Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce

by Stanley Weintraub

Book Overview

It was one of history's most powerful -- yet forgotten -- Christmas stories. It took place in the improbable setting of the mud, cold rain and senseless killing of the trenches of World War I. It... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0452283671
• ISBN13: 9780452283671
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: Plume
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.9" x 0.7" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

Why Not Always?

The book was, in my opinion, well written and thoroughly researched. Much of it included letters home written by soldiers of both sides, which I found interesting to read. This book, without intending (I don't think), makes the point that politicians and old men declare wars, while it is the young who must fight and die. Most of the soldiers had no qualms with the other side, and some even made friends, as you'll learn through reading. I read this book in only a couple days. It's a fast read, but not the type of book to read in one afternoon.

Hard to put the book down

Three or four years ago there were a number of features on NPR and elsewhere about The Christmas Truce of 1914. The story is amazing and simple at the same time. I wondered what more could be added in a full book. The author fleshes out the story with lots of detail added from many sources. While the story is amazing, I found the book to be a broader study of fraternization between opposing soldiers. That has been going on through the centuries. In the Battle of Chattanooga during the US Civil War opposing soldiers sometimes crossed the Tennessee River for card games and dances together. This book explains how and why enemies can share time together in friendly pursuits. I had always wondered about the language barrier in The Christmas Truce, but many of the German soldiers had worked in London as waiters and had learned English. One English soldier met his old barber among the German soldiers in the other trenches, and even got a haircut from him on the battlefield! The book is very interesting to read and worth the time, although, I found the "What if..." chapter not that useful.

Silent night

On Christmas day our Pastor included parts of this book in his sermon. He did not have all the facts, so as a present we sent him this book. He wrote us a kind thank you note stating how much he enjoyed the book. Food for thought. thanks

A wonderful look at a very special Christmas

In 1914, as the Great War turned from a glorious adventure into a grinder of human meat, something unexpected and beautiful happened. When Christmas Eve arrived, quite against orders, peace mysteriously broke out. In many places along No-Man's Land, soldiers from the opposing armies mingled, traded trinkets, sang songs, and even played impromptu soccer matches. This is the story of that all too brief interlude in that human tragedy that was the First World War.The author of this book has brought together a wonderful book. It is a collection of anecdotes about that Christmas Truce, complete with a series of pictures. Being a minor student of that tragic war, I could not help but be touched by this story, being at times brought close to tears by some of the stories.I must admit that I found the author's speculation on what might have happened if the opposing armies had decided to make the peace permanent to be quite fanciful, and rather anticlimactic. That said, though, this is a wonderful book, one that is quite informative on a little studied chapter of World War I. I highly recommend this book to all readers!

At least for a brief time, "All is calm...."

I was curious to know why Weintraub wrote a book about a brief period prior to Christmas in 1914, on the battlefields of Flanders, when German and British soldiers spontaneously agreed to declare a truce and suspend fighting, thereby defying their commanding officers. The answer to that question, in my opinion, has profound significance 87 years later. No doubt the book's impact on me is explained, at least in part, by the fact that I read it during the holiday season, following the events of September 11th, as a war on terrorism continues. But also because, as an eager student of military history, I am intrigued by isolated situations in which humanity (for lack of a better term) at least temporarily prevails over death and destruction. Centuries ago, knights and their attendants would work with their enemies to clear a field for combat the next day. Such cooperation had an obvious practical value. That's not what interests Weintraub as he examines a temporary truce during one of the bloodiest wars ever fought. It had little (if any) practical or tactical value but it did (and does) suggest a human need which transcends military obligations.Weintraub draws upon a wealth of primary sources (e.g. letters and diaries) in which firsthand accounts comment on the shared misery created by "shells, bombs, underground caves, corpses, liquor, mice, cats, artillery, filth, bullets, mortars, fire, and steel." I am reminded of movies such as All's Quiet on the Western Front and Paths of Glory in which the human misery portrayed is almost unbearable to watch. I had the same reaction when seeing more recent movies such as Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down. As Weintraub explains in this book, at least some of the opposing forces decided to call what we today would describe as a "time out." Several displayed signboards and banners which said "You no fight, we no fight" (by the Germans) and "Merry Christmas" (by the British). Messages and holiday greetings were exchanged, sometimes conveyed by trained dogs serving as intermediaries. Weintraub credits the Germans with taking the initiative but not all of the German soldiers and few of their officers condoned the truce. (The choice of the book's title is apt. More than 200 years ago, Joseph Mohr wrote the lyrics and Franx X. Gruber the music of "Stille Nacht," a German carol.) Nor did all of the Allied forces. Everyone involved correctly understood that battle would soon resume but at least for a very brief time, everyone involved (to varying degrees) experienced "peace on earth, good will toward man." For many of them, death had merely been delayed. How welcome it must have been to have a silent night or two after enduring deafening bombardments. And no doubt an opportunity to reflect upon loved ones far away and to recall happier Christmases in the past. It is possible but highly unlikely that there will ever again be a land war of the nature and to the extent of the two World Wars. Never again will opposi