Imagine dying 1 second before the ceasefire begins… 💀
There was one weird agreement. During WW1, the Pope declared that a Christmas ceasefire should happen. Obviously, the Pope has no such power in these matters and the diplomats around the world failed to turn the Popes wish into any real ceasefire.
But then, a bit of Christmas magic happened. It turns out that WW1 soldier conditions were so shit, that many soldiers wanted to go against orders and proceed with the Christmas ceasefire anyway (as an act of rebellion against their commanders).
Legend has it that soldiers picked Still Nacht (aka: Silent Night), it being one of the few bilingual Christmas Carols. If both sides in the trenches started to sing the song, you knew it was safe to partake in the ceasefire, allegedly with another confirmation of Oh Come All Ye Faithful (another Christmas carol).
This all proves one thing. It’s not the leaders or diplomats that really matter per se with ceasefires. It’s the soldiers at the bottom. If they refuse to shoot, then the ceasefire will happen. With orders, or (in the Christmas miracle…) sometimes AGAINST orders.
It’s not a complete miracle, as some reports of fight / killing still happened during the Christmas Ceasefire. But there are reports of hundreds of thousands of French, British, and German soldiers exchanging Christmas gifts (coffee and other trinkets), playing soccer and more. So it largely was a success.
And the generals made sure it never happened again.
Sabaton did a song about that:
So did The Royal Guardsmen, sort of:
Imagine dying in a battle that occurred after the war ended but before the news reached the frontline.
I think about the battle of New Orleans during the war of 1812 a lot for that exact reason. The war was over for weeks and they had no idea. Over 300 people died and thousands of casualties for nothing. To make matters worse, it made Andrew Jackson popular
It’s worse than that. Often things pick up significantly because that could be where the lines get drawn. The end of WWI was really bad right after they signed ths treaty but before hostilities ended.
“Let’s go, boys! Big push before the finish!”
All quiet on the western front. Tells the story of exactly this.
Came here to say this. The recent movie was a solid adaptation of the book too.
Such is the end of All Quiet on the Western Front
