaimed and the armistice was signed at Rethondes.

Source: http://app.emaze.com/@AORQCOTZ/ww1-progressive---darrius-joseph

Tuesday, 24th February 2015

Hi everybody! I'm Azahara and today it is my turn to do the journal again.

Today's social sciences' lesson has been really good, because Paqui has been explaining all the lesson and we haven't written anything on our notebook, only some new words for the glossary.

 First of all, Paqui has introduced us the new unit, Europe in the second half of the 19th century. She has remembered us who Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was, that he became Emperor of France and that he had an important role in the unifications of Italy and Germany.

Louis Napoleon Bonaparte

Source: http://nighthumor.com/famous-people-highest-iq-42-pics/louis-napoleon-bonaparte-iq-145/

After that, Paqui has explained us the first point of the unit, the Italian and German unifications. In Italy, there were seven States: Piedmont-Sardinia, Lombardy-Venetia, Papal States, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Parma, Tuscany and Modena. The most important figures of unification were Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia and his prime minister, the Count of Cavour. Paqui has told that the period of monarchy in Italy was since 1861 (when Italy was born) until 1946. 

Victor Emmanuel II

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Emmanuel_II_of_Italy

After that Paqui has explained us the German unification. She has told us that this unification is more complicated, but she likes it. The German Confederation was formed by 38 States. The most important ones were Prussia and Austria. The most important figures of the unification were William I and Otto Von Bismark. Paqui has explained us that in the German Unification there were three different wars: 

• War against Denmark (1864): Austria and Prussia declared war to Denmark and they got the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. Paqui has explained this war with a map on the blackboard.

• War against Austria (1866): German States of the North fought with Prussia against Austria. At the end, the North German Confederation was created.

• French-Prussian War (1870): German States fought against France. The French were defeated in Sedan, Napoleon III was captured, the 2nd Empire disappeared and the 3rd Republic was proclaimed in France. Paqui has talked here about Leopoldo Von Hohenzollern. He was a candidate to be king of Spain, but French people were against this, they didn't want a Prussian king, so that is why they started fighting.

William I of Prussia

Source:http://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/M071361/King-William-I-of-Prussia?img=120&search=William+I&bool=phrase

Otto von Bismark

Source: http://kids.britannica.com/elementary/art-87678/Otto-von-Bismarck-was-the-Prussian-leader-who-created-the

In today's lesson we have copied some new words like:

• Red shirts - camisas rojas.
• Tongue-twister - trabalenguas.
• Customs union - unión aduanera.
• Tariffs - aranceles.
• Duchy - ducado.
• Duke/duchess - duque/duquesa.

Monday, 12th January 2015

Hello everybody! I'm Azahara.

Well, this is my first journal of the year! Today's social science's lesson has been really interesting for me, and we have done many different things.
First of all, Paqui has told me that today it was my turn to do the journal, and tomorrow is Fran's turn.
After that, we have revised the Directory and the Napoleonic Era. We have also corrected the homework. We had to complete the scheme about the Napoleonic Era. The things that we had to complete were the following:

• The territories included in the French Empire, which were France, Savoy, part of Germany, present Croatia and a small territory in Italy.

• The allied territories of the French Empire, which were Denmark, Norway, Austria and Prussia.

We also had to finish the scheme talking about the Continental Blockade, which meant that buying or selling products to Great Britain was forbidden. Napoleon invaded the countries that didn´t follow it: Portugal (after the Treaty of Fontainebleau, fact that led to the Peninsular war in Spain) and Russia.
These invasions were the beginning of the end of the Napoleonic Empire. The Russian Campaign was a disaster. The troops had to retire due to bad conditions. In 1813 a coalition of countries defeated Napoleon in the Battle of Leipzig. He was confined in Elba. In 1815 he came back to France, but he was defeated in the Battle of Waterloo and exiled to Saint Helena, where he died.




Source: http://www.roebuckclasses.com/102/resources/napoleon/napoleon1.htm

This image shows Napoleon's life very well. Paqui has included it on the presentation, but I've liked it a lot and I wanted to include it on my journal.

After correcting all this, Paqui has explained the last point of the french Revolution: The Legacy of the French Revolution. 
This legacy had two main ideas:

1. The French armies spread the ideas of the French Revolution throughout Europe. Although the Napoleonic army was defeated, these ideas remained.
2. All the countries which were invaded by France developed nationalist feelings against the invaders. 

After that Paqui has given us some homework: to complete a scheme about the Congress of Vienna. We have started this in class, and while we where writing, Paqui has showed us some videos from a Social Siences teacher. Her videos were songs that summarized different units about history. We have watched two videos. The first one was about Napoleon and the second one was about the French Revolution. We have had a good time watching this! :)


Here you have the videos!!!

The Holy Family with a Bird, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

THE HOLY FAMILY WITH A BIRD

The Holy Family with a Bird was painted by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682), Baroque painter from Seville. This painting was one of his most important paintings. It was painted around 1650. The Holy Family with a Bird is nowadays in El Prado Museum in Madrid, and Murillo used an oil technique over canvas to paint it. The painting’s size is 144 x 188 cm and it belongs to the Baroque style.

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

Soure: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolom%C3%A9_Esteban_Murillo

The painting's name comes from the little bird Jesus is showing to the dog and it represents the Holy Family as a normal family. The child, Jesus, who is the most important figure of the painting, is playing  with a bird and a dog, it seems that he is happy. As he is the most important figure, he is painted in brighter colours. On the left, we can see his mother, the Virgin Mary, who has stopped working to look at his son, and on the right his father, Saint Joseph, who is also looking at him. As you can see, the painting represents movement (the child playing, the dog…), colour is predominant over drawing and the colours are dark. The scene seems peaceful and calm. As you can see, the light that illuminates the picture enters from the left side, and it only illuminates the figures, the background is really dark and doesn’t allow to see that the house is simple and humble. The figures of this painting are very realistic and perfect.

                                                                                          

Source:    http://www.artble.com/artists/bartolome_esteban_murillo/paintings/the_holy_family_with_a_little_bird              

                                           

We can observe that this painting is from the Baroque period because the painter uses contrasts in colours, this technique, known as “Chiaroscuro”, was usually used in the Baroque paintings, to make them more realistic and perfect. Murillo uses other techniques in this painting, mentioned above.

One curiosity is that Saint Joseph didn’t have much importance in art, it was thought that he didn't educated Jesus well, but with the Counter-Reformation the devotion to him grew considerably. This devotion was promoted by some religious institutions that inspired it since the 16^th century. In this work, Murillo stands out Saint Joseph’s value as a worker person and represents him as an ideal father.

Sources I used to make this project:

http://www.wikiart.org/en/bartolome-esteban-murillo/the-holy-family-with-the-little-bird

https://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/galeria-on-line/galeria-on-line/obra/sagrada-familia-del-pajarito/

http://contemplalaobra.blogspot.com.es/2009/05/murillo-sagrada-familia-del-pajarito.html

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolom%C3%A9_Esteban_Murillo

In both projects, I've used Wordreference to search the words I didn't know.

http://www.wordreference.com/

Facade of Obradoiro, Fernando Casas Novoa

FACADE OF OBRADOIRO IN SANTIAGO OF 

COMPOSTELA

The Facade of Obradoiro, which is a work of art from the Baroque period, was built by Fernando Casas Novoa in Santiago of Compostela, between 1738 and 1750. The Catholic Church commissioned this facade.

                                                             

This beautiful building has a great use nowadays. As you should know, an old tradition tells that this cathedral is the sepulcher of the apostle Saint James. This transformed the building in one of the principal places of pilgrimage in Europe during the Middle Ages. At present, it is also an important place of pilgrimage and every year that the 25^th of July (Day of Santiago) is Sunday, there is a Jubilee Year, many pilgrims go to the cathedral and there is an important mass.                     

                                                                              

The main material used in this work of art was the gray granite, which was the main material used in the Baroque architecture. Glass was also used in this work.

 The Facade of Obradoiro has really big large windows that allow light to illuminate the old Romanic facade, and it is between the Bell’s Tower and the Carraca’s Tower. In the middle of the facade, the apostle Santiago is represented, and below him his two disciples, Athanasius and Theodore, all of them dressed as pilgrims. In the middle there is also a glass case, representing Santiago’s sepulcher, and a star between angels and clouds. On the right tower, María Salomé (Saint James’s mother) is represented and on the left tower, Zebedee, his father. This work is in a square, the Square of Obradoiro, this is why the facade was called in this way. The cathedral has  really big proportions, it is 74 metres high.

Source:http://www.portugaltours.com.pt/br/blog-viagens/20114/santiago-de-compostela.aspx

The Facade of Obradoiro is a Baroque work of art because the images represented on it give a lot of movement to the building. It also has curved lines, games of lights and shadows… The images of the building are also very realistic and perfect. 

One curiosity is that the coins of 1, 2 and 5 cents have the Cathedral of Santiago drawing in one of their sides. 

Source: http://santiago-online.com/eng/Santiago_cathedral.php

Sources used in this projectc:

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catedral_de_Santiago_de_Compostela

http://www.santiagoturismo.com/percorrido/exteriores-fachadas-e-prazas

http://www.artehistoria.jcyl.es/v2/obras/20337.htm

http://www.zenit.org/es/articles/santuarios-de-espana-santiago-de-compostela

http://arteazuer.blogspot.com.es/2012/02/fachada-del-obradoiro-de-la-catedral-de.html