Soldiers from both sides (the British and the German) exchange cheerful conversation (an artist's impression from The Illustrated London News of 9 January 1915: "British and German Soldiers Arm-in-Arm Exchanging Headgear: A Christmas Truce between Opposing Trenches").
Date
24–26 December 1914
Location
Europe
Participants
Soldiers from United Kingdom, France, Austria-Hungary, German Empire, Russian Empire
Outcome
Temporary informal ceasefires in Europe
v
t
e
Western Front
1914
Moresnet
Invasion of Belgium
Liège
Dinant
Namur
Frontiers
Lorraine
Ardennes
Charleroi
Mons
Trouée de Charmes
Great Retreat
Le Cateau
Étreux
1st St. Quentin
Maubeuge
Grand Couronné
1st Marne
1st Aisne
Antwerp
Race to the Sea
Yser
1st Ypres
Winter actions
1st Artois
1915
1st Champagne
Hartmannswillerkopf
Neuve Chapelle
2nd Ypres
2nd Artois
Hébuterne
2nd Champagne
Loos
3rd Artois
Gas: Wieltje
1916
The Bluff
Hohenzollern Redoubt
St Eloi
Hulluch
Wulverghem
Kink Salient
Vimy Ridge 1916
Mont Sorrel
Verdun
Boar's Head
1st Somme
Fromelles
1917
Ancre
Alberich
Nivelle offensive
Arras
Vimy
2nd Aisne
The Hills
Messines
Passchendaele
La Malmaison
Cambrai
1918
German spring offensive
Michael
The Lys
3rd Aisne
Belleau Wood
2nd Marne
Soissons
Amiens
Ailette
2nd Somme
Saint-Mihiel
St Quentin Canal
Meuse-Argonne
5th Ypres
2nd Cambrai
Courtrai
Sambre
Lys and Escaut
Associated articles
1914 Christmas truce
French Army mutinies
Western Front tactics, 1917
A cross, left in Saint-Yves (Saint-Yvon – Ploegsteert; Comines-Warneton in Belgium) in 1999, to commemorate the site of the Christmas Truce. The text reads: "1914 – The Khaki Chums Christmas Truce – 1999 – 85 Years – Lest We Forget"
The Christmas truce (German: Weihnachtsfrieden; French: Trêve de Noël; Dutch: Kerstbestand) was a series of widespread unofficial ceasefires along the Western Front of the First World War around Christmas 1914.
The truce occurred five months after hostilities had begun. Lulls occurred in the fighting as armies ran out of men and munitions and commanders reconsidered their strategies following the stalemate of the Race to the Sea and the indecisive result of the First Battle of Ypres. In the week leading up to 25 December, French, German and British soldiers crossed trenches to exchange seasonal greetings and talk. In some areas, men from both sides ventured into no man's land on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to mingle and exchange food and souvenirs. There were joint burial ceremonies and prisoner swaps, while several meetings ended in carolling. Hostilities continued in some sectors, while in others the sides settled on little more than arrangements to recover bodies.
The following year, a few units arranged ceasefires but the truces were not nearly as widespread as in 1914; this was, in part, due to strongly worded orders from commanders, prohibiting truces. Soldiers were no longer amenable to truce by 1916; the war had become increasingly bitter after the human losses suffered during the battles of 1915.
The truces were not unique to the Christmas period and reflected a mood of "live and let live", where infantry close together would stop fighting and fraternise, engaging in conversation. In some sectors, there were occasional ceasefires to allow soldiers to go between the lines and recover wounded or dead comrades; in others, there was a tacit agreement not to shoot while men rested, exercised or worked in view of the enemy. The Christmas truces were particularly significant due to the number of men involved and the level of their participation—even in quiet sectors, dozens of men openly congregating in daylight was remarkable—and are often seen as a symbolic moment of peace and humanity amidst one of the most violent conflicts in human history.
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