The Christmas Truce of 1914

One of the first public statements Pope Benedict XV made when he was elected to the papacy was to plea for a truce on Christmas Day. Although the Germans entertained the idea of a Christmas truce, the Allied forces rejected it. Benedict's request fell to the wayside; World War I had begun in earnest.

On the Western front, in the Flanders area of Belgium, the Christmas season arrived amid heavy fighting. Both sides were dug in, and miserable soldiers learned what it meant to live in discomfort and mortal fear. In some cases enemy soldiers fought from trenches just 30 yards (27.4 meters) from one another [source: Rees]. The area between each side's trenches -- No Man's Land -- was littered with corpses. Dead eyes stared back at the soldiers in the trenches from the frozen mud.

All along the front that Christmas, British and German troops received packages. Inside they found notes of appreciation, chocolates, pudding, tobacco and other tokens. In their packages, the German troops received Christmas trees.

The small trees -- tannenbaums, in German -- were sent to the front, replete with small candles to light. On Christmas Eve 1914, German soldiers lit the candles and set some trees upon the ledges of the their trenches. When they began singing, the British troops joined in. Wary, hopeful soldiers began to peer over the trenches.

As Christmas broke over Flanders, a truce was carved from the spirit of the season. Germans held up signs: "You no fight, we no fight." British troops responded with signs proclaiming "Merry Christmas." This Christmas turned out to be a merry one.

­No Man's Land became a meeting ground, as muddy, cold soldiers emerged from their trenches. The very same pudding and chocolate sent to soldiers from home in Berlin and London served as impromptu Christmas gifts between men who had just hours before shot at one another. Soldiers exchanged jokes and tobacco. One German, a juggler, put on a show in the middle of No Man's Land. The English produced a soccer ball and a pick up game broke out. The Germans won 3-2 [source: Rees].

The extent of the Christmas Truce is amazing. In some places fighting continued, but this was unusual. In some areas, officers established truces. In others, rank-and-file soldiers established trust. Some soldiers defied direct orders from their commanding officers and met up with enemies who were, for the moment, no longer their foes. In other cases, officers encouraged the truces, or at least didn't intervene.

But as both sides' high commands ordered soldiers to get back to war, the shooting began again. In some places, though, the peace lasted until after the New Year.

Eventually, the hope of a lasting peace, provoked by the men in the trenches who were asked to fight the war, faded into the sky over Flanders with the gun smoke. The Christmas Truce ended, and the war continued for four more years. While the spontaneous peace which took place on Christmas 1914 must have seemed like a dream, it's even more surreal that the soldiers took up arms against one another again afterward.

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