There Is Hope for Peace! How Soldiers Celebrated the Christmas of 1914
By Stephen Wilson, one of our reporters abroad
On Christmas Day 1914, an estimated 100,000 soldiers on the Western Front stopped shooting each other, crept out of the trenches and embraced! They actually celebrated Christmas together on “No-Mans Land.” Although the special significance of those events have been played down by some cynical historians, even they are forced to acknowledge that the events of Christmas 1914 stretched into the realm of miracles !
Here are some of the comments written by soldiers who wrote back to their families about how the German and British soldiers celebrated Christmas in 1914:
--- “You won't believe me if I tell you this. It was like a fairy tale. We were talking like friends to the enemy we had been shooting yesterday. Thousands of our soldiers will be writing back to their families about this Christmas!”
--- “The silence was extraordinary. We saw birds return singing when before we had hardly ever seen a bird!” and
--- “You would have thought peace had been declared!”
Soldiers described the events as assuming a surreal air of unreality. Many soldiers could not believe that it was happening before their eyes. It came as a pleasant shock. Soldiers who took part in this peaceful truce claimed they would never forget those poignant and moving events.
Some historians state that those events have received too much attention. The historian Niall Ferguson wrote that, “Disproportionate attention has been paid to the famous Christmas truces of 1914, when British and German soldiers 'fraternalized' with another in ‘No Man's Land’ and even more to the so-called 'live and let live' system which developed in certain sectors of the Western Front in 1914 and 1915” {page 343, “The Pity of War” by Niall Ferguson, 1998, London: Penguin Books}. The events of Christmas 1914 are construed as soldiers simply taking 'a breather' or 'rest' from the endless sheer boredom and appalling conditions of the trenches as well as wanting to bury their dead. The truce came about for pragmatic and prosaic reasons rather than any genuine outburst of shared humanity and affection. Those events have been over romanticized.
In this regard it's worth attempting to ask, 'Why the truces came about?' … 'How they came about? ' and 'What was the true impact?' This means we have to look at the overall context of how soldiers experienced the First World War. Both the Germans and British soldiers expected a quick war of movement when it would be over by Christmas. For many young teenagers who had lied about their age to join the army the war represented an alluring adventure {e.g., My granduncle lied about his age but managed to survive the war.}
According to the Schlieffen Plan, the Germans would quickly advance over the lowlands and encircle Paris and quickly knock out France so they could then turn their attention to fighting Russia. But the plan failed. The French and British prevented the Germans from taking France. Afterwards, there was a race to the sea to outflank each other. Neither side outflanked each other. Instead, both sides decided to dig in to better protect themselves from enemy attacks—and a trench system gradually evolved. Nothing had gone according to plan!
The war was not over by Christmas. Instead, both sides settled into miserable lives in the trenches. It was stalemate. Some soldiers wondered if the war would go on forever. The conditions in the trenches were appalling. It was no longer the once anticipated adventure. As one historian put it. “It was a miserable boring existence. It was freezing cold. Water could reach up to 18 inches or more and mud was everywhere.” It was difficult to sleep at night and to keep your feet dry in such conditions. The diet was monotonous. It almost never varied. They'd eat bully beef every day and at times received cheese. But this was food for the body and not for the soul. You could not receive heated food because the smoke from any fire would betray your presence. There was the constant threat of snipers so you could not casually go for a walk. Soldiers spent most of their time cleaning themselves and their equipment to make sure guns did not jam because of mud or working on improving the trenches. What comes out is the sheer boredom of life at the front.
The poet and soldier Wilfred Owen sums it up succinctly with one line from his poem where he repeats, “And nothing happens.” The only relief was writing and receiving letters from home, reading books, telling stories or playing games such as cards. But most soldiers practically wanted to go home. They dreamt about this. They yearned about this. They were very sentimental about home and carried photos of their loved ones in their backpacks.
Every day seemed to be the same old routine. Nothing much changed!
On Christmas Eve, the headquarters (HQ)of the British Army warned soldiers to exercise special vigilance. HQ expected the Germans to launch an offensive. Then on Christmas eve British soldiers thought they saw a strange sight. They noticed mysterious phantom lights appearing on the enemy parapets. At first they thought those lights might be the signal for a new offensive. Then on a closer look they noticed they were Christmas trees!
They then heard the German soldiers singing Christmas carols like “Still is the Night.” The British soldiers started to sing their own Christmas carols. Some Germans started to wish the British a “Merry Christmas” and the British also wished the Germans the same. They started to greet each other. The Germans started this initiative. They were much more educated than the soldiers of the B.E.F. and could speak English. Indeed, before the war many Germans had worked in England as barmen or waiters. In most places both troops agreed not to shoot at each other.
When Christmas Day came strange things began to happen. After some friendly banter some brave German soldiers dared to emerge from the trenches unarmed. They started to walk on No-Man's Land unarmed. Some of the British soldiers also decided to do the same. Their officers got worried. What if the Germans started to shoot them? What if this was just a ploy? Their anxious officers tried in vain to restrain them but ended up following them. Finally, the officers of each unit approached each other and agreed to a truce.
The first thing the soldiers did was to bury their dead. Then they said a prayer, next celebrating Christmas together. A twenty-year-old French soldier Gervias Morillon recalled events when he stated, “The boches waved a white flag and shouted 'kamarades, kamarades, rendez-vous!’ When we didn't move they came towards us unarmed, led by an officer. Although we are not clean they are disgustingly filthy. I am telling you this but don't speak about it to anyone. We must not mention it even to other soldiers." From the letters of soldiers sent back to their families we hear how the German soldiers told some British and French soldiers they did not want to shoot us, were tired of the war, wanted to go home, and were often married.
On No-Man's Land soldiers chatted, showed each other photos of their loved ones, exchanged gifts such as torn buttons from their coats and tobacco. While the German soldiers gave bemused British soldiers cigars, the British gave gifts such as tins of bully beef. In some parts of the front the soldiers played football or at least an improvised partial version of the game. In one case, a German soldier who was a barber before the war gave the gift of free haircuts to British soldiers! One German soldier told an Indian Soldier "Why cannot we have peace and let us all go home."
When senior officers at HQ heard about this they got furious. They punished some officers who had fraternalized with the enemy. They took future measures to prevent such truces happening again. So in the future, on Christmas Day they ordered the stepping up of bombardment by artillery.
The length of the truce varied from say a few hours to many days. “In some places this Christmas goodwill lasted into boxing day or longer: elsewhere the soldiers went back to exchanging bullets and shells rather than cigars and plum puddings” {Vyvyen Brendon, The First World War, 1914-18, 2000, London: Hodder Education}.
How come the truces came about? I think it is too cynical just to explain them as soldiers wanting a break or a rest from the fighting. On the contrary, letters home indicate there was genuine warmth and friendship from both sides. The claim that 'well, the truth is not reality and it's just a fairy tale' which briefly happened is an overstatement. In some cases, there is evidence to suggest that live and let peace gestures continued after the Christmas of 1914. The historian Max Hasting, hardly a romantic, wrote, “Rival commanders took care that the Christmas truces were never repeated on the same scale in later war years, but proved unable to prevent many informal local understanding—sustained periods of 'live and let live' by both sides- which became an enduring feature of the conflict on all fronts” {page 559, Catastrophe: Europe Goes to War 1914, by Max Hasting, 2014, London: William Collins}.
One of the reasons for the Christmas truces between the Germans and British soldiers was that they shared similar customs. They had the identical traditions of singing Christmas carols, giving presents, and putting up decorated Christmas trees. Decorating Christmas trees came to Britain from Germany. Both thought that Christmas was a time of peace and goodwill.
In a Scottish story I read by Duncan Williamson, a tramp makes the mistake of seeking shelter for the night in a cow shed and comes face to face with an angry snorting bull. But then the bull and all the rest of the animals lie down in peace because it happens to be Christmas Eve. There was this belief expressed in English and Scots Folklore that all the animals on Christmas eve would stop fighting each other and become calm.
How did many truces end? It could end with a sudden artillery bombardment far behind the trenches. Those artillery units had not agreed to any truce, so they wantonly broke it. Then another new military battalion or reinforcements might arrive who did not want to keep or observe this truce. And of course, senior officers took measures to severely punish any soldiers from making truces. The historian Niall Ferguson in his work a “The Pity of War” emphasizes how so many soldiers did not seek to fraternalize and felt no good will to the enemy. He quotes one Gordon Highlander returning from the truce shouting, “I don't trust these bastards!” He argues, “Instead of increasing, trust diminshed. It is not convincing simply to blame the end of 'live and let live' on pushy staff officers who wanted an 'active front ' for the sake of their own promotion prospects. Orders not to fraternize like those given to the 16th division in February 1917 were quite willingly obeyed.” [See page 344 of “The Pity of War,” by Niall Ferguson}.
Really? That such orders had to be given as late as February 1917 would suggest the live and let truces were being prolonged! And there is historical evidence for renewed peace truces. In fact, Niall Ferguson's book “The Pity of War” is a deliberate attempt to refute the voice of the poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon who were anti-war. Ferguson records other voices where people supported and even enjoyed the fighting. Ferguson points out there were many voices of World War One that should be acknowledged.
Whatever the limitations of the Christmas truces that they happened at all represented a marvelous event. Despite massive propaganda where the enemy were viewed as 'monsters' beyond any trust, the soldiers took the initiative and reached their own peace agreements. And they did this after only 5 months! In contrast, it took the politicians and generals 4 years to reach an enduring ceasefire. The ordinary soldiers on the frontline showed more talent and subtle tact than any of the politicians. The gesture of going over the parapet unarmed showed an incredible amount of trust in the friendly enemy. They might have been shot dead straightway. It is only in lofty cynical retrospect that some historians play down the Christmas truces because they failed to endure. At that very time on Christmas Day things looked different.
The soldiers saw events with different eyes. They asked. “Why can't we have peace and go home?!”
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Further Reading
1. Henry Brook, Rob Lloyd Jones and Conrad Mason, “The First World War: History of Britain,” 2015, London: Usborne. This book is ideal for school children.
2. Niall Ferguson, “The Pity of War,” 1998, London: Penguin Books. A well-researched book that is a very readable, fascinating and challenging work.
3. Max Hasting, “Catastrophe: Europe Goes to War 1914,” 2014, London: . You just can't put this book down!
4. Vyvyen Brendon, “The First World War 1914-18,” 2000, London: Hodder Education. This is a study book designed for children preparing for their school history exams.
5. A.J. P. Taylor, “The First World War: An Illustrated History, 1966, London: Penguin Books. One of the most well written and accessible accounts of the war.