In all the history of war there could hardly have been a more spontaneously human moment than on Christmas Eve one year early  in WW I. On the Western front thousands of men were arrayed in trenches mere yards away from the enemy, usually less than the length of a football field, and ready at a moment’s notice to rush the enemy lines or repel a rush of the enemy. Automatic rifles and machine guns created an impasse between the two sides; men were stuck in trenches for weeks and months to suffer through rainstorms and bitter colds. In those conditions they were about to greet Christmas Eve, when a remarkable truce took hold.

On this day, December 24, in 1914, in the middle of WW I, British and German troops put down their weapons, climbed out of their trenches, and celebrated Christmas together as friends.

Several days prior the soldiers began receiving their presents: chocolates, cigars, warm clothes. A festive mood took over. A messenger from the German lines suggested to the British a holiday cease-fire; the British quickly accepted. German soldiers opened up the festivities, singing holiday carols to applause from both sides of the line. They invited the British to join in. A patriotic British soldier quipped “We’d rather die than sing German.” A jolly German replied with a joke: “It would kill us if you did.”