The Christmas Truces of 1914: Peace in the Midst of War
The fighting came to a halt for many of the troops along the Western Front on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in 1914. Most historians refer to this event as the Christmas Truce of 1914. But it wasn’t a single truce negotiated by diplomats at the highest levels of the governments involved. The Christmas Truces of 1914 were negotiated informally by the troops themselves, most of whom were Christians who sincerely believed they were fighting for a just cause, regardless of which side they were on. But no matter how noble they viewed their cause, they did not want to engage in the slaughter of their fellow human beings on the Holy Day.
Some of the truces were just a head nod in agreement not to fight for a day, while many involved fraternization, meaning the troops visited with each other. There were hundreds of these individual truces, perhaps even a thousand.
