The Christmas Truce: Myth, Memory, and the First World War

by Terri Blom Crocker, Peter Grant (Foreword by)

Overview

In late December 1914, German and British soldiers on the western front initiated a series of impromptu, unofficial ceasefires. Enlisted men across No Man's Land abandoned their trenches and crossed enemy lines to sing carols, share food and cigarettes, and even play a little soccer. Collectively known as the Christmas Truce, these fleeting moments of peace occupy a mythical place in remembrances of World War I. Yet new accounts suggest that the heartwarming tale ingrained in the popular imagination bears little resemblance to the truth.

In this detailed study, Terri Blom Crocker provides the first comprehensive analysis of both scholarly and popular portrayals of the Christmas Truce from 1914 to present. From books by influential historians to the Oscar-nominated French film Joyeux Noel (2006), this new examination shows how a variety of works have both explored and enshrined this outbreak of peace amid overwhelming violence. The vast majority of these accounts depict the soldiers as acting in defiance of their superiors. Crocker, however, analyzes official accounts as well as private letters that reveal widespread support among officers for the détentes. Furthermore, she finds that truce participants describe the temporary ceasefires not as rebellions by disaffected troops but as acts of humanity and survival by professional soldiers deeply committed to their respective causes.

The Christmas Truce studies these ceasefires within the wider war, demonstrating how generations of scholars have promoted interpretations that ignored the nuanced perspectives of the many soldiers who fought. Crocker's groundbreaking, meticulously researched work challenges conventional analyses and sheds new light on the history and popular mythology of the War to End All Wars.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813174020
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	06/23/2017
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	310
Sales rank:	935,260
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Terri Blom Crocker has a PhD from the University of Kentucky, where she is an instructor. She is also a senior paralegal for investigations in the university's Office of Legal Counsel. She lives in Georgetown, Kentucky.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations x

Foreword xi

1 "A Candle Lit in the Darkness": The Christmas Trace and the First World War 1

2 "Absolute Hell": The Western Front in 1914 21

3 "A Great Day with Our Enemies": The Christmas Truce 43

4 "No War Today": The Christmas Truce as Reported in Official War Diaries and Regimental Histories 63

5 "One Day of Peace at the Front": The Christmas Truce and the British Press 89

6 "That Unique and Weird Christmas": The Christmas Truce during the War 111

7 "The Curious Christmas Truce": The First World War and the Christmas Truce, 1920-1959 133

8 "The Famous Christmas Truce": The First World War and the Christmas Truce, 1960-1969 153

9 "The Legendary Christmas Truce": The First World War, the Christmas Truce, and Social History, 1970-1989 175

10 "Memories of Christmas 1914 Persist": Orthodoxy, Revisionism, and the Christmas Truce, 1990-2014 197

11 "It Was Peace That Won": The Christmas Truce and the Narrative of the First World War 215

Acknowledgments 227

Notes 229

Bibliography 267

Permissions 283

Index 287

What People are Saying About This

Keith Jeffery

"In this book Terri Crocker carefully and forensically investigates perhaps the most mythologised of all First World War events. The book makes a major, revisionist contribution to our understanding of the war and its popular memory, and is essential reading for anyone interested in the real history of Christmas 1914."

Nicoletta F. Gullace

"Crocker's book will become essential reading for anyone who wishes to know how the First World War came to be understood as that 'exercise in futility' we have come to accept without question today. It is a sober corrective and a judicious revelation of how and why the myths surrounding this war have become so hard to dislodge."

From the Publisher

"Crocker's book will become essential reading for anyone who wishes to know how the First World War came to be understood as that 'exercise in futility' we have come to accept without question today. It is a sober corrective and a judicious revelation of how and why the myths surrounding this war have become so hard to dislodge." — Nicoletta F. Gullace, author of The Blood of Our Sons: Men, Women, and the Renegotiation of British Citizenship during the Great War

"In this book Terri Crocker carefully and forensically investigates perhaps the most mythologised of all First World War events. The book makes a major, revisionist contribution to our understanding of the war and its popular memory, and is essential reading for anyone interested in the real history of Christmas 1914." — Keith Jeffery, author of Ireland and the Great War

"Crocker's scholarship reveals the multiple meanings of the Christmas Truce, one of the most iconic moments in the memory of the First World War: did it offer temporary respite from the job, a fraternal bonding opportunity, or was it an anti-war rebellion? This fascinating microhistory has much to tell us about the experience of war, the way it was reported, and the shifting way in which it has been remembered." — Jenny Macleod, University of Hull

Jenny Macleod

"Crocker's scholarship reveals the multiple meanings of the Christmas Truce, one of the most iconic moments in the memory of the First World War: did it offer temporary respite from the job, a fraternal bonding opportunity, or was it an anti-war rebellion? This fascinating microhistory has much to tell us about the experience of war, the way it was reported, and the shifting way in which it has been remembered."

Editorial Reviews

This is certain to be the standard work on the subject.

NYMAS Review

The book makes a welcome assault on the prevailing disillusionment narrative that historians have only recently begun to dismantle. Specifically, Terri Blom Crocker has written a cautionary tale of the power of selection bias in news stories, oral history interviews, and films (including documentaries) to transform a historical event into an icon of antiwar sentiment in the decades that followed it. These virtues make The Christmas Truce valuable reading for anyone interested in an odd moment of the First World War and its evolution in historical memory.

Michigan War Studies Review

In this book Terri Crocker carefully and forensically investigates perhaps the most mythologised of all First World War events. The book makes a major, revisionist contribution to our understanding of the war and its popular memory, and is essential reading for anyone interested in the real history of Christmas 1914.

Keith Jeffery

Crocker, through meticulous research, dismantles the revisionist histories put forth in the 1960s by both historian and filmmaker alike to reveal a significant series of events which began independently at various points along the 20-mile Western Front.

Kaintuckeean

"Powerful and convincing. I hope we hear more from this historian in the future." -- Washington Times

"This is certain to be the standard work on the subject." -- NYMAS Review

"A sharp look at the so-called 'Christmas truce' of 1914, discovering that distortion has colored many accounts of it -- and of World War I itself.... Crocker has created a work perhaps powerful enough to alter the conventional narrative of the incident. She destroys a number of misconceptions.... A storm of debate will no doubt ensue.... the discoveries may be revolutionary in World War I historiography." -- KIRKUS

"Amongst the litany of false narratives and ahistorical morals ascribed to the armistice, Crocker has managed to uncover new lessons to be learned from the Christmas true." -- Journal of Military History

"Crocker's book will become essential reading for anyone who wishes to know how the First World War came to be understood as that 'exercise in futility' we have come to accept without question today. It is a sober corrective and a judicious revelation of how and why the myths surrounding this war have become so hard to dislodge." -- Nicoletta F. Gullace, author of The Blood of Our Sons: Men, Women, and the Renegotiation of British Citizenship during the Great War

"[T]he book makes a welcome assault on the prevailing disillusionment narrative that historians have only recently begun to dismantle. Specifically, Terri Blom Crocker has written a cautionary tale of the power of selection bias in news stories, oral history interviews, and films (including documentaries) to transform a historical event into an icon of antiwar sentiment in the decades that followed it. These virtues make The Christmas Truce valuable reading for anyone interested in an odd moment of the First World War and its evolution in historical memory." -- Michigan War Studies Review

"Crocker, through meticulous research, dismantles the revisionist histories put forth in the 1960s by both historian and filmmaker alike to reveal a significant series of events which began independently at various points along the 20-mile Western Front." -- Kaintuckeean

"Crocker's scholarship reveals the multiple meanings of the Christmas Truce, one of the most iconic moments in the memory of the First World War: did it offer temporary respite from the job, a fraternal bonding opportunity, or was it an anti-war rebellion? This fascinating microhistory has much to tell us about the experience of war, the way it was reported, and the shifting way in which it has been remembered." -- Jenny Macleod, University of Hull

"In this book Terri Crocker carefully and forensically investigates perhaps the most mythologised of all First World War events. The book makes a major, revisionist contribution to our understanding of the war and its popular memory, and is essential reading for anyone interested in the real history of Christmas 1914." -- Keith Jeffery, author of Ireland and the Great War

From the Publisher

Crocker's book will become essential reading for anyone who wishes to know how the First World War came to be understood as that 'exercise in futility' we have come to accept without question today. It is a sober corrective and a judicious revelation of how and why the myths surrounding this war have become so hard to dislodge.

Nicoletta F. Gullace

Powerful and convincing. I hope we hear more from this historian in the future.

Washington Times

Crocker's scholarship reveals the multiple meanings of the Christmas Truce, one of the most iconic moments in the memory of the First World War: did it offer temporary respite from the job, a fraternal bonding opportunity, or was it an anti-war rebellion? This fascinating microhistory has much to tell us about the experience of war, the way it was reported, and the shifting way in which it has been remembered.

Jenny Macleod

Amongst the litany of false narratives and ahistorical morals ascribed to the armistice, Crocker has managed to uncover new lessons to be learned from the Christmas truce.

Journal of Military History

2015-09-02
A doctoral candidate and senior paralegal debuts with a sharp look at the so-called "Christmas truce" of 1914, discovering that distortion has colored many accounts of it—and of World War I itself. In a text adapted from her master's thesis, Crocker displays some things clearly. First, she did an enormous amount of work for that degree, reading countless books, newspaper accounts, diaries, and letters of those involved (almost entirely those of the English military) and watching films (documentary and otherwise) that involve the celebrated truce. Second, she did sufficiently transform the organization and tone from a graduate school exercise. She retains the well-used format of introduction-body-conclusion; she provides far more examples for each of her points than is necessary; she repeats and summarizes too much; her attitude remains generally detached and scholarly. Still, Crocker has created a work perhaps powerful enough to alter the conventional narrative of the incident. She destroys a number of misconceptions. Discovering considerable newspaper coverage from late 1914 and even into 1915, she demonstrates with great clarity that the soldiers involved were generally not dissuaded from socializing with the enemy by their commanding officers (and there were no punishments in the aftermath), proving with ample evidence that the combatants involved (on the English side) were not using the informal truces up and down the trenches to engage in some sort of anti-war protest. The author also expands her scope to show that the current dominant story of World War I—that incompetent commanders sent waves of young men to the slaughterhouse and that the entire war was not only ill-fought, but was a principal cause of World War II—is based more on tradition and myth than on fact. A storm of debate will no doubt ensue. The style is traditional, even stodgy, while the discoveries may be revolutionary in World War I historiography.

Kirkus Reviews