World War Igave the world its first light touch with efficient far-flung expiry . More than 8.5 million people would drop off their lives to the state of war . Troops used trench war for the first time . The C of miles of trench that grade the landscape from the English Channel to Switzerland oblige an astonishing norm of one soldier for every four inches . Both sides held tenaciously to their positions : The Battle of Verdun go nine calendar month , caused 300,000 death and leave in almost no modification in the position of the lines [ source : PBS ] .
New technology made its path onto the field of battle of France , Germany and Belgium , bring decease to soldier in new , horrible ways . Machine guns , which made their launching in the American Civil War , became more effective over the ensuing decades , and by the early 20th century could deal 600 rounds per minute . Chemical warfarewas rarify in the chassis of Indian mustard , chlorine and phosgene gun . Airplaneswere used for the first metre in major combat , introducing the concept of aggregate - casualty bombings . The army tank and theflamethrowerboth made their debuts with mixed result .
The casualty of World War I poke out to civilians , making " The Great War " a " full state of war " [ source : PBS ] . Soldier Joshua Campbell wrote this of a bombardment in the town of Dunkirk , France : " Another day one of them hit a group of children at play in front of the billet where at one time we charge , and one never know how many child had been killed , so gross was their disintegration " [ source : Campbell ] . World War I also convey genocide into the 20th century , as the Ottoman Turks slaughtered more than one million ethnic Armenians .
In the midst of all of this craziness , however , an event take place that serve to renew a little faith in humanity . TheChristmasTruce was a abbreviated minute of sanity stomach out against the chaos of warfare . register on to find out what happened .
The Christmas Truce of 1914
One of the first public statements Pope Benedict XV made when he was elected to thepapacywas to plea for a truce onChristmasDay . Although the Germans entertained the idea of a Christmas cease-fire , the Allied forces eliminate it . Benedict ’s petition vanish to the roadside ; World War I had begin in solemn .
On the westerly front , in the Flanders area of Belgium , the Christmas season arrived amid gravid scrap . Both sides were dug in , and paltry soldiers learned what it meant to live in uncomfortableness and mortal veneration . In some slip opposition soldier fought from trench just 30 yards ( 27.4 meters ) from one another [ germ : Rees ] . The arena between each side ’s trench –No Man ’s Land– was littered with corpses . Dead heart star back at the soldiers in the trenches from the flash-frozen clay .
All along the front that Christmas , British and German scout group received packages . Inside they find note of admiration , hot chocolate , pud , tobacco and other relic . In their parcel , the German troops receivedChristmas trees .
The modest tree diagram –tannenbaums , in German – were sent to the front , replete with little wax light to luminousness . On Christmas Eve 1914 , German soldiers illuminate the candles and set some Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree upon the ledges of the their trenches . When they began singing , the British flock bring together in . mistrustful , hopeful soldiers began to peer over the trenches .
As Christmas break over Flanders , a truce was carve from the spirit of the season . German held up sign : " You no fight , we no combat . " British troops responded with sign proclaiming " Merry Christmas . " This Christmas turned out to be a merry one .
Christmas in No Man’s Land
No Man ’s Land became a meeting ground , as muddy , inhuman soldiers emerged from their trenches . The very same pudding and deep brown sent to soldiers from dwelling in Berlin and London served as impromptu Christmas gifts betweenmenwho had just hours before shoot at one another . Soldiers change joke and tobacco . One German , ajuggler , put on a show in the middle of No Man ’s Land . The English produce a soccer ball and a pick up plot broke out . The Germans won 3 - 2 [ origin : Rees ] .
The extent of the Christmas Truce is amazing . In some places fighting continued , but this was unusual . In some areas , military officer established truces . In others , rank - and - file soldiers make reliance . Some soldiers dare lineal orders from their commanding officers and meet up with foe who were , for the minute , no longer their foes . In other pillowcase , officers advance the truces , or at least did n’t step in .
But as both sides ' gamy commands ordered soldier to get back to war , the shot begin again . In some places , though , the heartsease lasted until after the New Year .
Eventually , the hope of a hold out peace treaty , provoked by the humans in the trenches who were asked to fight back the war , faded into the sky over Flanders with the gun for hire smoke . The Christmas Truce ended , and the war continued for four more twelvemonth . While the spontaneous peace which take post on Christmas 1914 must have seemed like a dream , it ’s even more surreal that the soldier demand up arms against one another again afterwards .
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