The WW1 Christmas Truce: ‘The war, for that moment, came to a standstill’
www.bbc.com
In 1914, in a poignant moment of shared humanity, British and German troops entered into a spontaneous ceasefire over the Christmas period.

The following Christmas, machine gun barrages were deliberately timed to drown out any sound of carol singing to prevent spontaneous truces happening again.

  • PeepinGoodArgs@reddthat.com
    English
    341·
    6 months ago

    “It lifted astoundingly quickly. And along that line we were suddenly able to see Germans doing exactly the same thing all out in the open. And we just looked at each other for some time and then one or two soldiers went towards them. They met, they shook hands, they swapped cigarettes. They got talking. The war, for that moment, came to a standstill.” General Walter Congreve, who led the Rifles Brigade, wrote to his wife on Christmas Day, describing the ceasefire as “an extraordinary state of affairs”. Because the trenches were so close, soldiers were able to shout greetings to each other, initiating conversations. “A German shouted out that they wanted a day’s truce and would one come out if he did,” wrote the general. “Very cautiously one of our men lifted himself above the parapet and saw a German doing the same. Both got out, then more… they have been walking about together all day giving each other cigars and singing songs.”

    I don’t get this. This sounds like people were there for a job, but otherwise harbored no ill will towards the enemy. Or maybe they did, but it being Christmas and all, they really just wanted to carol and smoke cigars? What was the point of going back to the war with someone you just sang carols and smoked with?

    • Maalus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      452·
      6 months ago

      They went back to war, because they feared punishment. Even the christmas truce didn’t repeat itself. The officers quickly made sure of that. Remember, this was the first year of the war too.

      Ultimately, very rarely does a regular person want to go to war. They want to live a peaceful life, unbothered by anyone, doing their stuff. This truce came about because people were so close, that when they started singing carols, the other side sang the same ones, in their language. That is enough to make you stop and think “wait, those are people in there, same as us”.

      • illi@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        Also, correct me if I’m wrong but there wasn’t any underlying idology in play, like with Nazis is WW2. So it wasn’t as “good vs evil”.

    • FireTower@lemmy.worldEnglish
      27·
      6 months ago

      The German army was conscripted and the British soldiers of the day were men sold on the idea of traveling the world and becoming a hero or a ‘true man’ by cutting down their nations enemies in noble warfare.

      It basically was just a job at the start of the war for many. They shot at the enemy because they were soldiers and that’s what soldiers do.

      But when their officer told them “You’ll be shot for dereliction of duty” they went back to fighting.

      WW1 was a senseless and sad war, driven by the desires of aristocrats.

    • KepabarEnglish
      15·
      6 months ago

      It’s well documented that the leadership of both sides had some difficulty getting their soldiers to go back to fighting after the truce.

      The average soldier did not want to fight. Leadership had to threaten charges of desertions and treason to get them back to fighting.

      • ██████████@lemmy.worldEnglish
        32·
        6 months ago

        modern people are able to so easily access excellent multimedia propaganda nowadays that just isnt needed anymore

        Hate is so easy to propogate with film

        And almost impossible without it