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- Written by Walt Sonneville Walt Sonneville
It has now been 102 years since a Christmas when a sense of the brotherhood of humanity momentarily seized warring soldiers in Western Europe.
Dec. 25, 1914, saw an unofficial Christmas truce on segments of the battle line in the fields of Flanders (Belgium) between German soldiers and the allied Belgian, British, and French troops. The war then was only 5 months old.
It was not a mutiny, as happened among some French troops in April 1917 to protest poor provisioning of food and medical needs. The 1914 event was a manifestation of the spirit of Christmas.
The opposing forces on segments of the Western Front left their muddy trenches, laid down their weapons, and fraternized in the “no-man’s land” that separated them.
It began when some German soldiers placed small, candlelit Christmas trees atop their trenches. This was followed by the Germans caroling, with the British, Belgians, and French joining in. They shook hands, exchanged gifts, and some played soccer.
By the time the war ended in November 1918, more than 35 million deaths had resulted among World War combatants and civilians.
The Treaty of Versailles, signed June 1919, concluded vindictive terms imposed on Germany by the victorious nations, setting the stage for the Second World War that caused another 60 million deaths (40 million in Europe).
With their guns muted, Dec. 25, 1914, was truly a “silent night.” The opportunity raised by this occasion was lost on their superior officers, who took measures to make sure this sanity would not recur.
Just 30 years later, American forces repelled a major German offensive on the Western Front at the Battle of the Bulge. Americans observed a religious service, after which German prisoners of war sang “Silent Night.”
By then, the war was virtually over. The nights were not yet silent, except for the many millions of casualties that had gone to eternal rest.
The War of 1812, between the fledgling United States and the United Kingdom, was concluded diplomatically on Christmas Eve 1814 by the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. The Christmas of that year saw no cessation of hostilities, however, due to delayed communications between Ghent, Belgium, and our nation’s capital.
For a decade following World War II, there were several movements to promote world peace through a global federalism that would extend beyond the framework of the Charter of the United Nations.
Clarence Streit, Gary Davis, Grenville Clark, Robert Hutchins, and Henry Wallace were unsuccessful in their separate campaigns to restrain future warring.
One of the co-signers of the Declaration of Independence, Dr. Benjamin Rush, wrote an essay in 1793 entitled “A Plan of a Peace Office for the United States.” He was much ahead of his time.
Beginning in 1935, and continuing through 1979, bills were introduced in the U.S. Congress calling for a U.S. Department of Peace.
The U.S. government now has an agency called the U.S. Institute of Peace, signed into law in 1984 by President Reagan.
While its intentions are noble, its budget of $39 million (2012), to support a staff of about 275 employees, is inadequate in view of the numerous conflicts that continue around the globe.
This institute should be replaced by an international consortium of non-government organizations working toward the avoidance of conflicts.
The United Nations has decreed Sept. 21 as the annual International Day of Peace, also known as World Peace Day. With 200 member countries, one would think the U.N. peace momentum would take hold on some parts of the planet during each day of the year.
Peace is bolstered when the leaders of opposing armed sides experience the war-weary despair of Chief Joseph, a leader of the Nez Perce tribe of American Natives.
In his people’s flight to escape the American army, Chief Joseph said: “I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.”
The spread of an uncensored internet may be our hope for a reemergence of the Spirit of the Christmas of 1914. In the first half of this century, the internet could become the international forum for promoting and organizing protests to abandon war and bloody insurgencies.
The voices of many millions of Josephs around the globe for peaceful conciliations will have more influence than the decrees of 200 sovereign states.
Walt Sonneville, a retired market-research analyst, is the author of My 22 Cents’ Worth: The Higher-Valued Opinion of a Senior Citizen and A Musing Moment: Meditative Essays on Life and Learning, books of personal-opinion essays, free of partisan and sectarian viewpoints. Contact him at waltsonneville@verizon.net.