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On Christmas Eve in 1914, many men were in the trenches fighting the war, but the spirit of Christmas halted the conflict for a brief period. This is the story …
The Great War
The trigger for the Great War was the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Bosnia. What began as a local Balkan conflict escalated as a network of alliances across Europe led countries to come to each other’s aid. The British declaration of war on Germany was triggered by the German invasion of Belgium, which Britain regarded as unprovoked. A quarter of a million Belgian refugees came to Britain by boat and sought sanctuary through British hospitality. The stories these refugees brought of the horrors of war led to righteous anger and a surge in volunteers for the war.
Trench Warfare
Hostilities between the UK and Germany began in September 1914. The German advance into France was halted by British, Belgian, and French troops, and the Germans dug in, leading to trench warfare. Trenches stretched for about 450 miles, all the way from the North Sea to the Swiss Alps, forming what became known as the Western Front. Often the trenches were only a few hundred yards apart, and the land between them became known as no man’s land. They were close enough that the men could shout across to one another and hear each other singing. Many men had volunteered enthusiastically, but the horrors and realities of war soon hit them, and many co-operated only reluctantly. Some men were philosophically content to be discharged as injured while watching young compatriots being killed.
Weather Conditions
In the winter of 1914, the ground was muddy from torrential rain. Conditions were wet, cold, and miserable, and many men on both sides were stuck in flooded trenches. Any head emerging from the parapet was in danger of being shot. Then the rain stopped, temperatures dropped, and the air turned crisp. The ground froze and the mud hardened. As Christmas Eve approached, there was a beautiful moonlit night with frost on the ground, and everything looked white, like a scene from a Christmas card.
Christmas Gifts
Meanwhile in Britain, people patriotically sent Christmas cards and gifts to the soldiers, often consisting of plum puddings, chocolate, and cigarettes. On the German side, the men were sent Christmas trees, lanterns, candles, cigars, and pipes. Christmas trees were then much more of a German Lutheran tradition than a British one. On both sides, men paused to read letters and cards. In many places, British soldiers were amazed to see Germans putting up Christmas trees on the tops of their trenches, lit by candles or lanterns.
Christian Heritage
Many of these soldiers would have been shaped by Sunday School and church life back home in Britain or Germany, whether Anglican or Free Church, Catholic or Lutheran. Concepts such as “peace on earth” and “goodwill toward men” were part of the Christmas cultural vocabulary on both sides, making fighting at Christmas feel morally reprehensible.
Christmas Songs
So it was that on Christmas Eve 1914, in the icy silence of the Western Front, men who had tried to kill one another only hours before laid down their weapons and sang together of a newborn King. The guns fell silent, and instead the sound of Christmas carols drifted over the trenches, uniting enemies in worship of the same Christ. Germans sang songs such as “O Tannenbaum” (sung in English as “O Christmas Tree”), and the British sang songs like “O Come, All Ye Faithful”. Many of the Germans then began to sing “Stille Nacht”, and British soldiers applauded and joined in, singing “Still the Night” in English. This was the version commonly found in pre-war British songbooks and hymnals, although today a different version, “Silent Night”, is better known since Bing Crosby had a hit with it in 1942.
Fraternisation
Slowly, men felt brave enough to climb out of the trenches, and along vast stretches of the Western Front soldiers from both sides fraternised in no man’s land, shook hands, and tried to communicate. Only a small number of British soldiers knew German, but many Germans knew English. Before the Great War, it was common for Germans to come to England as economic migrants and to be employed as waiters, barbers, bus conductors, porters, or in other jobs that English workers typically did not want to do. As a result, a sizeable minority of the Germans knew English. Across the lines, they exchanged greetings, gifts, and souvenirs, and sometimes even addresses. There were even a few attempts to play football.
Religious Character
The break in hostilities enabled men on both sides to bring in the dead, bury them with dignity, and conduct services for the deceased, sometimes with German and British chaplains co-operating and reading Psalm 23 in German and English. This gave the truce a profoundly religious character. In some cases, after men had sung, prayed, and shared fellowship with enemies, many struggled morally to resume firing on one another. In many instances, a Christian conscience questioned obedience to war.
End of the Truce
However, there had not been a truce everywhere. There was fighting in some sectors. In some places war resumed on Boxing Day, while in others it continued into the New Year. Military command ensured that the truce did not thwart the war effort. Some units had to be moved and replaced by others before fighting could resume. It has been estimated that about 100,000 men from all sides engaged in unofficial truces (called der Weihnachtsfrieden in German).
Legacy
The truce was widely reported in British and German newspapers at the time. Today there are no eyewitnesses left alive to tell the story; the last known participant died in 2005 at the age of 105. However, the story is known from contemporary accounts, interviews with survivors, and letters written by those who were there, and in some families from memories passed down through generations. In a few cases, soldiers who exchanged addresses continued to correspond after the war.
The story of the Christmas Truce became more widely known as it was featured in the media. In 1983, Paul McCartney included the story in his music video for his hit song Pipes of Peace. In 2014, to mark its centenary, the Christmas Truce featured in a Sainsbury’s Christmas advertisement. In 2017, the Christmas Truce appeared as a plot twist in the BBC television Doctor Who Christmas special.
Summary
That Christmas in 1914, respect and friendship were shown on the front lines. Politics and nationalism started the First World War, but a common religion briefly stopped it. Men from both sides, with Catholic and Protestant heritage, shared a common Christian tradition that Christmas was a holy day marking the birth of the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).
