The Spirit of the 1914 Christmas Truce

Wall Street Journal ^ | December 19, 2014 | Robert M. Sapolsky

[C19fan]

On Christmas morning we stuck up a board with ‘A Merry Christmas’ on it. The enemy had stuck up a similar one…. Two of our men then threw their equipment off and jumped on the parapet with their hands above their heads. Two of the Germans done the same and commenced to walk up the river bank, our two men going to meet them. They met and shook hands and then we all got out of the trench…

So wrote a British soldier named Frank Richards, referring to the first Christmas of World War I, one hundred years ago this Thursday. Up and down the four hundred-odd miles of trenches on the Western Front, men risked their lives with similar acts, meeting opposing soldiers in “no man’s land.” Wary and unarmed, they made their way out of their trenches, taking steps that, a day earlier, would have guaranteed their death at the hands of sharpshooters and machine gunners a hundred yards away.

[C19fan]

I can't think of another more poignant brief moment of light during one of man's darkest hours. This Truce shows the tragedy of the war. These men despite being Germans, French, English, etc were part of a common civilization. They understood on this one day they could be friends not enemies. All this taking place when Europe was committing suicide. Too bad these Tommys and Jerrys could not get into a room during that day and hammer out a peace. It would saved a civilization and the world would of been a much better place.

[Leaning Right]

Good post.

Sometimes your enemy is a Hitler, and no compromise or accommodation is possible. But sometimes your enemy is more like a Kaiser Wilhelm II. In that latter case, if good people on both sides step up, much bloodshed can be avoided.

Anyway, as you noted, it was a great tragedy that the decency of those common soldiers was not shared by the ruling class.

[USS Alaska]

On Christmas morning we stuck up a board with ‘A Merry Christmas’ on it. The enemy had stuck up a similar one…. Two of our men then threw their equipment off and jumped on the parapet with their hands above their heads. Two of the Germans done the same and commenced to walk up the river bank, our two men going to meet them. They met and shook hands and then we all got out of the trench…

Wonder how this would work with the mooselimbs?

Two suicide bombers meet in the middle and blow each other...up? allah fubar.

[Riley]

Joyeaux Noel
(Modern movie about the Christmas Truce of 1914)

http://www.amazon.com/Joyeux-Noel-Widescreen-Diane-Kruger/dp/B000I6BJ56

[Snowyman]

John McDermott (Canadian) - Christmas in the Trenches

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfdOOCOQ9sk

[Nowhere Man]

I can't think of another more poignant brief moment of light during one of man's darkest hours. This Truce shows the tragedy of the war. These men despite being Germans, French, English, etc were part of a common civilization. They understood on this one day they could be friends not enemies. All this taking place when Europe was committing suicide. Too bad these Tommys and Jerrys could not get into a room during that day and hammer out a peace. It would saved a civilization and the world would of been a much better place.

I think out of the world's major wars, WWI was the most stupid and unnecessary as well as damaging. I think it set us on a course where the West would, eventually, be weakened. Myself. it would have been better if the people from both sides rose up, rent an arena in Switzerland and put their leaders in and make them wrestle WWF style. AS Rocky BAlboa said in "Rocky IV," it is better to have two people trying to kill each other than 20 million, paraphrasing his quote. We are still dealing with the fallout to this day, the Middle East, the Russian Bear, unexploded ordinance killing people and so forth.

[the OlLine Rebel]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh-J4GSPgAM

[the OlLine Rebel]

Agreed. Absolutely horrid war through and through. Stupid reasoning to get into it.

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from the FRchives and probably years past. Adding to the GGG catalog.

• Christmas on the Battlefield - The 1914 Christmas truce. [2001]
• 'No shoot' on Christmas Eve, 1914 [2001]
• Christmastime 1914: Soldiers Halted War for Day of No Hate [2002]
• WWI - THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE, 1914 [2002]
• The Christmas Truce [2003]
• Last survivor of 'Christmas truce' tells of his sorrow [2004]
• Last survivor of 'Christmas truce' tells of his sorrow (1914 - 1942 - 2004) [2004]
• The Ghost of Christmas Past, The Christmas Truce of 1914 [2004]
• Last allied witness of WWI Christmas truce dies [2005]
• Peace Breaks Out on Christmas Eve [2005]
• THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914 [2005]
• Joyeux No"l (A Movie about the WWI Christmas Truce) [2006]
• The Christmas Truce of 1914 [2008]
• This Week in History: The Christmas Truce of 1914 [2011]
• How English and German soldiers bonded during WWI Christmas Day Truce by telling jokes about the [2014]
• 'I shall never forget it': 100 years since WWI Christmas truce [2014]
• PHOTOS: Soldiers in Afghanistan play soccer in memory of World War One truce [2014]
• FReeper Canteen ~ The Christmas Truce ~ 02 January 2017 [2017]
• Christmas in the Trenches, The True Story [2017]