Human Respite Among the Horrors of World War I: the Historic Christmas Truce of 1914

Across the Western Front, unofficial cessations of hostilities at Christmas Eve led to spontaneous humane and friendly gestures.

Clumsy in their uniform, tired from the hardships, military personell nevertheless found the time for some soccer playing — probably to help maintaining sanity too. Photo from the Open University IWM Non-Commercial License.

Overview

28 July 1914, World War I officially started. The war was unpopular (is it ever?) and most soldiers were convinced, because they had been convinced of it, that it would have been over by Christmas or the New Year.

Five months in, and thousands of soldiers were stuck in miles of muddy and wet trenches in Belgium, French, and Germany. They were cold, hungry, hurt, and worst of all the conflict had no end in sight.

The ‘live and let live’ mood was widespread among non-officer personnel for various reasons. Soldiers by then were veterans as they had fought non-stop for months.

The soldiers’ average age was 25. Human nature led many soldiers to relate to their counterparts. The closer the trenches, sometimes only 100 feet (30.5 meters) apart, the stronger the feeling seemed because there was a direct and immediate sensory connection.

One side could see movement, hear talking, or smell the cooking of the other one. This general non-aggressive attitude was so…