Search
Polls
Latest Forum Posts
| Taking a Knee unclebuck 15-11-08 13:51 |
| Re:Football unclebuck 07-10-08 15:24 |
| Re:Football unclebuck 02-10-08 12:59 |
Login Form
| Peace amidst conflict |
|
|
| Written by Earl Hiatt / Community Columnist | |
| Saturday, 22 December 2007 | |
|
The Christmas truce, which occurred primarily between the British and German soldiers along the Western Front in December 1914, is an event the official histories of the “Great War” leave out. “Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce,” by Stanley Weintraub, covers the event in more detail, but it basically goes like this:  Earl Hiatt By the first winter of World War I, the conflict had degenerated to trench warfare, which means that that the soldiers had dug parallel trenches. The Germans were in one trench and the British were in the other, with no man’s land in between. On the morning of Dec. 19, some Germans came out with their hands up and began to take in their wounded, so the British did likewise. The Germans then beckoned for the British to come over, where they talked and helped bury each other’s dead. This seemed rather peculiar, because the night before they had engaged in a terrific battle — but the next morning they were smoking each other’s cigarettes. So much interchange had occurred across the lines by the time Christmas Eve approached that the British general issued a directive forbidding fraternization of any type. As night fell on Christmas Eve, the British noticed the Germans putting up a small Christmas tree. The Germans shouted in English “We no shoot if you no shoot.” The firing stopped along many miles of the trenches, and the Germans came out into no man’s land. The British followed and were soon exchanging chocolates and cigars. Many officers on each side attempted to prevent the event from occurring, but the soldiers ignored the risk of a court-martial or being shot. Each side helped bury the dead and removed their wounded, so that by Christmas morning there was a large open area about as wide as two football fields separating the opposing trenches. The soldiers emerged again on Christmas morning and began singing Christmas carols. They played soccer, and presents were exchanged. This truce lasted off and on for about two weeks, and if the soldiers had had their way, that would have been the end of World War I. But nationalism won out, with its principal idea that the individual owed a duty of self-sacrifice to “the greater good” of his nation and that the noblest act a person could do was to give his life for his country during war. The last chapter of Weintraub’s book is titled “What If-?.” In it, he speculates about what might have happened if the war had ended at that time instead of dragging on for several more years. Weintraub believes there probably would have been no Russian Revolution, no Communism, no Lenin and no Stalin. Furthermore, there would have been no vicious peace imposed on Germany by the Versailles treaty, and as a result probably no Hitler, no Nazism and no World War II. The U.S. would not have entered World War I, and we could have remained a republic instead of turning into the world bully. It is sad to contemplate the loss of life and liberty of Americans during the “victorious” wars we have fought when you look back and see that almost all of them were largely unnecessary to defend Americans or our freedoms and were largely economically instigated.
Set as favorite
Bookmark
Email This
Hits: 200 Comments
(0)
|
Subscribe to this comment's feed