IN 2019, WHAT WE AMERICANS CAN LEARN FROM THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF WORLD WAR I

It’s difficult to imagine a time when our nation was more polarized than it is today.  GOC fervently believes we can learn a thing or two from the Christmas Truce of 1914.

It was 105 years ago that clashing World War I factions were silenced along the Western Front.  Amidst the haze of gunfire, songs of joy and a spirit of benevolence pierced the night instead of bullets as soldiers took time to wish Merry Christmas to wartime adversaries.  In this extraordinary time of national unrest and hostile conflict, GOC encourages a call to civility and respect in our discord.  The examples set by both British and German soldiers a century ago are indeed, examples for all of us. 

We pray Christmas and 2020 will be a time of peace, reflection and blessing for all.

CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914

During World War I, on and around Christmas Day 1914, the sounds of rifles firing and shells exploding faded in a number of places along the Western Front in favor of holiday celebrations in the trenches and gestures of goodwill between enemies.

On December 7, 1914, Pope Benedict XV suggested a temporary hiatus of the war for the celebration of Christmas. The warring countries refused to create any official cease-fire, but on Christmas the soldiers in the trenches declared their own unofficial truce.

Starting on Christmas Eve, many German and British troops sang Christmas carols to each other across the lines, and at certain points the Allied soldiers even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.

At the first light of dawn on Christmas Day, some German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man’s-land, calling out “Merry Christmas” in their enemies’ native tongues. At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers. The men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sang carols and songs. There was even a documented case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a good-natured game of soccer.

Some soldiers used this short-lived ceasefire for a more somber task: the retrieval of the bodies of fellow combatants who had fallen within the no-man’s land between the lines.

The so-called Christmas Truce of 1914 came only five months after the outbreak of war in Europe and was one of the last examples of the outdated notion of chivalry between enemies in warfare. It was never repeated—future attempts at holiday ceasefires were quashed by officers’ threats of disciplinary action—but it served as heartening proof, however brief, that beneath the brutal clash of weapons, the soldiers’ essential humanity endured.

During World War I, the soldiers on the Western Front did not expect to celebrate on the battlefield, but even a world war could not destroy the Christmas spirit.

History.com (2009; Christmas Truce of 1914)
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/christmas-truce-of-1914
Publisher: A+E Networks

2 Comments

  1. Hannah Verner on December 18, 2019 at 4:01 pm

    As the Christmas season approaches, this story serves as a poignant reminder that “Hope springs eternal in the human breast,” for a world where peace and civility rule the day. Beautifully written!



  2. R. Corrino on December 20, 2019 at 8:39 am

    “future attempts at holiday ceasefires were quashed by officers’ threats of disciplinary action”

    Ah, and there’s the rub. Oftentimes it is the leaders that incite polarization and bipartisanship. Here in America our elected are not supposed to be leaders but representatives. But the representatives forget or ignore this and the represented acquiesce, either to to gnorance, apathy or sloth.