Happy Christmas Eve - my favourite eve of the year :) This Christmas is a very special centenary. 100 years ago, German soldiers in Belgium held a sign above their trenches which said you no fight, we no fight to opposing British troops. Then, further down the trenches, a German officer risked his life and walked out into No Mans Land with a white flag. This was the start of the legendary Christmas Truce, a symbol of solidarity and comradeship between working class people in a time of unimaginable horror. During Christmas day, soldiers from opposing sides played football and swapped gifts and letters. One British soldier met an old German friend who was a barber before the war and got a haircut from him in No Mans Land. The event signifies how WW1, like most wars, was not for the interests of ordinary people, such as those fighting in the trenches, or the starving populations at home, but it was a war fought over aristocratic, imperialistic and capitalist interests and egos, for which millions of young men, who had no stake in the outcome, would suffer and die. The clip below pays tribute to the spontaneous Christmas Truce, is from the movie, Oh What A Lovely War, which showcases the futility and tragedy of the First World War. https://youtube/watch?v=nU66fSIzxM0
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 13:35:07 +0000
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