Christmas is connotated with singing some carols, decorating your house, and opening up presents. It’s also perceived as a time for kindness, compassion and love. Love is known for transcending religious beliefs, political affiliations and differing personalities. Sometimes, it can also transcend borders and nationalities, and this was what the Christmas Truce of 1914 did.
What is the Christmas Truce of 1914?
In 2014 the British supermarket chain ‘Sainsbury’s’ launched a Christmas advert which popularized the ordeal. The advert depicts British and German soldiers singing ‘O Holy Night’ in unison with one another. They temporarily stop fighting one another to play a friendly game of football. And this is essentially what happened in the Christmas Truce of 1914. Check the advert out below:
Although the advert condenses the whole thing into 4 minutes, it provides an accurate portrayal of a series of events which occurred across the Western front. These events took place from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day of December 1914. With these truces having taken place at the beginning of the First World War, it must also be noted that these were unofficial ceasefires between both sides of the conflict. Nevertheless, these truces manifested themselves in German and British soldiers amongst others exchanging gifts, singing Christmas carols, playing football and socialising with each other as if they were lifelong friends, and not combatants participating in a world war.
How did the Christmas Truce Come About?
All of this found its roots on December 7th 1914, when Pope Benedict XV suggested that the war be put on a temporary hiatus in order for Christmas to be celebrated in a peaceful manner. Despite this plea for an official ceasefire, together with those made by British suffragettes at the time, these calls for a truce fell on deaf ears. Regardless of the reluctance felt by the warring governments, soldiers at the frontline had a completely different outlook towards Christmas compared to that of their superiors.
Taking different forms in different places, the Christmas Truce commonly manifested itself with German soldiers rising out of the trenches, crossing the infamous ‘no man’s land’ and calling out ‘Merry Christmas’ in the native tongues of their enemies in order for the British and other Allied soldiers to understand.
Making Peace
At first, the Allied soldiers suspected this to be some sort of trick, but after seeing that the German soldiers were unarmed, they subsequently climbed out of the trenches, shook each other’s hands and engaged in the aforementioned pleasantries. Any future attempts at similar truces proving to be nowhere near as successful due to the resistance shown by senior and commanding officers.
In addition to this, the festive and joyful description which the Christmas Truce often gets was also accompanied with more somber aspects. soldiers making use of the temporary suspension of hostilities as an opportunity to retrieve and bury the bodies of their fallen comrades, together with swapping prisoners of war.
Not soldiers, just humans.
Despite the short-lived and rare nature of the Christmas Truce, it is still considered to be a heart-warming display of humanity and peace shown by soldiers amidst one of the most violent wars in world history. For a short period these individuals were not soldiers, but brothers. Not heroes or villains. Not enemies, but friends. They were nothing but humans.