Christmas Truce 1914

 I have a music based Facebook group for the Rush bassist Geddy Lee (you can join here if you're a Rush fan).  One of the things I do is post new music as Rush no longer makes music.  Being that we're in the midst of the Christmas season, I posted a song called "Christmas Truce" by the Swedish power metal band Sabaton.  I was reluctant to put it on the list.  When I watched the video, which you can see here (or here, I decided to put it on the list.  The imagery of the video and the song are so powerful and rife with emotion.  Until I watching the video and listening to the song, I had no idea that it had any historical significance surrounding it.




On December 7, 1914, Pope Benedict the XV called for a temporary hiatus of the war.  Many warring countries refused any sort of ceasefire.  But an unofficial ceasefire was declared by many troops in the trenches on Christmas.

Christmas truce occurred on Christmas 1914 during World War I.  Many troops ceased their fire while others kept fighting.  Not sure why they all couldn't have put down their weapons for a brief period.  For those who did, it started on Christmas Eve, when British and German troops fight in the war started singing Christmas carols.  At various points, the Allied soldiers even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their singing.

At the light of dawn on Christmas Day, German soldiers emerged out of the trenches approached the Allied lines across no-man’s-land, and were calling out “Merry Christmas” in their enemies’ native tongues. At first, Allied soldiers were fearful that it was a trick at first. Once they saw the Germans were unarmed, they also emerged from the trenches and shook hands with them.

They exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings, sang Christmas carols and songs. Some Germans even lit Christmas trees around the trenches. Some documents show that they played a good natured and rousing game of soccer.

At least some fighting had a temporary ceasefire and truce even if only for Christmas. Again, the countries and troops that kept fighting should have done the same.

For those that did stop fighting, we could learn something from that.  But hey, hopefully you and yours all have a Merry Christmas.