The Christmas Truce of 1914

One of my favourite stories from this time of year is the famous Christmas Truce. Legend has it that in 1914, on the first Christmas Eve of World War I, German and British soldiers stopped shelling each other and started singing carols instead. On Christmas Day the troops emerged from their muddy trenches to exchange handshakes and gifts in No Man’s Land, and also that – best of all – they played a game of football. A friendly game of football between men who were trying to kill each other just a few hours earlier, which Germany possibly won 3-2. It’s not clear how much of this is legend or embellishment and how much is fact. The actual truce certainly occurred, but the famous game of football is based on anecdotal evidence like diary entries and it’s not really clear what the result was. But I like to believe that two armies put down weapons and picked up a football in 1914, and my guess is that Germany actually won on penalties.

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