The "Christmas Truce"

[alphamale]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,176252,00.html

[Petra]

Wow, 109 is a great old age to live to!


I found this...

The enemies swapped cigarettes and tunic buttons, sang carols and even played soccer amid the mud, barbed wire and shell-holes of no man's land.

The informal truce spread along much of the 500-mile Western Front, in some cases lasting for days — alarming army commanders who feared fraternization would sap the troops' will to fight.

...heartwarming.

If only we could all alarm more army commanders this way, in the world today.

[alphamale]

Stuff like this happened many times during the american civil war. The northern troops had coffee but no tobacco, and the southern troops the converse. A truce for trade would be arranged usually at night, by yelling across the battlefield. A congenial meeting would occur during which the soldiers would drink coffee and smoke, ending with both sides wishing each other well in the battle next day.

[Petra]

I guess the lessons were learned - demonise the enemy so much that they are reduced to such subhuman levels that this is now impossible. No more alarmed army commanders.

[wei yau]

Not to say that we don't demonize the enemy, though this has been a standard practice for many wars even before the modern ones.

But, we probably don't see this sorta thing anymore because the modern battlefield is too fluid. The American Civil War and WWI were really the last BIG wars that had armies sitting there and slugging it out over a few square miles.

With the advent of the mechanized army, I'd imagine that troops simply don't sit there long enough to make friends with each other.

[Petra]

I recently said in a thread at IIDB (in one of the threads for the CF denizens to chat in) that the One True God™ was Friendship.

I believe it.

[Petra]

With the advent of the mechanized army, I'd imagine that troops simply don't sit there long enough to make friends with each other.

True. We are now so disconnected with each other in this hyper-connected world that it is easier to hate and kill than it is to find common ground and be friends.



War. What is it good for? Absolutely nuthin'!

[Veritas]

And of course war is no longer man on man, so there is no opportunity to realise that the enemy too, is human. Someone presses a button to send a bomb over, you don't have to look them in the eye as you murder them.

[Petra]

And of course war is no longer man on man, so there is no opportunity to realise that the enemy too, is human. Someone presses a button to send a bomb over, you don't have to look them in the eye as you murder them.

Yup.

What a world we've created. :sadcheer:

[Veritas]

As a quick aside, I bought a book of Wilfred Owen's poetry today, and I'd like to recommend it:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0701161264/qid=1132607518/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_11_2/203-9026618-8328709

The tragedy of his death is even more heartbreaking when you discover he died SEVEN DAYS before the armistice and his family were informed of his death on 11th November.

[livius drusus]

Here's (http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/christmastruce.htm) a nicely detailed (if a little roccoco) article on the Christmas Truce.

[TomJoe]

With the advent of the mechanized army, I'd imagine that troops simply don't sit there long enough to make friends with each other.

Yep. It's hard to make friends with someone when you have the capability of killing them from halfway around the globe.

[Petra]

Alphamale, thanks for posting the OP - it reminded me of last year's Secret Santa here at FF, and after all the fighting, I hope that the same this year will result in our own Christmas Truce.

Cheers!

[Carnivale Ed]

Hippy. I'm gunning for ya, lunachick!