by Tucker Koch, Contributing Writer
Guess what, I’m back in World War I again. There are just so many interesting little things that happened in this war that barely get brought up in a history class. Ahem, anyways, I should probably be more formal for this. So, World War I was just the slightest bit messy. It was the bloodiest war Europe had ever seen up until this point, and it left millions of soldiers feeling like they were fighting for nothing. Which wasn’t entirely wrong, but that’s besides the point. The first year of the war was especially brutal, as every piece of new and old technology was tested on the battlefield to see what stuck. The specific time period I’m talking about today is December 1914.
You see, living in the trenches was absolute torment. You lived in the cold, damp mud with your cold, damp uniform; you were under constant pressure not to be shot; you could blow up at any moment, and most of your food probably went bad because you were residing in a muddy ditch. Heck, some soldiers even reported having to drink their own urine for hydration because they were that undersupplied. As such, all of the soldiers wanted a break. So, on December 24 of 1914, the British and German troops signed a temporary armistice so they could celebrate Christmas together. This is not the plot of a Hallmark movie; this is an actual event.
It started with the Germans setting up a tree and some candles while singing Christmas carols. The British joined them in song before both of them got out of the trenches to celebrate together. This break also let both sides properly bury and honor the soldier who had fallen in battle. There was also very strong evidence that the two sides played soccer together during the truce. The soldiers and even the generals were relieved by the break, and, surprisingly, both sides were very cordial, treating each other as fellow humans rather than enemies. Well, not everyone was very trusting of the truce. Here’s a fun fact for you: Adolf Hitler, who was a corporal of the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry, was one of the few people opposed to the truce. What a way for the most notoriously evil guy to introduce himself to this series of history articles.
After the 26th concluded, the soldiers returned to their usual tactics of warfare. Despite efforts, the escalating war made future truces infeasible. It is nice to see that human compassion can still come through, even in times of war.
This has been Tucker Koch, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this.
