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Dec 20, 20205 min read

The Christmas Truce

Brothers in trenches - the first Christmas of World War One

World War I Centennial Commission


Abstract


On Christmas day, Christendom celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, the Saviour whose birth opened the gates of Heaven to all people. We often associate Christmas with giving, with kindness, with hope - a hope of a better world, a better life, or, as children, even of a better gift. Christmas has always been about joy, happiness, a new start; it is a day for putting all of our differences aside and embracing the fact that, in God’s eyes, we are all brothers and sisters.

This is what the soldiers along the Western Front in the First World War did, exactly 106 years ago. Even though they were on opposing sides, far away from their families, exhausted, exposed to frostbite and death surrounded them, they decided to put their weapons down and come together to celebrate.



Context


The First World War was the greatest conflict the world had seen up to that point in history. Throughout the entire European continent, war and death were raging after a fateful day in June 1914. A continuous build-up of tensions between the members of the Triple Entente and of the Triple Alliance. On June 28, 1914, a Serbian national by the name of Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, while on tour in Sarajevo. A month later, after the ultimatum issued by the Triple Alliance, composed of Italy, Austria-Hungary and Germany, expired, war was declared and the entire continent descended into chaos.

The leaders who had thrown their countries into the war believed that, by Christmas at latest, the fighting would be over and the troops would be returning home. However, not having anticipated a long-lasting war, they were stunned to realize that they found themselves at a standstill - the technology existing at that time allowed the soldiers to dig and defend trenches, thus creating the ideal set-up for a position war. From the quick, dynamic manoeuvre war they had expected, they faced the reality of a war of attrition, which would grind countless human lives, as well as their resources.



The Christmas Truce


Almost six months after the war broke out, more than one million lives were lost; most of them were taken by the brutal battles of the Marne - over 500,000 casualties on both sides - the first battle of the Ypres and the first battle of Champagne. After a ruthless advance of the German troops, consistent with the Third Army’s offensive tactic, soldiers on both sides had to dig trenches in order to be able to effectively hold their positions. The trenches, however, became the greatest enemy of both sides, taking away tens of thousands of lives. By Christmas morning in 1914, thousands of families had been broken forever, and the soldiers in the trenches along the Western Front were missing their home for the holidays.

Most young men who had enrolled in the military believed they would celebrate Christmas with their families; instead, they found themselves in the damp, cold winter weather, fighting for their lives in the muddy trenches, surrounded by death.

In an interview, Harry Williamson, a former British soldier and part of an infantry regiment in the First World War, told BBC News that “When the evening came it took about an hour to get out of the trenches. Some of our chaps slipped in and were drowned and weren’t seen until later. We had a lot of men sniped”.

The Christmas Truce of 1914 is still seen to this day as one of the most symbolic moments of the First World War. In the trenches, the soldiers were ordered to not fire unless they were fired upon, a policy commonly known as “live and let live”, and Christmas trees were sent across the trenches to boost the soldiers’ morale.

In the silence of the night of that Christmas Eve, the English and the French saw a Christmas tree going up from the German trenches. A few moments later, “A German voice began to sing the song, ‘Heilige Nacht!”. The Germans then invited their enemies to celebrate Christmas in No Man’s Land and exchanged gifts, while telling stories of their homelands, according to a testimony of a World War I veteran (“The German troops were saying 'come over Tommy, come over'. And very soon we were exchanging gifts.”). Other accounts - letters from soldiers - told stories of playing football together, as well as sharing their meals with men who had been their mortal enemies just days earlier. The most common activity during the Truce was, however, having joint services for burying the dead.

This act will always remain embedded in history as one of the most humane moments of WWI, bringing together people regardless of their sides to celebrate the birth of Christ. For a night, everything that pitted them against each other disappeared, and they weren’t French, German or English anymore - they were humans. Under that winter sky, as the soldiers were singing Silent Night together, they realized that a true Christmas miracle had happened. It serves as a reminder that, despite the hardships we have to endure, there is always room for being kind.



Aftermath


Nonetheless, this act of kindness and token of humanity was not long-lived. A day later, the men were back in the trenches, fighting for their lives, for their homeland, for freedom, against an enemy they had discovered was just like them. The First World was the bloodiest conflict the world had ever seen when it ended, on November 11, 1918. It had taken more than 8,500,000 lives, a figure that dwarfed any armed conflict up to that point in history.

The Second Battle of Ypres, in April-May 1915, marked the first use of chemical weapons (mustard gas). Close to 10,000 troops felt the effects of the gas, and half of them died within 10 minutes. 1916 saw two of the deadliest confrontations of the war: the Battle of Verdun and the Battle of the Somme. From February until December, near Verdun, it is estimated that one million men died in a German effort of crippling down the French forces defending the city. The Battle of the Somme, from July until November, was the deadliest battle of World War One, taking well over 1,120,000 lives. The first day of the battle resulted in 58,000 casualties on the British side, making it the worst single day of fighting of the conflict.

The First World War, also referred to as the Great War, was the materialization of the build-up of tensions on the European continent. Amidst death and continuous fighting, the French, the British and the Germans put their weapons down and celebrated Christmas together.



106 years later


Well over one hundred years later, we find ourselves battling unseen enemies, who seed distrust between us. Let us come together and remind ourselves of the fact that, above all, we are humans, and we have to find a way to overcome the hardships laid before us. The Christmas Truce of 1914 should serve as an example in those troubled waters we are sailing nowadays.

Christmas is a time of giving, as the story of the Christmas Truce reminds us. Regardless of trivial aspects such as the colour of our skin, our religion, our nationality or our gender, we should realize that we are all in this together, and the only way to succeed is to acknowledge the power that we have when we are side by side.



 


Bibliography



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