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.
The Short History podcast recorded an excellent episode about the Christmas Truce. In the episode, personal experiences of World War One veterans are described and scholars provide fascinating details about it.
Michael Walsh is an Adult Serices Librarian at the Will Library. He is currently reading Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer.