What if The Christmas Truce Was Permanent?

Back To The Past: The Alternate History Podcast

The Christmas truce (German: Weihnachtsfrieden; French: Trêve de Noël) was a series of widespread unofficial ceasefires along the Western Front of the First World War around Christmas 1914.

The truce occurred five months after hostilities had begun. Lulls occurred in the fighting as armies ran out of men and munitions and commanders reconsidered their strategies following the stalemate of the Race to the Sea and the indecisive result of the First Battle of Ypres. In the week leading up to 25 December, French, German and British soldiers crossed trenches to exchange seasonal greetings and talk. In some areas, men from both sides ventured into no man's land on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to mingle and exchange food and souvenirs. There were joint burial ceremonies and prisoner swaps, while several meetings ended in carol-singing. Men played games of football with one another, creating one of the most memorable images of the truce. Hostilities continued in some sectors, while in others the sides settled on little more than arrangements to recover bodies.

This truce would be the really only time a major ceasefire like this occurred. The following year, there were some, but not to the same scale. World War One would become the brutal war it was known for. However, what if, in this scenario, the Christmas Truce brought the participants of the war to the table, in order to negotiate a truce? In this episode, we discuss what would happen if this were to have been the case. From Europe not experiencing a devastating war, to the United States not having their Industrial boom that would result in the Roaring 20's.

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