WW I ... The Christmas Truce--chivalrous acts
December 25:
1914 : The Christmas Truce
Just after midnight on Christmas morning, the majority of German troops engaged in World War I cease firing their guns and artillery and commence to sing Christmas carols. At certain points along the eastern and western fronts, the soldiers of Russia, France, and Britain even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.
At the first light of dawn, many of the German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man's-land, calling out "Merry Christmas" in their enemies' native tongues. At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers. The men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sang carols and songs. There was even a documented case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a good-natured game of soccer.
The so-called Christmas Truce of 1914 came only five months after the outbreak of war in Europe and was one of the last examples of the outdated notion of chivalry between enemies in warfare. In 1915, the bloody conflict of World War I erupted in all its technological fury, and the concept of another Christmas Truce became unthinkable.
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- groups:
- Community, current cult, Humanism, Unfeatured, 3 more
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remanns
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Cult of humanity. We can. Let us not forget.
- 2 years ago
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remanns
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WisconsinNorm
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"These eyes have seen a thousand die, I hope not a thousand more"
- 2 years ago
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WisconsinNorm
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Kylsport
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I've read about this many years ago, and all of you are right - this is a fact we have had to research on our own. Unfortunately, our congress did not demonstrate this type of civility this Christmas. Lesson learned, even the 'civilized' civil servants can learn from our soldiers.
- 2 years ago
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Kylsport
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jahbini
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This is a most important example of our basic humanity, of how we know we are all human.
- 2 years ago
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jahbini
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hayden_augustus
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A movie was made about the occasion called "Joyeux Noël." It is actually worth the rent to watch it. I fear that we may never see humanity or chivalry between enemies in war again. Demonizing the enemy is too valuable to the leaders who send us to war.
- 2 years ago
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hayden_augustus
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regjoeschmo
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and yet this is not taught in our schools when we learn about the war.... at least I had a teacher who went beyond the curriculum and told us of this (and his disgust they refused to make it part of the history lesson)
- 2 years ago
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regjoeschmo
