The Christmas Truce of 1914

By Paul J. Magnarella

Although World War I ranks as one of the most horrific in history, causing about 40 million casualties and up to 20 million military and civilian deaths, it also included a famous and spontaneous peaceful interlude inscribed in chronicles as the unofficial Christmas Truce of 1914.

World War I The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, by a Bosnian Serb in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, plunged much of Europe into war. The Entente Powers of France, Russia and Britain stood against the Central Powers of the Austro-Hungarian, German, and Ottoman Empires. In mid-September, the German, British and French commands ordered their armies to entrench along a 475 mile Western Front that extended from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier. Four years of brutal, stalemated trench warfare followed. Most trenches were about seven feet deep and six feet wide topped by a parapet of sandbags. From there barbed wire entanglements extended into No-Man’s land. In many places the No-Man’s Land separating German and British front-line trenches was only 30 to 70 yards wide.

The elements were sometimes more debilitating than the enemy. Standing in the mud and water for days often resulted in feet becoming gangrenous. Excessive exposure to wet and cold caused nephritis, which affected the kidneys. The accumulated rubbish, urine, and excreta in the trenches negatively impacted on health. Food scraps and decaying corpses attracted huge numbers of disease-carrying rats. The unwashed men attracted lice that covered their bodies with bite marks and caused “trench fever.” Artillery bursts caused some men to experience shell shock.

Periodically, the aristocratic generals (safely lodged in the rear) ordered the mostly lower class men in the trenches to make suicidal frontal assaults on enemy trenches. Machine guns and rapid fire rifles simply mowed down attacking men in No-Man’s Land, where their bodies often remained for weeks in a decaying state. The generals never devised a sensible plan to break the cruel stalemate that trench warfare became.

On Christmas Eve the weather cleared. Rain gave way to a clear cold that froze the mud and water, making movement easier and boots and clothing drier. Having received gift packages from home, the men of both sides were in a festive mood. That evening, along the front-line, German troops sang Christmas carols. Many erected candle-lit Christmas trees on their parapets and called out season’s greetings to their enemies opposite them.

Many Entente troops responded with applause, holiday wishes, and songs of their own. Concerned, one British battalion command informed Brigade Headquarters: “Germans have illuminated their trenches, are singing songs, and are wishing us a Happy Xmas. Compliments are being exchanged, but [I] am nevertheless taking all military precautions...”

Then, an amazing series of events occurred. Along parts of the British, French and Belgian lines, men from both sides went out into No-Man’s Land unarmed to meet, shake hands and fraternize. The First Battalion Royal Irish Rifles reported Germans calling out: “If you Englishmen come out and talk to us, we won’t fire.”

Scotsmen in Flanders, the 2nd Queen’s Battalion near La Chapelle d’Armentieres, and the 2nd Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers also reported Germans singing Stille Nacht [Silent Night] and extending invitations to meet in No Man’s Land.

Christmas Day
On the morning of 25 December, the 2nd Battalion Devons reported seeing the Germans hoist a board with the words “You no fight, we no fight.” Opposite the 2nd Battalion Border Regiment, the process began with a German officer emerging from his trench waving a white flag. The 2nd Battalion Wiltshires reported men on both sides waving to each other, and then going out into No-Man’s Land to meet unarmed. After initial greetings both sides agreed to bury their dead comrades who had been laying in No-Man’s Land for weeks. Some Germans and British worked together in burial parties; a British soldier described a joint funeral service as “a sight one will never forget!” Members of the British Rifle Brigade gave the Germans wooden crosses to mark their graves.

The opposing sides exchanged food, drink, cigarettes, photographs, addresses and sincere wishes for peace. A British officer found the scene “absolutely astounding!” The troops found each other to be quite likeable. Many men felt compelled to write home about their experience. A London Rifles Brigade officer: “They [Germans] were really magnificent in the whole thing....I now have a very different opinion of the Germans.” A Scots Guard: “Some of them are very nice fellows and did not show any hatred, which makes me think they are forced to fight.”

Once No-Man’s Land had been cleared of corpses, some men found areas suitable for soccer games with improvised balls. In places, British and Germans ate Christmas dinner together, sharing whatever they had. They entertained each other with singing and instrumental music.

How It Ended
Many who participated in an informal truce hoped to continue it until New Year’s Day or beyond. But the High Commands sternly objected. A German army order dated threatened that fraternization with the enemy would be punished as high treason. A British order warned that “Officers and NCOs allowing [fraternization] would be brought before a court martial.”

In late December the High Commands ordered artillery bombardments along the front. They did the same in following years to ensure that the 1914 Christmas truce would not be repeated. Despite these measures, a few friendly encounters did occur, but on a much smaller scale than in 1914.

Soldiers Express Themselves
The Christmas truce touched the men deeply as evidenced in their letters and diaries. Various British soldiers wrote the following: “The most wonderful day on record!” “The most extraordinary celebration of Christmas any of us will ever experience!” “This experience has been the most practical demonstration I have seen of Peace on earth and goodwill towards men.” German troops wrote: “The way we spend Christmas in the trenches sounds almost like a fairy tale.” “It was a Christmas celebration in keeping with the command ‘Peace on earth’ and a memory which will stay with us always.” “Probably the most extraordinary event of the whole year—a soldier’s truce without any higher sanction by officers or generals.”

Speaking in the House of Commons in 1930, Sir H. Kingsley Wood, a former major who had served at the front in 1914 stated: “If we had been left to ourselves there would never have been another shot fired. …it was only the fact that we were being controlled by others that made it necessary for us to start trying to shoot one another again.”

Today, the Christmas Truce of 1914 is regarded as evidence of men’s natural desire for peace and friendship, even in the context of a brutal and senseless conflict. However, the 1914 Christmas Truce is not unique in history. During the early 19th century Peninsula War, British and French soldiers at times visited each other, shared rations and played cards. Periodically during the 1854-56 Crimean War French, British and Russian troops gathered around the same fire to smoke and drink together.

In the American Civil War (1861-65) Yankees and Rebels traded coffee and tobacco and peacefully fished from opposite sides of the same rivers. Throughout history, it has been rare for men fighting at close quarters not to extend friendly gestures and establish informal truces with their enemies.

Paul J. Magnarella is Director of Peace and Justice Studies, Warren Wilson College.

This commentary was distributed by PeaceVoice, a program of the Oregon Peace Institute.

Let It Snow...

Thursday morning dawned clear but by lunch we were hearing the dire warnings of incoming snow. Thursday night it began to snow, and snow, and snow. Friday morning, students began to worry whether they would be able to get off campus. The snow had started accumulating and the roads were turning to ice. As I sat in the kitchen on my dorm on campus making tea, one of my friends ran in and tossed her key to me while quickly retreating out the door explaining that she needed to leave to beat the snow and I would just have to transfer her fish and her guinea pig, which I had agreed to take care of for break, myself. I had just enough time to wish her luck on her journey before she was gone. By noon, all the campus shuttles to the airport had been cancelled for safety reasons and all of Asheville’s taxis had stopped running. Pretty much everyone left on campus was stuck there at least for the night. At 7:00 Friday night, I was just finished baking vegan chocolate peanut butter balls when I peeked outside to discover that close to a foot of snow had fallen. Knowing that at least one of my friends had not made it off campus, I wrapped up a couple of the warm cookies, put on my boots, coat, gloves and hat, and headed out into the still falling snow.

Through the snow, I could just make out a six-foot tall snowperson gracing courtyard as I walked to the Wellness dorm. Once inside, I began to strip off layers before climbing the stairs to my friend’s room. When I know she invited me inside where I discovered not only her, but three other friends. After a brief discussion of some activities we could do that night, we went down into the common room to make some hot chocolate before heading back up to her room to cuddle together and watch It’s a Wonderful Life. Two hours, and a few tears later, my friends offered to walk me back to my room.

We all bundled up again and headed out into the snow. Almost immediately we all stopped, and after a few moments of joy declared that nothing is as beautiful as Warren Wilson in the snow (except maybe Warren Wilson in the spring). Unable to stand the idea of going back inside, we decided to take a walk. As we walked, we heard cheers coming from a nearby hill, one of the steepest on campus, and it did not take long to figure out that it was a group of people with improvised sleds. We climbed the hill, slipping on the snow and ice, dodging a couple of students as they came down, and finally made it to the top. There we found about fifteen people, a mix of foreign students and at least one person from each year, with a variety of boxes, tub lids, and other items which they we zooming down the hill on screaming the whole way. We laughed as we watched a couple of students set off down the hill, hitting a snow bank and doing a 360 before continuing down. After half and hour of fun, and a couple of trips down the hill, we realized it was getting close to 11:00 and we needed to go to bed. As we gingerly walked down the hill, we ran into one of the biology professors carrying his guitar and with him his wife. They had been singing and playing guitar on one of the pastures before realizing how late it was.

When I got home, I collapsed into bed and fell into a deep sleep. When I woke up in the morning, it was still snowing and it became apparent that no one would be leaving Saturday either. Cars littered the sides of Warren Wilson Road. The only vehicle that seemed to be able to get traction was a huge tractor, driven by a student, which was working to clear the roads of snow. It wasn’t until Sunday that the roads were clear enough for the shuttles to start running again and for students to drive home. Finally, on Monday morning, the campus was as quiet as it usually is during the first week of winter break. I headed down to recycling where I am working half the week for the next two weeks to start digging out our trash pick up trucks. Smiling, I picked up a snow shovel and started winter break for real.

Victoria

Aaah

Another Semester Has Come and Gone

Aaah. The semester has unfolded as usual. December has come and another glorious semester is coming to a conclusion. Each semester is different and precious in its own way. Every semester, students are challenged with new and invigorating classes, off-the-wall service projects that help improve the life of someone else and work crews that may be a repeat from the semester before or a new one in order to explore a variety of jobs before graduation. Students work from sun up to sundown, writing lab reports, conducting research, serving food in the cafeteria, tutoring elementary school children, volunteering at food banks, tending to the cows and working with prospective students that we encourage to come to our school. When the semester unwinds to a slow and gradual stop, we can look back at the laughter, the tears, the enjoyments and the fond memories.

As for me, I rose every morning before eight. Shutting off my alarm clock and ridding myself of its siren-like blare, I would rub the sleep from my eyes and go about my day. After falling asleep twice in the bathroom, I would pull myself together and start my day. The mornings would open with a run to Gladfelter where I would receive a smiling welcome from the student serving food. I would then receive my gleaming bagel, rounder than any circle that any mathematician could ever draw. Then I would load up on cream cheese and gulp down a tall glass of skim milk.

The morning would then lead to classes where we had Socratic discussions and contemplated the eccentricities and complexities of this great world. Then it was off to Cowpie for lunch to see what food chocked full of life force vegetarian goodness the students had whipped together that day. The afternoon consisted of glorious hours in the Admission Office. There were of course the data entries, the appointment scheduling and the tours. But what I really loved was the mailing. Peeling the labels and placing them ever so delicately on the brochure. Stuffing envelopes with beautiful radiant green booklets, knowing that an excited prospective student would receive them. The sense of accomplishment that crosses the mind after having just finished taping 312 brochures. The wonderful feeling of diligence.

As the semester reaches the final stretch, I know I can speak for many when I say that another semester at Warren Wilson truly builds character. It would be a lie to say that it is not stressful. There’s homework, demanding jobs and service obligations. Time management is crucial. But when you stop and think about it, the days we spend balancing our life on this lovely campus with its majestic mountains, really are the best times of our lives.

Sarah

Rite of Passage

At the end of last year, I remember hearing all the upperclassmen share how towards the end of summer you would grow antsy to get back to Wilson. I can now attest to this feeling with personal experience. I was so excited to go home to Upstate New York for the summer, to see family and friends, and to take a break from school work. But as soon as I bought my ticket back to the mountainous Swannanoa, I began to feel anxious to see my friends and just be on campus.

After getting up at three in the morning to catch my flight and spending all day in airports, it was so comforting to come around the corner and see the famous red barn in the field with the large WWC in white. I then carried my heavy suitcases into my new home of Ballfield B, to bump into one of my best friends. There was a sigh of relief. It felt so right to be back, and after one day I felt like I had never left.

All summer I answered the question of, “How was your first year at school?” I always felt I wasn’t doing Wilson justice with my response of “amazing.” However, I never could think of a way to show everyone how much I’ve grown and all the experiences I’ve had since moving away from home. I have truly grown as a person, from doing my own laundry when the bin is full to experiences which have given me a different outlook on the world.

I am now comfortably in a routine, which consists of classes, work, study, meals in Cowpie with friends, more studying, and tea time in the late evenings to wind down, before more studying. It was unbelievably nice to fall back into my typical duties on the Admission Crew, answering the phone, giving tours, and catching up. However I know friends who switched from working in the Work Program Office to Farm Crew and from Admission to Plumbing. To hear their new stories of learning something new has been great!

All in all it is “amazing” to be back! And I will always consider Wilson as a home away from home.

Andrea

Days of Our Lives

7:00am
Wake up and get ready for the day


7:30
Walk to breakfast and take in the beautiful Valley


8:00
Lifestyles of Nonviolence class


9:30
Go down to the river to collect and identify arthropods during Field and Natural History class


11:00
East Asian Civilizations class


12:30
Lunch at Cowpie, the vegan café while listening to the old-time string band


1:00
Work at the Office of Admission- entering data, giving tours, and talking on the phone


5:00
Make dinner in the kitchen with the folks in my dorm


6:00
Attend a movie viewing for my US History from 1945 course


7:30
Take a short hike on campus


8:30
Homework and Studying


11:00pm
Fall asleep while watching the “Planet Earth” series

Cait

Oh Lord, Kumbayah

It sounds like the lead up to a pretty good punch line: “What do you get when you send a Warren Wilson student to Maine to work at an all-girls Bible camp for the summer?” But this year, and for the past two years, I have left the Swannanoa valley to come up to New England Camp Cedarbrook. It may seem like a strange combination to you, but to me, it makes perfect sense. One of my favorite things about going to WWC is being exposed to so many new kinds of people and so many different ways of life (see also: reiki, firespinning, biodynamic agriculture, slam poetry, and raw-foodism), and learning how to be open to that. When I come to camp, I'm doing the same thing: being around people who seem very dissimilar, and learning how to look for what we have in common.

This summer, I am working joyfully alongside people who question evolution, who march in pro-life rallies, who have bumper stickers for the Marines on their cars and who proudly voted for McCain/Palin. And we all get along great. That's what being in community is about, right?

When I'm here at camp, I get to do things like teach Bible studies about compost (just like the worms decompose table scraps and turn them into rich soil, Jesus takes our icky bits and turns them into opportunities for growth) and explain how turning off the lights and buying local food is taking care of God's creation. And, what's more, I get to challenge myself, my campers, and the other staff to look beyond our stereotypes and knee-jerk reactions and learn how to live in vibrant community with one another.

See? Not so different from Wilson after all (well, except for the strict ban on skinnydipping up here. The lazy Swannanoa River will be waiting for me in August).

Can I get an “Amen”?

Lindsay

Why We Work - well, at least one reason...

It’s the middle of June and I have been working on Admission Crew for roughly four weeks now. One of the great advantages of working at WWC in the summer is getting paid every two weeks. My plan is to save some extra money for the fall semester, so I can actually go out to eat every once and a while. I made the mistake of coming to school last semester with not more than five dollars in my bank account. Not that having money is a big concern here, it is just nice to be able to go out on occasion. At least WWC pays a good bit more than minimum wage for the summer work. With a forty hour a week contract, I should have some spending money as well. On top of it all, WWC makes it easy for students to take off however many weeks they want for vacation time. I could easily spend a month in Nova Scotia, and then come back and work the rest of the summer with this set up! I guess I am enjoying working on this crew too much to take that much time off.

Thankfully, today was payday, another five hundred dollars towards my savings. Right? Not exactly. A wrench was thrown into my plans to save up, when I got a call from a friend who was planning a trip by herself to New York City. Convincing me to join her did not take much. I thought about my little savings account, and decided, what am I saving for anyway; Greasy pizza from Chow Time, the local delivery place? No, I need to put my money towards new experiences, not more junk. So I dished out two hundred dollars for a round trip ticket to NYC. Luckily, the cost of the ticket was not even half of one of my paychecks. The real cost will come when I get there, gazing around at tons of museums and subways. The adventure will definitely be worth it. I have never been to NYC, and I have never been that far north. It’s going to be a one hundred and eighty degree turn around from the mountains of Appalachia but I think I need to experience the big city. Not to mention I’ll be there for the Forth of July celebration. City lights, and fireworks here I come!

Jenn

The Last Supper

Ah, to be less than a week away from graduating. It is exciting, terrifying, and wonderful all at the same time. One of the many senior events of the final two weeks is the senior dinner, a delicious meal orchestrated by the President and his wife and shared with fellow seniors, professors, and staff alike. As if graduating weren’t nostalgic enough, do all of my professors have to dote on me so? Carol Howard, whom I mentioned in a previous blog as a brunette bombshell and professor of English here at WWC, saw us driving up to the dinner and waited outside of the door so that she could be sure to sit with “her students” at the dinner.

Unfortunately, Gary Hawkins, head of the creative writing department, and David Mycoff, head of the English department, did not plan so well, and we had quickly run out of space at our table, forcing them to find seats elsewhere. Carol and I discussed future plans as well as landmark college experiences over my beef filet and her portobello mushroom. Warren Gaughan, head of the music department, came over to chat, and I invited him to a post-graduation get-together at my house. He just said, “I’m invited? YES!” And I told him all about the two bands that will be performing at the party.

Following dinner, the Warren Wilson College Chorale serenaded us with everything from world music to a Bob Dylan cover. As I sipped my coffee, Mycoff took advantage of a seat vacated by my roommate, Tori, and sat down next to me. I slyly opened with “How’s your semester wrapping up?” as a casual lead in to ask if he had read my thesis yet and, if so, what he had thought of it. I dropped the question, and he told me that my forty pages about AIDS Drama was one of the best theses he has read. As he stood up to leave, he added: “And I don’t just mean out of this year’s work.” I have been on cloud 9 since that conversation and will continue floating until May 16th around 10:00 or so.

RH

No Rest for The Weary

At this point in the school year, students are realizing that there are, in fact, only a couple days left in this academic year.

Right now Wilson students are in the midst of writing final papers, preparing for exams, and reviewing all the information they’ve absorbed over the semester. In addition to all the academic work at hand, Wilson students are still putting in fifteen hours a week on their work crews. That’s right, our students are not graced with a week free of classes, let alone work. Our cows still need to be rotated on our pastures and the bathrooms in Gladfelter still need to be cleaned.

But, you know what?

That’s what makes our school and students so distinct. Outside of a college setting, the world won’t hold still when stuff starts pilling up. The same holds true here at Wilson.

LM

One Down, Three To Go

It’s funny to think how just ten months ago I was completely ignorant to the entire idea of college life. I remember thinking to myself, as I packed my final belongings into the van the night before our 14-hour journey from New York to North Carolina, that everything was going to be different from now on. All the websites say that once you leave for college your relationship between everyone at home changes, not necessarily for the worse. Then when we pulled out of the drive way the next morning I remember thinking that this is going to be my last trip down my driveway and then NY for a long time. I have always traveled and loved being away from home, but this time is different, I was going to a chapter in my life. It was a bittersweet goodbye.

I remember pulling off of Warren Wilson Road onto campus for orientation week. I remember being nervous, excited, scared, and ready all at the same time as my parents, sister, and I began to unload the van and carry my things up to the third floor of Sunderland. How we opened the door to see white walls, a bed, desk, and wardrobe, and my mother not being able to believe that she was going to leave me in such a hospital looking room. Everything is such a blur for the next week.

Life was awkward for the first month or so as we were all finding our friends and our place here on campus. It was especially awkward between my roommate and I, learning about each other and trying not to step on each other’s feet. Audrey and I have come a long way since our first meeting. Now we are best friends who stay up for hours in bed just talking. I have grown confident with my classes and the college all together.

I know I have changed since coming to college, but all for the better. I have a better idea of what I want in life. I have life long friends. I know myself better. The beginning was difficult, but it was so worth it to get to where I am now. So it is hard to believe that a year full of memories is exactly that…memories. Now I have to look to the future and a new year next fall.

AL