The Christmas Truce occurred on Christmas Eve of 1914 during World War One. Rather than one truce, it was a series of unofficial truces between English and German troops on the Western Front. Generally, these truces began with German and English soldiers singing Christmas carols from their trenches. German soldiers even decorated their defensive positions with small fir trees and lanterns.
On Christmas Day, after verbal agreements were made between front lines, German and English soldiers left their trenches and greeted each other in no man’s land. They exchanged gifts, took photographs together, and kicked around soccer balls. They also buried their dead that they found in no man’s land.
Warfare generally resumed on the Western Front in the days following Christmas. However, in some sectors, the truce extended until New Year’s Day. Generals on both sides were not pleased with The Christmas Truce and it was never repeated after 1914.
On the Imperial War Museum website, there is a short documentary about The Christmas Truce and there are audio recordings of interviews with soldiers that witnessed it.
An excellent podcast episode about The Christmas Truce was created by Short History Of.. In the episode, World War One veterans describe their personal experiences and scholars provide important background information.
Books about the Christmas Truce
Truce: The Day Soldiers Stopped Fighting by Jim Murphy (ebook)
Christmas Truce of 1914 by Tom Streissguth (ebook)
Silent Night: The Remarkable Christmas Truce of 1914 by Stanley Weintraub
Michael Walsh is an Adult Services Librarian at the Will Library. He is currently reading The March by E.L Doctorow.