The Christmas truce of Christmas 1914

Perhaps the best recorded and successful unofficial ceasefire was the Christmas Truce of 1914 during the First World War. On Christmas Day, 1914, only 5 months into World War I, German, British, and French soldiers, already sick and tired of the senseless killing, disobeyed their superiors and fraternized with "the enemy" along two-thirds of the Western Front (a crime punishable by death). The ceasefire was a spontaneous and surprising happening that took place in different sectors at different …

…Many truces lasted until midnight on Christmas night while others lasted until New Year's Day. There were soldiers declaring their brotherhood with each other and refusing to fight. Generals on both sides declared this spontaneous peacemaking to be treasonous and subject to court martial. By March, 1915 the fraternization movement had been eradicated and the fighting was put back to full operation. By the time of the armistice in 1918, fifteen million young men would be killed.