Who HQ

Informationen zum Autor Nico Medina is the author of several Who HQ books, including What Was Stonewall?, Who Is RuPaul ?, What Is the AIDS Crisis ?, Who Was Aretha Franklin? , and What Was the Ice Age? Indonesian born Dede Putra is a digital artist living in Auckland, New Zealand. He is a bit of a foodie" and a "big audio/visual guy." Klappentext "In 1914, the assassination of an Austrian archduke set off a disastrous four-year-long conflict involving dozens of countries with battles taking place in all parts of the world. World War I was the first to use planes and tanks as well as deadly gases that left soldiers blinded or 'shell shocked' (a condition now called Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome). There were battles that lasted for months with opposing troops fighting from rat-infested trenches, battles that often ended in a hollow victory with only a small area of land retaken. The author of many successful Who HQ titles, Nico Medina gives young readers [an] account of this long and tragic event, a war that left over 20 million dead and was the lead-up to World War II barely twenty years later"-- Leseprobe What Was World War I?   By late December 1914, a war in Europe had been raging for more than four months. The armies fighting against one another were holed up inside deep trenches.   Twin lines of these trenches zigzagged five hundred miles from Switzerland all the way to the North Sea. This was the Western Front in the bloody war. (Fighting was also taking place in eastern Europe.) Defending one line of trenches were soldiers from Great Britain, Belgium, and France. Behind the other line was the German army.   In between the trenches was a wide expanse known as no-man’s-land. It was about 250 yards across and laden with barbed wire. Littered with abandoned military equipment and fallen soldiers, no-man’s-land was extremely dangerous to cross.   The trenches were three to six feet wide and up to ten feet deep. They were disgusting places, muddy and full of rodents. But they offered troops some protection from enemy fire—­if they kept their heads down! New kinds of rifles were being used and could fire from longer distances than ever before. And heavy artillery shells from each side blasted deep holes in the ground and could blow soldiers’ bodies apart.   Battles along the trench lines dragged on for weeks or months, not days. Attack after attack was repelled by the other side. Often there was no clear victory. Neither army gained much ground, and the bodies kept piling up. In just one day at the Battle of the Somme, more than nineteen thousand British soldiers died.   It was a vicious kind of warfare never seen before. But for one day that winter, there was a moment of peace and goodwill.   On Christmas Eve, British soldiers in Belgium heard something coming from the other side of no-man’s-land. The Germans were singing Christmas carols! The British soldiers began singing, too.   “Come over here!” one German soldier shouted in English.   “You come halfway, I come halfway!” replied one of the British sergeants.   And so they did!   The two groups of soldiers climbed cautiously out of their trenches and stepped into no-man’s-land. They met in the middle and shook hands, wishing one another a Merry Christmas. Gifts of cigarettes, wine, and sweets were exchanged. Christmas trees were lit with candles.   The celebration lasted all night and into Christmas Day, when a friendly game of soccer took place.   “How marvelously wonderful, yet how strange it was,” a German lieutenant later wrote. “Christmas, the celebration of love, managed to bring mortal enemies together as friends for a time.”   The Christmas Truce was celebrated by as many as one hundred thousand soldiers, all along the Western Front. But it didn’t last long. The following d...

About the author

Nico Medina; Illustrated by Dede Putra

Summary

This compelling addition to the What Was? series covers what was supposed to be “the war to end all wars” but tragically wasn't.

In 1914, the assassination of an Austrian archduke set off a disastrous four-year-long conflict involving dozens of countries with battles taking place in all parts of the world. World War I was the first to use planes and tanks as well as deadly gases that left soldiers blinded or “shell shocked” (a condition now called Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome). There were battles that lasted for months with opposing troops fighting from rat-infested trenches, battles that often ended in a hollow victory with only a small area of land retaken. The author of many successful Who HQ titles Nico Medina gives young readers a clear and compelling account of this long and tragic event, a war that left over 20 million dead and was the lead-up to World War II barely twenty years later.

Product details

• Authors: Nico Medina, Dede Putra, Who Hq
• Publisher: Penguin Young Readers US
• Languages: English
• Age Recommendation: ages 8 to 12
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 06.06.2023
• EAN: 9780593521656
• ISBN: 978-0-593-52165-6
• No. of pages: 112
• Dimensions: 135 mm x 194 mm x 7 mm
• Series: What Was?
• Subject: Children's and young people's books > Non-fiction books / Non-fiction picture books > History, politics