{"id":1896,"date":"2014-12-25T09:48:41","date_gmt":"2014-12-25T14:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/?p=1896"},"modified":"2024-10-02T15:07:25","modified_gmt":"2024-10-02T19:07:25","slug":"truce-flags-summoned-christmas-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/truce-flags-summoned-christmas-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"Truce flags summoned Christmas peace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Drawing<\/a>
Drawing of Christmas truce (from Illustrated London News)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It happened 100 years ago on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Soldiers from England, France and Germany, who had been killing one another in the trenches of World War I<\/a>, stopped for a brief time. Hoisting white truce flags, they crawled over the tops of their trenches.<\/p>\n

The spontaneous event is known as the Christmas<\/a> Truce. A British lieutenant would later say that \u201cthere was not an atom of hatred on either side that day,\u201d which was \u201cjust like the interval between the rounds of a friendly boxing match.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A 1921 sketch of the Christmas Truce<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But there was nothing friendly about the First World War. Millions of people, combatants and civilians, died as a result of the conflict. At Christmastime 1914, however, some of the warriors decided to celebrate together the birth of the Prince of Peace.<\/span><\/p>\n

An American infantryman recalled that, on Christmas, the men who were huddled in opposing trenches started calling out to one another, wishing their enemies a Merry Christmas and asking for cigarettes. <\/span>A German captain said he \u201cshouted to our enemies that we didn\u2019t wish to shoot and that we make a Christmas truce\u2026.And the British shouted, \u2018No shooting!\u2019 Then a man came out of the trenches, and I\u2026did the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>It\u2019s estimated that as many as 100,000 combatants, cold and dirty, followed the truce flag into the open<\/a>. A corporal from Scotland recalled, \u201cWe shook hands, wished each other a Merry Christmas and were soon conversing as if we had known each other for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

In some places, the camaraderie led to pick-up soccer matches among men who had been \u2013 and would soon again \u2013 be shooting at one another. Now they were taking shots at a makeshift goal instead. Other shots were also taken as foes snapped pictures of one another.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was,\u201d said a British officer, \u201cthe strangest scene you could imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Soldiers<\/a>
Soldiers from Germany and Great Britain pause war in Belgium in 1914<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Who could have guessed that such a thing would happen in the middle of a terrible war? The answer might be two people. A humor columnist for a Kansas City newspaper joked on Dec. 25, 1914, that \u201cthe armies should [wave] a flag of truce on Christmas in order to allow the soldiers to try on their new socks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other was a pacifist who wished, on Dec. 9, 1914, that someone would call for a \u201cTruce of God for this Christmas season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ordinary soldiers fulfilled his wish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It happened 100 years ago on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Soldiers from England, France and Germany, who had been killing one another in the trenches of World War I, stopped for a brief time. Hoisting white truce flags, they crawled over the tops of their trenches. The spontaneous event is known as the Christmas… continue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[166,3,126,146],"class_list":["post-1896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-lessons","tag-christmas","tag-history","tag-soldiers","tag-world-war-i"],"yoast_head":"\nTruce flags summoned Christmas peace<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Soldiers from England, France and Germany, who had been killing one another in the trenches of World War I, stopped. 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