The 1914 Christmas Truce (Part 1)

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 27 December 2021

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On Christmas Eve 1914 many sectors of the Western Front in France and Belgium fell silent. Troops from all sides put down their weapons and sang carols, exchanged gifts and buried their dead in No Man's Land. The following day the truce continued in many, but not all areas, and troops gathered in crowds between the lines. there may even have been a bit of a kick about. This is part 1 of a two-part Christmas podcast that explores the truce with three distinguished historians, Peter Hart, Taff Gillingham and Rob Schaefer. We also hear extracts of letters and diaries from the men involved, including some broadcast here for the first time in English. This episode was first released on 23rd December 2020.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, everyone. Welcome to Downstone's History. This time of year everyone thinks back to one of the most infamous Christmas events in history.
0:08.6	And that is of course the Christmas truce of 1914. We made a TV show and a podcast series about it last year.
0:14.8	They proved so popular that we decided to give another airing this year around Christmas.
0:19.6	On Christmas Eve, 1914, as many of you will know, sectors of the Western Front in France and Belgium fell silent.
0:27.6	May troops from all those different combatant nations put down their weapons and initially sang carols.
0:33.6	Then they decorated their trenches, shouted to each other. And eventually they exchanged gifts.
0:39.8	They fraternised. They even buried their dead in no man's land.
0:43.2	The following day, Christmas Day, the truce continued for many, but not all areas of course.
0:47.1	And the troops gathered between the lines of something of the party.
0:50.7	There was even in more or two places, yes, a little bit of a kick about with a football.
0:55.8	Now this is episode one of the Christmas truce podcast.
0:58.6	We're exploring the truce with three very distinguished historians, Peter Hart,
1:02.6	Taff Gillingham and Rob Schaefer.
1:05.4	I'm going to be hearing extracts of letters and diaries from the men involved,
1:09.6	including some of these are broadcast for the first time ever in English.
1:14.7	So from the German archives via Rob Schaefer broadcast in English for the first time ever.
1:19.1	This is the story of the Christmas truce.
1:21.4	If you want to watch the documentary, which we shot over a year ago now,
1:25.4	it's one of my favourite documentaries ever made for history at TV.
1:28.5	Please head over to History Hit TV.
1:31.6	The link is in the podcast information, wherever you listen to this podcast, it's there in the text.
1:36.3	And because it is the Boxing Day sale, the famous History Hit Boxing Day sale,
	...

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