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The Christmas Truce of 1914, when enemies climbed out of the trenches together

War & conflict

The Christmas Truce of 1914, when enemies climbed out of the trenches together

11 min

On Christmas 1914, British and German soldiers stopped shooting, met in no man's land, and even played football — and why the high command made sure it never happened again.

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Show notes

One hundred thousand British and German troops participated in spontaneous peace along a three-hundred-mile trench line.

German soldiers initiated the truce by decorating trenches with candles and singing carols on Christmas Eve.

Enemies traded personal items like spiked helmets and family photographs while sharing tobacco and plum puddings.

Joint burial services were held in no man's land where soldiers read the twenty-third Psalm together.

The legendary football match was likely a spontaneous kickabout using ration tins rather than an organized game.

Military generals used heavy shelling and troop rotations in nineteen fifteen to prevent future truces from occurring.

In this episode

  1. 1Intro1 min
  2. 2The Silent Night of Nineteen Fourteen2 min
  3. 3Meeting in No Man's Land3 min
  4. 4The Myth and Reality of the Football Match2 min
  5. 5The High Command's Fury3 min
  6. 6Outro1 min

Sources

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The Christmas Truce of 1914, when enemies climbed out of the trenches together — Fylom