During the World War I an unexpected situation occurred during Christmas 1914. Between the trenches where British and German soldiers were fighting, located in the Ypres region of Belgium, there was an unofficial truce decreed by the soldiers themselves.
German soldiers decorated their trenches with Christmas motifs, sang German songs used to celebrate the date, and began to celebrate with English soldiers. For six days there was a ceasefire.
Even more unusual was the holding of a football match in the so-called “no man's land”, an area located between the trenches, between English and French soldiers. Christmas and football united the enemies of war for a few days. After this episode, officers of enemy armies decided to avoid the unofficial truce.
However, it was not only during Christmas 1914 that there was a fraternization between soldiers from countries in conflict during World War I. Even with the bans on officers, desertions and fraternizations between soldiers of different nationalities continued to occur, and these occurrences are also one of the causes that led the belligerent countries to find a way to end the war. During 1916, contacts between French and German soldiers became more frequent, demonstrating the creation of fraternal bonds between those who were previously enemies.
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In addition, there were several moments when soldiers rebelled against participating in the massacres of World War I, worrying the high officers of the belligerent armies. The most notable case was related to the Russian Revolution, which had among its causes the dissatisfaction of soldiers in participating in the war, who began to desert en masse.
Later, during the Civil War that ravaged the country after the Bolsheviks took power, riots calling for the demobilization of allied troops fighting the Russian revolutionaries were checked. Such examples demonstrate that, despite the attempts of the high command of the armies to keep at war soldiers divided by nationalities, there was solidarity among those who were forced to wage war against their will.
* Image Credit: Imperial War Museum
By Tales Pinto
Master in History
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
PINTO, Tales of the Saints. "A Christmas Truce in World War I"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiag/uma-tregua-natal-na-i-guerra-mundial.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
