Customer Reviews

The Christmas Truce

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
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Briefly, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day of 1914 during the First World War, enemy soldiers called off the war for two days and refused to shoot at each other. On Christmas Eve they listened to each other sing Christmas Carols in their dismal trenches and joined in singing together, the British singing in English and the Germans in German and appaulding each others efforts. When dawn broke on Christmas morning, in at least one case, a lone German soldier took his life in his hands and dared to stand up, leave his trench and walk out into "no man's land" toward the British trenches. No one shot him and soon other soldiers on both sides were leaving their trenches and heading into "no man's land" between the two armies. Out there British and German soldiers shook hands, talked together as best they could given the language barrier, showed each other pictures of their wives and children, and shared "eats and drink" with one another. The whole incident was beyond bizarre yet did take place at several places up and down the line of trenches. Later in the day, members of both armies collected the bodies of their fallen comrades and buried them the best they could. Still later, they played football (soccer) in "no man's land". In one case, the Germans scored six goals and won the game.

Well, that's history and true. Would strongly suggest, if you want to know more about this, that you buy "The Christmas Truce" which was shown on the History channel. A very good documentary.

There was also a very good movie made about this called Joyeux Noel. Well worth buying. I have included both the documentary and the movie in my list of favorite Christmas shows right up there with "A Christmas Carol", "Miracle on 34th Street", and "A Christmas Story".

The History Channel production of "The Christmas Truce" helps fill an important void in documenting important events of what is fast becoming a "forgotten war"--WWI. Unfortunately, the HC documentary it is not nearly as rich a telling of the event as it could have been or as you will find in writer/director Christian Carion's special feature interview for the movie "Joyeux Noel."

Perhaps the most important factor the documentary neglects to consider fully is how the desire to worship and celebrate the birth of Christ over rode the soldiers' orders to fight. The miracle of the Christmas Truce was as not so much the fact that the soldiers in the field took it upon themselves to observe "peace on earth and good will toward men," but how their common faith motivated them in the first place.

All but a handful of the WWI veteran's are gone. When they were alive, most of the soldiers simply wanted to put the horror of their experience behind them and only reluctantly shared their stories. Telling the history of WWI does not benefit from an abundance of newsreel and propaganda documentation. As the granddaughter of one of those veterans, I am always grateful when someone takes the time to explore the stories of their sacrifice. Appreciate this documentary, but don't skip the movie.

I bring out this DVD every year for my high school history classes, since we reach World War I very close to Christmas time. This is an excellent DVD covering Christmas truces between Germany and British/French troops. It seemed to begin with German troops in their trenches singing "Silent Night" in Deutsch. The Allies answered in English and Francais. Then, a very brave German soldier emerged from a trench with a lighted Christmas tree, which had not been seen in the rest of Europe before. More men from both sides came out of the trenches, buried their dead in No Man's Land, and partied together, to the chagrin of some of their officers; although, some officers participated in the different truces as well.

For those of you who teach history, this is an excellent DVD that closes huge gaps left by textbooks. For those of you with a love for history, this is also excellent for its informational value. It's a well-done DVD with realistic-looking reenactments, some film from the time (although there's very little of that), and pictures. There were even a couple of children (senior citizens) of soldiers who participated in the the truce, who met at a memorial of the truce near Ypres. I strongly recommend this DVD for anyone wanted to learn more about the topic.The Christmas Truce (History Channel)

We saw this movie first at the library and wanted to see it again and to share it which we did - they also really enjoyed it. Very uplifting story of the truce in the middle of a war!

The Christmas Truce is a good dvd for history class high school students. Although the dvd mainly concentrates on the brief peace time between enemy alliances during the Christmas holiday, WWI, it also includes other important facts and terms students should know in order to understand the war; for example, trenches, stalemate, the Western Front, etc. DVD would be very appropriate for those days when there is a substitute teacher in the class, but there is no time for a wasted school day. Overall, four stars.

This dvd should be required for all history students in high school.
The underlying idea is what the 60's generation of protestors said all along. "What if they gave a war and no one came?"
It is up to our future students to change things.
thank you.

I like it cause it is history. I feel our young people don't understand what freedom is, or the lack of it.