Lessons from the Christmas Truce of World War I are valuable today
In the midst of war, a moment of peace emerged during the Christmas holiday in 1914.
More than a hundred years have passed since the founding catastrophe of the 20th century. Exactly why World War I began is still debated by historians, but what is clear is that it was the world’s leaders who declared war upon each other. Similarly, on a cold winter night in 1914, it was the ones who were tasked with fighting who declared peace.
On Christmas Eve 1914, along parts of the Western and, to a much smaller extent, Eastern Fronts a spontaneous truce was declared among the weary, entrenched combatants of the Great War. The National WWI Museum and Memorial has spent decades exploring this event – now known as the Christmas Truce – by studying firsthand accounts from soldiers themselves, as well as working with noted historians. We are left with this conclusion: The lessons to be learned from the Christmas Truce are abundant.