The Christmas Truce of World War I

This is a story that I've heard retold a couple times, and it is worth sharing with those who have never had opportunity to hear it:

The Christmas Truce of World War I:
Never forget the Christmas Truce of World War I, when troops refused to be pawns of empire for one blessed day.

 

WWI was a horrible event in history for multiple reasons. One, it was, at least on the surface, partly a family feud between the European royalty. It also was the first war to introduce some of the horrific (for the time) mechanization of modern warfare: tanks, planes, and mustard gas. It was supposed to be "the war to end war", but unfortunately, this was not to be.

Another player in the conflict was the media, for good or ill, that was able to report the war at a pace that was hitherto impossible. But it is because of the presence of the media on the battlefield that we have record of the Christmas Truce.