HISTORICAL JOURNALISTS-UNIT 5

Saturday, 26th December 1914

BRITISH AND GERMAN SOLDIERS PHOTOGRAPHED TOGETHER!

BOTH OF THEM BECOME FRIENDS IN THE MIDST OF WAR

As you readers can see in the photo, the Germans and the British, after months and months fighting in The Great War, decided to take a break together and enjoy it because it's Christmas.

Something like this had never happened before, it is unbelievable, in the middle of this war and the opposing sides become friends!

Readers, take advantage of the fact that we are at Christmas, because this unites us all, a clear example of what just happened two days ago and I will detail now.

It all started when the Germans, tired of being in the trenches and bored, decided to start decorating them with Christmas decorations, the day before Eve .To continue the celebration, they sang Christmas carols all together, especially Stille Nacht (Silent Night).

On the other side, the British side, had received  the "Christmas cans" that Mary , the pricess royal from the United Kingdom gave them, containing a pack of cigarettes, a Christmas card and a photo of the princess. When they started listening to the Christmas carols the Germans were singing, they wanted to answer from the trenches with the same Christmas carols in English.

Both sides continued the exchange by shouting Christmas greetings to each other. Soon there were already calls to visitors in No Man's Land, where little gifts were exchanged: whiskey, cigarettes, chocolate, etc.

There, in No Man's Land, the two sides decided to play a soccer game so that Christmas was marked by goals and not by blood. The Germans beat the British who were 3 to 2.

At the end of all these acts of union and solidarity, the opponents returned to their positions and it was not long before they returned to the fight: today, they are ready for combat.

Be strong and chin up till all is over!

MENSAJE DE ÁNIMO Y PARTICIPACIÓN EN CONCURSO

Buenas tardes reporteros y reporteras!!! Espero que estéis bien de salud y también vuestras familias!!! Hay que mirar el lado bueno: este confinamiento os va a permitir seguir elaborando noticias históricas desde vuestras casas!! Ya estoy esperando ansioso vuestros reportajes sobre la I Guerra Mundial, seguro que serán muy interesantes!! Ánimo!!

Quiero contaros, además, que he apuntado nuestro proyecto a un concurso de buenas prácticas educativas que podéis consultar aquí: ENLACE A LA PÁGINA DEL CONCURSO

A ver si tenemos suerte!! Un saludo!!

HISTORICAL JOURNALISTS - UNIT 3'

Tuesday 14 May 1844

                   NEW CORP OF SECURITY

Due to the great increase in crime and distrust in the streets of Spain the Queen has decided to establish a professional corps that ensures the safety of citizens.

Its creation was made by the Decree of March 28 signed by Queen Isabel II under the name of Guardia Civil and with the dependence of the Ministerio del Interior and with directing it Mr. Francisco Javier Girón y Ezpeleta, II Duke of Ahumada.

But is now, with the new Decree of May 13 when the foundation of the Guardia Civil becomes official.

The organization of the new organism will depend on the Ministerio de la Guerra regarding its organization, personnel, discipline, material and perceptions of its assets, and the Ministry of the Interior regarding its peculiar service and movement. 

Initially it will consist of 14 chiefs, 232 officers and 5769 guards spread over 14 Tercios thus recovering a term of great tradition and prestige in Spanish military history as it refers to selected units of the Army in the time of the Austrians. A variable number of Infantry Companies and a Cavalry Squadron (or independent Section) would be framed in each of these Tercios.

FIRST NEWS UNIT 3

                            

SHOOTING THE KING

        THE DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY, 18 OF JULY, AMADEO I OF SAVOY HAS SUFFERED A GUNFIRE

The king and his wife were coming from taking a carriage ride along El Retiro and Paseo del Prado, like so many other times.

That same day, aware in the palace that the king and his wife planned to take the usual drive through the usual drive through El Retiro, they had insisted that he not go out on the street because an attack was going to occur, which seemed announced.

On the way back, after crossing through Puerta del Sol to take the downhill of Arenal Street the shooting ocurred. None of the shots hit the target, which is almost unusual without anyone interceding to prevent it and at such a short distance. The shootings were fired in front of the church of Sab Ginés de Arles. Some said there were no injuries, others that a policeman was killed and others that one of the horses died.

The king continued on his way to the palace, and there he hurried to telegraph his father. Yesterday morning the king went to the scene of the bombing. Already on Arenal Street, inspecting the place on foot, he encountered passersby around him, who applauded and cheered. At the moment it seems that all parties condemn the attack. 

Yesterday afternoon when he returned to the palace he had to look out on the balcony that faces the Plaza de Oriente opposite the many people who cheering him, which motivated Amadeo to exclaim: "We would have to suffer an attack every day to see this".

Once again you have to be surprised by the ease of attacking the highest characters of a nation at any point and at any time in Madrid. The attack was carried out by two or three individuals armed with blunderbuss.judging by his enemies it can be believed that the attack was organized by Carlist, supporters of Isabel or republicans.
And who do you think is behind? 

HISTORICAL JOURNALISTS - UNIT 3

    Saturday , 31th December 1870 

OUR GENERAL HAS BEEN MURDERED

Prim dies after several days of suffering

Yesterday , Friday the 30th December 1870 , General Prim died in War's Office .He died at 56 years old in his bedroom by an infection due to severe injuries caused by fire guns after three days of being ambushed in La Calle del Turco.

It was around 7:30 pm, and a heavy snowfall was falling on the door of The Congress and waiting for the general,there was a green carriage pulled by two horses.

They were heading to the presidential residence when they were surprised by two carriages that crossed the path with three armed individuals. The assistant warned him that they were going to open fire and that they should get out of the carriage and tried to defend themselves. The general received three hits in the left arm that caused damage to the hand eventually causing the amputation of the ring phalanx and  a shot in the shoulder whose shrapnel fragments remained until 2:00 am on Wednesday.

After the attack, the general remained several days at rest and under medical care , but unfortunately yesterday Saturday he passed away.

It is claimed that the general died from the injuries but we have found strangulation marks on his neck that seem quite suspicious.

The general had many enemies, which implies that some of them  could  be the murderer; he had mainly turned against  Isabel´s supporters by dethroning his queen and the Carlists for the result of The War.

We will inform you soon if we receive any breaking news.
Right now we have no more information.


If you click on this video , you can see a brief summary of the news:

The Messenger - Unit III

The long-awaited independence is completed

Friday 22/07/1831 (Brussels)

It has been more than a dozen years, but we can finally say it. The process of our country’s independence is finally complete.

Belgium has been unified to Holland since the rest of Europe decided it in the Congress of Vienna, but they didn't think about our differences. Most of people who were literate or had an important position in the army were in the north in Holland’s territory. In addition, their language, customs and religion were imposed on us by the government. Discontent run through our streets since this trait was considered unfair by many belgians.

Belgium Revolts

Since the July 27 revolutions in Paris last year, the people have been rising up, loots and attempts to get the power such us riots have been going on since then. This is something that led our previous king, Frederick, to send his military army fight against the people in revolt. After that, Belgium celebrated a constituent assembly and started to be considered as a free state by France and Great Britain.

In February this assembly agreed on a constitution for this new state, determining a model of government for a parliamentary monarchy, something that came with another problem, who should occupy the position of monarch? There have been several candidates for the throne, but they’ve all been rejected, most of them to avoid problems with France and Great Britain. All but one, Leopold of Saxony-Coburg, Prince of a German Duchy and widower of princess Charlotte of England.  

Leopold I, King of Belgium

Leopold I, born 40 years ago in the Holy

Roman Empire, was made colonel when
he was just 6 years old and general at the
age of 12 in Russia. He was contacted by
Napoleon himself to be his assistant,

which he refused and went back to Russia
to fight under Alejandro I’s orders against
   Napoleonic Empire. His skills and abilities
allowed him to become a marshal, the highest

place in the army, with just 25 years. His impeccable

career has attracted the attention of many countries,
Peru and Greece asked him to be their king, but he
refused their proposals. He only accepted when he
was requested to be the new Belgium’s king. 

                                                                          

Since yesterday, we’ve got a new capable ruler of a new free state, and Britain has assured protection in exchange of king’s impartiality. In short, this new situation will yield Belgium the chance to be at the forefront of the industrial countries.

THE EXPLORER NEWS - UNIT 3

10/08/1830

LONG LIVE THE KING

 "ÉGALITÉ FILS".

Louis Philippe I of Orleans snatches the throne from

Charles X.

Louis Philippe I of Orleans

Yesterday, the liberal deputies elected the new king, Louis Philippe I of Orleans, due to the desire of the Marquis de LaFayette. This has been caused due to the Trois Glorieuses, the three days of revolutions that took place in Paris from the 26th to the 29th of July, that led to the overthrow of King Charles X, the French Bourbon monarch, and the consequent ascent of his cousin Louis Philippe I of Orleans.

After this coronation, the people hope him to approve all the politic reforms that his predecessor didn´t approve, such as the extension of the census vote in which only people with a certain level of income can vote, that Parity in the Upper House ends being hereditary, that civil rights, such as freedom of expression and of the press is guaranteed and the abolition of censorship.

Apart from that, since 1821 the government has been dominated by ultramonarchist ministers, causing growing discontent among both moderate monarchists and the liberal bourgeoisie, and a peak in republican ideas. On the other hand, the popular classes have been suffering a great economic crisis and huge famines that have hit the country.

Trois Glorieuses

This king change is marking the shift from a constitutional monarchy, under the restored House of Bourbon to the July Monarchy, meaning a new historical and hopeful beginning for the country. And now that the House of Orléans is reigning, there will be a replacement of the principle of hereditary right by popular sovereignty.

From here, we hope that these proposals will come true and that this revolution has been worth for a better start for the nation.

The Messenger - Unit II

      MOSCOW IS IN FLAMES  

                                                                                                                     Tuesday 15/09/1812 (Perm) 

It´s official. Napoleon is against us!

The last Monday, 14 of September, the Emperor of France arrived with his army in Moscow, and would have taken the city if our great army hadn’t done anything or hadn’t moved the citizens. But why did we have to get to this point?
Napoleon has been ruling in France since 1804 as its Emperor (obviously, he declared himself the Emperor) and he has got kind of prestigious for conquering the most part of Europe, even if he’s having problems with Great Britain. 
Spaniards are trying to revolt, but, in the middle of that, Napoleon has decided to go to our homeland, that’s how greedy he is. 

Alexander I, Our Tzar

But we won’t surrender, we didn’t the last 7th in the Battle of Borodino, we could even resist the bloodiest war that the French Army has ever done. Fortunately, our great Tzar, Alexander I, has the perfect ways of winning this war, we’ll use our big land to weak the enemy, we won’t give anything to them, it’s preferable burning it down that to allow them to get it. And that’s what happened in Moscow. Our army took most of the people with them, they abandoned the city and let it in flames, just to not permit the enemy to stole us any supply. 

The moment when the invincible Napoleon’s Grande Armée will weaken is near, and then Russia will took its revenge.

The Battle of Borodino

THE EXPLORER NEWS - UNIT 2

19/06/1815

NAPOLEON BITES THE DUST

The Napoleonic army was defeated yesterday in a battle that took place near the city of Waterloo.

Yesterday a brutal armed confrontation took place between the French imperial army of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Seventh Coalition.

As you know, Napoleon has tried to conquer territories all over the continent, and because of those imminent wars and conquests, Great Britain, Sweden, Holland, Prussia, Russia, Spain and Germany, decided to create the Seventh Coalition in order to defeat him. Although Napoleon Bonaparte had the support of officers and soldiers loyal to the French imperial army, he could not avoid the union of the allied armies. Now, Napoleon is expected to be exiled to the island of Santa Elena and, as it has happened on similar cases during History, probably the Napoleonic Empire will come to an end and the French monarchy will be restored, as it was defeated by Napoleon. According to that, we suppose that all the territories conquered by Bonaparte all over Europe, will be part again of the country they belonged to initially.

For you to understand better how this battle went by, we interviewed one of the survivors of the battle. He has told us his version: "Firstly, we were summoned by Arthur Wellesley at 09:30 in the morning in the Mont-Saint-Pont. Our compatriots came very scared since they had faced the Napoleonic Army in the village of Quatre Bras, in addition, they have been persecuted by them the day before. Around 11:30 a.m., when we were all together, the battle started. From then onwards everything became very bloody and bleak." And he added in tears: "It was horrible to see my mates losing their lifes one by one and I went down in the dumps."

On our part, we will keep you informed about the events referent to the battle and its consequences.

If you click on this video, you will see a recreation of the battle and live it as if you were there:

And if you click on this one, you will see a small and brief explanation of the battle, in case you have any doubt:

HISTORICAL JOURNALISTS-UNIT 2

Wednesday,20th July 1808

THEY ARE BLEEDING!

SPANIARDS DEFEATED FRENCH AT BAYLEN
Yesterday , 19th July The Battle of Baylen  , where the spaniards fought against french troops , took place.

It was the first time that spaniards got to defeat the french army in a openfield battle.

Napoleon is extremely furious  because it was the first time he lost a battle.


The Boards of government of Seville (Supreme Board of Spain and the Indies) and Granada, under the presidency of Francisco de Saavedra, began the recruitment of two armies, which were to cut the road through Sierra Morena to the French.

In the showdown 21.000 french soldiers commanded by  General Dupont faced against a spanish contingent formed by 27.000 men , commanded by General Castaños. It should be noted that more than half of the Andalusian army (About 17.000 soldiers) was made up of volunteers.

They won because of some circustances:the local population supported everything they could for their troops,the most decisive aid was the water supply for the soldiers on a very hot day of the Andalusian summer.Due to the high temperatures,French artillery was affected and many cannons were destroyed.


Because of that, Joseph I Bonaparte has to leave Madrid by force , obviously doubting the invincibility of the French.

Here we have a little video about this important battle: