DIDEROT NEWS- UNIT 5

THE INVENTION THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

December 3, 1913

"Cars changed the way people lived, worked, and enjoyed leisure time; however, what most people don’t realize is that the process of manufacturing automobiles had an equally significant impact on the industry." 

Picture of a worker attaching a gas tank on Ford's assembly line.

Last Monday, December 1, Henry Ford revolutionized the automobile industry and the concept of manufacturing worldwide with the creation of the assembly line at his Highland Park plant, which was built in 1910, with the aim of increasing manufacturing capacity for the Model T.

An assembly line is a manufacturing process in which parts  sare added as the semi-finished assembly moves from workstation to workstation where the parts are added in sequence until the final assembly is produced

Ford observed previously the assembly line concept in slaughterhouses in the Midwest and was also inspired by the conveyor belt system that was common in many grain warehouses in that region. 

• According to Henry Ford the principles of assembly line are these:

1. Place the tools and the men in the sequence of the operation so that each component part shall travel the least possible distance while in the process of finishing.
2. Use work slides or some other form of carrier so that when a workman completes his operation, he drops the part always in the same place, which place must always be the most convenient place to his hand, and if possible have gravity carry the part to the next workman for his own.
3. Use sliding assembling lines by which the parts to be assembled are delivered at convenient distances.

Henry Ford is not a newcomer to the business of automobile manufacturing. He built his first car, which he christened the “Quadricycle,” in 1896. In 1903, he officially opened the Ford Motor Company and five years later released the first Model T.

The impact of the assembly line will be revolutionary, workers specialization will result in less waste and a higher quality of the end product, it reduced the time it take to build a car from more than 12 hours to two hours and 30 minutes.
The assembly line will also drastically change the lives of those in Ford’s employ. The workday will be cut from nine hours to eight hours so that the concept of the three shift workday could be established with greater ease. Although hours will be reduce , workers won't suffer from lower wages; instead of that, Ford is thinking about doubling the existing industry standard wage and begin paying his workers $5 a day.
Ford’s purpose is to achieve that his workers use some of their salary increases to buy their own Model T, what do you think about that? Will he reach his goal?

        

Liberal News - Unit 5

CEASE-FIRE FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!

German and British soldiers already tired of the war declared an unofficial truce and spent Christmas break together.

Starting the month of December, the Pope Benedict XV suggested giving a break to the troops for the Christmas celebration, but  the countries in war didn´t want to make an official cease-fire, what they didn´t expect was that the soldiers declare their own truce.

It was the first light of dawn on Christmas Day, along the western front in France, the troops were tired of the war and they wanted to celebrate Christmas. They started to hear Christmas carols and when they looked they saw how some German soldiers emerged from their trenches with their candles to the no-man´s- land, calling out  "Merry Christmas" in the enemies’ native languagues.

In the beginning the British troops  distrusted the intentions of the German, but when they noticed that they carring their weapons they decided to leave their trenches and spent the festivity together.

But how did they celebrate it?

The men of both armies exchanged presents such as cigarettes, plum puddings, chocolate...  sang Christmas carols, and some soldiers played a football match even knowing that theywere in danger because they were playing in no-man´s land which was mined. And also, some soldiers took advantage of the cease-fire for a darker task: the retrieval  of the bodies of their partners who had fallen between the lines.  

At the end of the day, they returned to the trenches, knowing that the next day they would be enemies again. But what they didn´t expect was the punishment of their superiors, who also tried that this truce didn´t come to light. But they were unlucky and they couldn´t eliminate all the evidences which eventually came to our hands.

The Militia Unit:5

THE TRUTH BEHIND THE WAR

This war has been the most tragic and the saddest one we have just suffered in human history. We are here today for talking about all the bad consequences and the pain brought to all the families in the  world.

Reporting how this war was it is not something easy; many other  reporters have tried to show the reality of this conflict and were jailed or arrested, such as Philip Gibbs who had conflicts with the press' censorship.

Beyond the terrorific event this war has been, the human lifes that we have lost are such an impressive number you won't believe it's true. 

Russia: 9,150,000 deaths.

German Empire: 7,150,000 deaths.

Autria-Hungary Empire: 7,020,000 deaths.

France: 6,160,000 deaths.

Great Britain: 3,190,000 deaths.

Italy: 2,197,000 deaths.

USA: 326,000 deaths.

                      

                             THE POPULATION

This demographic pyramid allows us to see how the Great War affected the population in France. We can apreciate clearly that between the years 1880-1900 there is a blank space in the left (men) side, due to the losts of lifes during this war. Further more, we can see that between the years 1910-1920, there is an income in both women and men, that is because the birthless rate during the war.

THE DARK SIDE

This war has been the first war in which chemical weapons were used. This caused a devastation in all Europe and left us with images that are hard to see.

German people were the first ones in studying and developing these weapons, in order to use them in a large scale. Fritz Haber was the scientist who studied this gases. They were used at first in the Battle of Ypres.

The shrapnel leaves it's mark. And indeed it does. If we go back to the Great War, the images will leave you speechless. The disfigured faces, victims of shrapnel and seasoned with infections, evolved medicine in this field.

           

The 4 Enlighteners Unit 5

 END OF A DUKE, BEGINNING OF A WAR 

29-06-1914

Yesterday one of the most tragic events of the decade took place . The Austrian's archduke, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated. However, this slaughter didn't attempted just with his life, but also with his wife's, who was pregnant of their fourth baby.

Last morning, at 10:00 a.m., the archduke's vehicle was victim of a bomb that, luckily, bounced and exploited in the street leaving several injured people, although the Austrian couple remained alive. The author of this first attempt is a Serbian separatist called Cabrinovic, who tried to kill himself after the unsuccessful explosion but got arrested. 

Twenty minutes later, the archduke was in the Town hall giving a speech. When the act came to the end, he set his direction towards the hospital in order to visit the victims, but his car never arrived!!!

The vehicle´s engine stopped working during the way, so this was the perfect moment for Princip to execute his plan. Gavrilo Princip, like Cabrinovic, was part of an organisation named The Black Hand". This terrorist group of nationalist ideology wanted to reunificate Serbia and this project included Bosnia, an astro-hungarian territory.

Everything was planned carefully and Franz Ferdinand was getting closer to his death. It was 10:55 and the murderer was ready. He took out his gun and started walking towards the car. One shot, the arch is dead, two shots, the wife is dead.  In just two seconds this cruel act caused the chaos. 

Could be this the beginning of a war between the mid Europe and the Slavic territories? We will see in the next days if the countries make a declaration.

THE ROYAL FAMILY

    THE GREAT WAR HAS FINALLY ENDED!!!!

Four years after the beginning of the great war that was planned for a few months, and ended up killing more than 10 million soldiers from 28 countries, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, on November 11, 1918 at 11.00, Thousands of bugles touched the ceasefire of the First World War.

In all the French municipalities where the fighting had not destroyed the bells, they sounded to celebrate a bitter victory for the hundreds of thousands of widows and orphans, since along with Belgium, France was one of the most affected countries because the fighting more violent were carried out in their territory. As a result, France lost more than 30% of its wealth.

In Saint-Nazaire, Brest, Le Havre, the newly disembarked American soldiers paraded under their banners, waiting to return home, like the two million of their compatriots who had fought for long months against the Germans.

In the allied capitals, civilians invaded the streets with joy. Piccadilly Circus in London, Fifth Avenue in New York, Piazza Venezia in Rome were filled with people.

Russia and the border region between Austria and Italy was severely punished with numerous towns and cities destroyed and Italy losing a total of 26% of its wealth.

In Germany, whose territory was not invaded during the whole conflict, the relief was accompanied for many by a feeling of humiliation losing about 25% of its wealth. Given this situation numerous groups that did not accept the end of the war and denounced the peace treaties denouncing that they considered unfair subordination of their country to peace treaties.

The postwar society was prey to a deep crisis of conscience. The aftermath of the conflict led to the questioning of the prevailing political, social and economic models.

 This image shows an example of the destruction that the war has caused.

The most important weapons were:

• The flamethrower was used by the German army at the beginning of the war with which there were about 650 attacks with flamethrowers.
• The machine gun shoots approximately 400 to 600 projectiles per minute.
• The tear gas was the first non-lethal chemical weapon that irritated the eyes preventing vision. The Germans were the first to use it.
• Tanks are armored vehicles designed to confront enemy forces using direct fire. They were used to break the trench war.
• The planes were used for the first time in this war to launch bombs and propaganda to the enemy cities.
• The submarine is a ship capable of navigating underwater and carrying nuclear stingers.