Truce

As someone who reads a lot of stuff about war, you find some shocking moments of humanity in what is seemingly a sea of depraved indifference to a fellow man. One of the more poignant stories about such a moment of humanity is the 1914 Christmas Truce on the trench-marked fields of France.

1914. World War I had just started to rage. The men were in for a grueling four years of punishing trench warfare that would wipe out a generation of males in Europe and leave scars that would not be healed for quite some time. Nationalist fervor had brought upon a rivalry between nations that bordered on hatred. Ripe time for decking the halls, no?

Well, at least the Germans thought so. They began doing the customary decorating (Christmas trees are a German concept) and festivities. Scottish troops on the other side began singing carols. After a while, things warmed up between the sides enough that they left their trenches and began exchanging gifts in no man's land. Soccer (or football, since we are speaking of Europe) matches started to break out in no man's land. The soldiers had time to talk amongst themselves, and they realized things weren't so different. Many of the German soldiers spent summers in England as taxi drivers, and Bavarians and Scotsmen shared the same animosity towards the dominating force in their respective nations (the Prussians and the English, respectively).

The next day, things went back to normal. But this event occurred once again in 1915 and once again during Easter in 1916, along with some smaller occurrences. Nevertheless, it was a moment not forgotten. One of the best books about war that I've read is about this very instance in history, called Silent Night. It's one of the few books that I've read that has sent chills down my spine.

Recently, on Armistice Day (11 Nov 2008), they replayed the game at a similar spot where the original truce happened. Germany won the match, 2-1. But I guess you can figure out who the real winners and losers were.