The Christmas Truce of 1914 was an unofficial ceasefire between British and German troops that occurred along portions of the Western Front around Christmas. Soldiers sang Christmas carols to each other across the trenches, then emerged to exchange gifts and food. They mingled in no man's land, buried their dead together, and even played a friendly football match. However, the truce only lasted for one day and the soldiers returned to fighting the next, as their commanders disapproved of the fraternization between enemies.

2. What was it?
It is said that the Christmas Truce was a brief
unofficial cease-fire that occurred between the
troops of the German Empire and the British
Empire stationed on the western front of the
First World War during Christmas 1914

3. Christmas also
entered the trenches
of the First World
War. That Christmas
the German, French
and British fighters
left their rifles and
fraternized, buried
their dead and even
played a football
game. The next day
they were enemies
again
Germany, inspiring the truce, would allegedly be the top
scorer with a result of 3 to 2

4. WHY?
• Suddenly, some
voices break the night
silence: ‘Stille Nacht,
heine light Nacht….’
(‘Peace Night’). The
song of the German
trenches: its
occupants sing the
famous Christmas
carol in the language
of Goethe carried by
the Christmas spirit.
•Affected by the
peaceful feeling,
British fighters
sing their own
Anglo-Saxon
carols.

5. The 'no man's field' is transformed into a
fraternization field, and the combatants, unable
to continue hitting shots, leave their trenches,
demonstrating with their spontaneous gesture
that there is humanity, because when they look
into the eyes of their enemies they discover that
in the In the end, they all fight on the same side,
that the borders are fictitious and that these, like
the States, only delimit and coerce the human
being.

6. BURYING SOLDIERS
At one point on the defensive line, a German
officer emboldened by the friendly reaction of
the enemy side, approaches the British line and
with his hands raised asks permission to bury his
dead, who lie by tens, surrounding the trenches.

7. THE REACTION
• The military commanders didn't like it too
much. The German press would criticize the
spirit of the truce, embarrassed by the
"instigating" action of its combatants. The
French high command would censor the event
for years.