THE 100-HOUR WAR

When you read the title, it may remind you of the ‘’100 Years War’’ between France and England
which has an important place in the history of Europe. Depending on the point of view, if you try to find a
parallelism between it and the ‘’100 Years War’’, you will be mistaken. Except fort he number’’100’’, they
have no common feature.
There are many centuries between these two events, first of all. The ‘’100-Hour War’’ took place in
our century. On the other hand, the ‘’100 Years War’’ was in the last part of Medieval Ages. The reasons fort
he former war were ordinary: economic, territorial, religious, etc. However, the reasons for the latter one are
a little awkward.
In order to make you impatient to learn the real story of the war, let me tell the reason the reason of
the ‘’100-Hour War’’. It is the result of a football match, believe it or not. A football match caused two
countries to make war, which lasted 100 hours. Lots of people died, many wounded people filled the
hospitals, most of the towns and villages on the frontiers were damaged.
The event took place between El Salvador and Paraguay in 1970. They were in the same elimination
group for World Cup ’70. They couldn’t beat each other and as Paraguay had a better average, it won the
right to go to Mexico for the world cup. However, there were some important referee mistakes in the match.
So Salvadorans began to protest the match just after the end. Little by little the protest began to be aggressive.
The Paraguayans escaped from El Salvador with great difficulty. And then the incidents fostered in great
speed: the Salvadoran government proclaimed that their team was cheated in the match, and to get their right
to go to the world Cup, they would attack Paraguay, and as a reply the Paraguayan army did the same.
At last, the United Nations played a mediator role between two countries and convinced them to
make peace. However, the war will always be a unique and probably the most bizzare one which can’t be
erased from our minds.
What a keen interest the Latin Americans have in football: one that can lead to war!

A. Find the definition of each word as used in the text.

1. to remind
a. related to old times
b. to think again
c. to dream
d. to make someone remember

2. Medieval Ages
a. period between 476 AD and 1500 AD
b. period of wars
c. age related with growing old
d. time of middle aged people
3. ordinary
a. less interesting
b. having bad qualities
c. normal, not special
d. regular
4. impatient
a. not ill
b. restless, not wanting to delay
c. can be forgotten
d. lack of excitement
5. frontier
a. outer parts of a country
b. front part of a thing
c. mountainside
 d. border between two countries
6. to damage
a. to make dull
b. to harm
c. to influence
d. to include everything
B. Indicate whether the statements below are true (T) or false (F) according to passage. Write
(NS) if the information is not stated.

........1. The ‘’100 Years War’’ was in the last century.

........2. The reasons for the ‘’100 Years War’’ were economic and religious.
........3. The 100-Hour war took place before World Cup 1970.
........4. many people died in the stadiuım after the match.
........5. Salvadorans hardly escaped from Paraguay.
........6. The United States and neighbouring countries settled the problem.
........7. It was not the first and the last game to lead to a war.
C. Find the meaning of the word and match it with its definition by seeing how it is used in
two sentences.

1. feature
a. The professor unique features made him a very interesting person.
b. The alpine scenery has been a unique feature of Switzerland.
2. to take place
a. The accident took place near the city hall.
b. The Kosova War II took place in 1448.
3. territorial
a. Many people were killed as a result of territorial problems between the two tribes
b. The territorial disputes between the countries may lead to a war.
4. wound
a. His leg was wounded in the battle.
b. While climbing the mountain, he slipped and wounded himself.
5. aggressive
a. As he was not given any attention, Geoffrey became aggressive in the meeting.
b. In order not to make people feel agressive, the governor used polite terms.
6. incident
a. The last incident made him decide to leave the company.
b. The explosion of a plane was the incident that led to many experiments related to the safety of
fighter jets.
7. to foster
a. The killing of leader fostered the confusion in the country.
b. Construction of the dam fostered agriculture in the area.
8. to convince
a. His family convinced him not to stay long on the desert island.
b. I drove slowly however hard he tried to convince me to go faster.
9. to wipe off
a. Many years haven’t wiped off the psychological effects of the war.
b. The thieves wiped off all evidence of their crime.

Definitions: Write the correct number of word before each definition

a. concerned with a particular area of a land

b. to happen, occur
c. to help something develop
d. to remove something or clear
e. full of anger and determination to take action
f. something that happens; event
g. an important charecteristic
h. to make someone believe that something is true.
i. to injure the body

D. Reference

What do the following words from the text refer to?

1. it line
3 :..................................................................................................................................
2. former line
7 :......................................................................................................................................................
....
3. it line
14:......................................................................................................................................................
4. they line
19:......................................................................................................................................................
5. one line
21:......................................................................................................................................................

E. Fill in the blanks according to what you have understood.

1. The similarity between the ‘’100 Years War’’ and the ‘’100-Hour War’’
is.........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................
2. As a result of the 100-Hour
War....................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...
3. Paraguay went to the World Cup
because..............................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
..
4. The reason for the protest of the Salvadorans
was.....................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................
5. .............................................................started the war.
6. The game between two countries was in........................................................................................
7. We can conclude from the passage that the war between the two
countries............................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
..