The Christmas Truce | What really happened in the trenches in 1914?

Video

The Christmas Truce of the First World War has become a legendary story. The romantic image of enemies shaking hands in the middle of no man’s land, or playing football between the trenches, reoccurs again and again in popular culture. But how much of it is true? What do we really know about this moment of peace in a brutal war? The photographs, letters and interviews in IWM’s collection tell the real story of the Christmas Truce. In this video, Head of Documents and Sound Anthony Richards explains how the truce came about, its impact on the course of the First World War and why it never happened again after 1914.

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Find out more about the Christmas Truce: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/voices-of-the-first-world-war-the-christmas-truce

Anthony Richard's new book about Wartime Christmas is available in IWM's shop: https://shop.iwm.org.uk/p/27663/Wartime-Christmas

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Creative Commons licences:

"'The Sphere' illustrated newspaper 9.1.2015: The 1914 Christmas Truce with Allied and German troops relaxing together" by Diego Sideburns is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Frost Waltz by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100516
Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Accralate - The Dark Contenent by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100341
Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Americana - Aspiring by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1200092
Artist: http://incompetech.com/

German soldiers celebrating Christmas in a trench during World War I © Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

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