A Peace For Christmas

It is truly ironic that, while war is a manifestation of humankind's most extreme form of disagreement, it has often taken place between groups of individuals who really aren't that much different. This truism was demonstrated by the events of the first Christmas of World War I.

Although the war had only been going since August, vast networks of trenches and modern weapons such as the machine gun had served to effectively create a stalemate. Because of this stalemate and the fact that, in some places, the trenches of opposing sides were only about 50 meters apart, there were opportunities for verbal exchanges. On Christmas Eve, 1914, these opportunities resulted in informal truces in many places along the battle line.

Thanks largely to the work of folk music writer and singer, John McCutcheon, I have been able to put together an eight-minute music video (MPG format; 90 megabytes) describing the truce.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Christmas
• War
• John McCutcheon
• World War One
• World War I
• truce
• tenches
• peace