The Christmas Truce of 1914
The Truce
The Christmas Truce of 1914 occurred during the Winter Solstice, when soldiers on many sides of the battle in many places along the Western Front put down their weapons and cautiously emerged from their trenches to celebrate together.
Perhaps it was inspired on December 7, 1914, when Pope Benedict XV suggested a temporary hiatus of World War One for the celebration of Christmas. Politicians of the various warring empires refused to create an “official” ceasefire, but the soldiers in the trenches declared their own truce. In the midst of the brutal and total war, the soldiers disobeyed their political and military masters, crossed into No Man’s Land, and celebrated peacefully with “the enemy.”