6 Minute English – The Christmas Truce

Rob
Hello, I’m Rob. Welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m joined today by Finn.

Finn
Hi Rob! Merry Christmas everyone!

Rob
Yes. Merry Christmas! Today we’re talking about this celebration. It’s a Christian festival but its message of peace among people is universal.

Finn
It’s a pity that today we are far from that – from a moment of absolute peace and goodwill. Now, goodwill means a cooperative attitude.

Rob
But there was once a brief moment in history when the human spirit rose above wars.

Finn
Ah, you must be talking about the Christmas Truce which happened in World War One, in 1914!

Rob
It’s the perfect occasion to talk about it, because this year marks the centenary – the 100 year anniversary – of the start of Britain’s involvement in this European conflict. And we’ll look at some related vocabulary during the programme. But, before we go into this extraordinary event, a question about the First World War, Finn.

Finn
For me… well… I’m not an expert on the First World War so… we’ll let’s see how I do…

Rob
I’m sure you’ll know the answer to this one. It’s about letters. People didn’t have email in the early 20th century so they wrote lots of letters. But do you know how many letters were delivered to the front – the place where the fighting happened – every week? Were there:

a)       one million

b)       five million or

c)       an incredible twelve million letters?

Finn
Right. Well, I know there were a lot of people at the front but I’m going to say a) one million.

Rob
OK. Well, as usual, you’ll have the answer to that question at the end of the programme. Right, now, let’s talk about this unofficial truce which happened 100 years ago in the Western Front of the First World War.

Finn
Yes, so a truce is an agreement between people to stop fighting, with no winner or loser. Now, it’s unofficial – which means it’s not authorised by people in a position of authority, in this case, the governments involved in the war. So the soldiers just decided to simply stop fighting. How was this possible, Rob? How did this happen?

Rob
Well, soldiers from both trenches, all of a sudden, started to fraternise – which means they began to meet each other socially.

Finn
And the trenches were big holes dug by soldiers from which they attacked the enemy. Living conditions were terrible in these holes.

Rob
This truce might have had something to do with the bad conditions in these trenches. Let’s hear what German historian Michael Jurgs has to say about the event. Which expression does he use to describe how the soldiers felt about the war?

INSERT

Michael Jurgs, author of The Small Peace in the Great War
I think it happened because they were all fed up with the war. They were promised they would be at home again, Christmas 1914 and after five months of the World War One, there were already a million dead young people, eighteen, nineteen, twenty years old. And at Christmas night the muddy weather became frosty and cold and then from the German trenches, from the German trenches – that sounds unbelievable because always Germans started wars, or joined wars – began the song, ‘Silent Night, Holy Night’. That was the beginning.

Finn
The German historian said the soldiers were fed up with the war – which is an informal way of saying they were bored, or annoyed with it.

Rob
The war was continuing and they wished they were home with their families. One night, it was cold and the German soldiers started to sing a song… a carol…

Finn
Yes. A carol is a happy song with a religious element – usually a Christmas song. And the carol they sang was (sings a bit of Silent Night).

Rob
(Joins in the singing) Yes. That’s the carol ‘Silent Night, Holy Night’ and it broke the ice between the soldiers. That means it made these men, who didn’t know each other personally, more relaxed.

Finn
And you know Rob? I really find it fascinating how spontaneous all of this was!

Rob
It was indeed.

Finn
So how did the authorities respond to this?

Rob
They didn’t like it at all. They banned this sort of fraternising and it didn’t happen again. But not before the soldiers from opposing armies played some football together. 

Finn
Football?!

Rob
Yes. They played a match in no-man’s-land! That’s a strip of land between enemy sides over which nobody has control. It was the area between the English trench and the German trench.

Finn
You know, it’s a really nice story, isn’t it? It’s quite a touching story, Rob.

Rob
Yes, and very inspiring. Well, our time is almost up so let’s get the right answer to the quiz question. I asked you how many letters were delivered to the front every week. The options were: one million, five million or twelve million.

Finn
And I said one million, Rob.

Rob
And you were a long way off.

Finn
Oh, really?

Rob
Yes. The correct answer is (c) twelve million letters.

Finn
Twelve million a week?!

Rob
Yes, a week. By the end of the war, two billion letters and 114 million parcels had been delivered to the front.  According to statistics, 65 million people around the world fought in this war, which ended in 1918.

Finn
That’s really quite incredible Rob!

Rob
Some incredible figures there. OK. Let’s remember some of the words we explained today.

Finn
They were:

goodwill

centenary

truce

unofficial

trenches

fraternise

fed up with

carol

broke the ice

no-man’s-land

Rob
Thank you, Finn. That’s it for today. Do log on to bbclearningenglish.com to find more 6 Minute English programmes. And we wish you all a Merry, and peaceful, Christmas!

Finn
That’s right. Merry Christmas to all! Bye!

Rob
Bye!