Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how
Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm editor Candice Gibson, joined by staff writer Josh Curious
Speaker 1: like a cat Clark Merry Christmas in July. Josh, Well,
Speaker 1: Merry Christmas to you too, Candice. That's funny you say
Speaker 1: that because number one, I've been drinking eggnog all day
Speaker 1: and number two my question kind of has to do
Speaker 1: with Christmas, and actually it space more around war, but
Speaker 1: Christmas fits in there somewhere. So you know, World War One,
Speaker 1: you know, it changed the face of war forever. So
Speaker 1: we we saw chemical warfare for the first time, machine
Speaker 1: guns started being used thanks flamethrowers. Um, favilions were engaged
Speaker 1: in bad Yeah. Worst of all, this is the first
Speaker 1: time that civilians were actually targeted because of planes being
Speaker 1: able to drop bombs. Um. You know these weren't you
Speaker 1: are are very sophisticated, you know, laser guided missiles. These
Speaker 1: were just bombs that were often just dropped out of
Speaker 1: the side by the pilot and wherever they landed is
Speaker 1: where they landed. Lots of civilians died like that. Um,
Speaker 1: Both sides targeted passenger vessels in the Atlantic. You know,
Speaker 1: the Germans sunk the Lusitania, which was a pretty big deal. Um,
Speaker 1: so it was war was horrible before, but war got
Speaker 1: exponentially more horrible from World War One on. And one
Speaker 1: of the reasons for that was the advent of trench warfare.
Speaker 1: And from what I understand, the trenches in World War
Speaker 1: One dragged on for countries across and actually there are
Speaker 1: I think one soldier for every four inch four inches
Speaker 1: of trench or something like that. So the conditions in
Speaker 1: these trenches were awful. But actually it has to do
Speaker 1: with trenches. My question is that in some stretch of
Speaker 1: these trenches on Christmas, I heard that they both stopped fighting,
Speaker 1: that there was Christmas truce. Is that fact or fiction?
Speaker 1: Because I don't know. Juxtaposed against the horror of World
Speaker 1: War One, it seems hinky, Well, this will warm your
Speaker 1: heart if the July heat hasn't already. But that's actually
Speaker 1: a fact. Pope Benedict actually pleaded for both sides to
Speaker 1: call a truce on Christmas, and while the Germans considered
Speaker 1: the truth, the Allied forces wouldn't have anything to do
Speaker 1: with it. But on Christmas Eve, as the Germans were
Speaker 1: allowing their little Christmas trees or ten and bombs and
Speaker 1: put them out towards the front of their trenches and
Speaker 1: started singing their favorite German carols. You know. The British
Speaker 1: caught one of those on the other side of their
Speaker 1: trenches and they wanted to join in the merriment, and
Speaker 1: so both sides held up little signs of a truth.
Speaker 1: Will you stop fighting now? And the British said, okay,
Speaker 1: if you guys promise, and so they came out of
Speaker 1: their trenches and it actually, you know, I'm making a
Speaker 1: lot of this, but it was a very poignant moment,
Speaker 1: very much in the Christmas spirit. Um. Some of the
Speaker 1: guys how to pick up game of soccer. One of
Speaker 1: the soldiers a juggler, and he performed. People shared packages
Speaker 1: of goodies that their families had send to the front
Speaker 1: lines of war, and no fighting occurred, and the sides
Speaker 1: managed to drop, you know, the cause of the war
Speaker 1: and all their beliefs and all their violence and just
Speaker 1: enjoy the evening together. So the people at the top
Speaker 1: refused to have a truce, but the guys actually fighting
Speaker 1: did it on their own. They did in some instances,
Speaker 1: and um along some parts of the trenches. It lasted
Speaker 1: all the way until New Year's but then eventually the
Speaker 1: commanding officers had their say and people had to get
Speaker 1: back down to business, get back to war, get back
Speaker 1: to war. That's a great story, it is, and if
Speaker 1: you want to read it and its interior day you
Speaker 1: can check out what was the Christmas Trups on how
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