History Unknown: The WWI Christmas Truce & Why It Matters Today

The ruling class declares war while the working class fights it.

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Thank you, and enjoy your holidays. In Solidarity — Joe

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Like most wars, World War I was supposed to be quick. “You’ll be home by Christmas,” recruitment officers told enlisted men as they boarded transport trains in the summer of 1914. So when Christmas came and the men of Europe were still living with rats and maggots in the trenches, despair was abundant.

WWI is infamous for its brutal trench warfare. Dug in opposite one another, armies alternated sending wave after wave of soldiers into a maze of barbed wire and machine gun fire in vain attempts to dislodge the other. When this tactic proved futile, the belligerents turned to state-of-the-art barbarism — artillery barrages and chemical weapons maimed and killed on a scale that was previously unimaginable. But with this new form of warfare came another unique phenomenon. For the first time in history, opposing armies spent long periods in close proximity to one another. With their trenches only a few hundred meters apart, soldiers of the French, German, and British armies could yell to one another while remaining safe. Naturally, they cursed, mocked, and in some cases, even joked with the men they were trying to kill. It was this unique proximity that birthed the Christmas Truce of 1914. 

On Christmas Eve of that year, German troops began singing carols and raised Christmas trees upon their barricades. Within earshot, the British and French joined in, and soon the sides were in jovial conversation. According to an interview with a witness recorded by the Imperial War Museum, one German soldier called out: “Tomorrow, you no shoot. We no shoot.”

A German soldier (center) poses with members of the London Rifle Brigade during the Christmas Truce. 

The next day, all along the Western Front, German, French, and British troops left their trenches to meet in no man’s land, the nickname for the killing fields between the armies’ lines. What began as temporary ceasefires to recover bodies and exchange prisoners soon became a party. Songs were sung, gifts were exchanged, and soccer matches were played on the very land the two armies had been fighting over for the past five months.

“At beginning of day respect for Xmas shown. On both sides fellows stood on the parapet and shouted across greetings to each other. When it got light everybody strolled about conversed with the Germans, exchanged souvenirs, played football, and not a shot fired all day or night.” — The diary of Rifleman William Eve, December 25^th, 1914

But the peace did not last.

When word of the festivities reached the command centers of both the Allied and Central Powers, strict orders were given to return to the trenches and end all fraternization with the enemy. Begrudgingly, the soldiers said their goodbyes and returned to their trenches, where they spent the next four years tormenting each other in one of the most gruesome wars humanity has ever conducted.

Why It Matters

What makes the Christmas Truce so interesting is that it was organic. There was no ceasefire agreement between the warring nations, and neither was there a common pact between the soldiers. Instead, the Christmas Truce happened because groups of soldiers didn’t want to fight on Christmas, a desire their enemies shared. Thanks to soldiers’ diaries, we know that many of the gatherings and games started as simple agreements not to fire and quickly became hospitable gatherings. With no threat of being shot, the soldiers began chatting from their trenches, and many eventually met in the middle. 

“A friendly chat with the enemy,” 1914

The fact that these gatherings occurred across the Western Front with no awareness they were happening elsewhere shows the true motivations of the Truce. Absent orders, the soldiers of WWI had no reason to kill one another.