Christmas Truce, 1914

World War I Podcast

As dusk arrived on December 24, 1914, it was a cold night on the Western Front. It had been five months since the start of the war, and already, German, French and British Armies, slugging it out in the mud of Flanders, had experienced unimaginable casualties.
The war was supposed to be over by Christmas – or so many of the soldiers had been told. Instead, there was an unbreakable stalemate, and many soldiers on both sides were suffering from trench foot, pneumonia, and frostbite. There was little for them to celebrate as Christmas approached.
Despite the devastation and the suffering in the trenches however, there was a marked “live and let live” attitude in the days leading up to Christmas 1914. This philosophy intensified as Christmas approached, and manifested itself in what scholars today refer to as the Christmas Truce of 1914. This was not one isolated event, nor was it officially sanctioned or widespread – but across the Western Front, soldiers on both sides arranged temporary cease fires, exchanges of gifts, and even played several soccer games in No Man’s Land.