Rating: 
Summary: A Disappointment
Review: I really wanted to love this book. The 1914 Christmas truces have always fascinated me (although, as you'll see, I'm no WWI scholar) and a full book treatment promised the kind of detail and insight I had always craved into this incredible incident.
Unfortunately, while well-researched, I think this book suffered from weak editing. The nature of the information is anecdotal (letters and newspaper accounts are used here effectively; fictional accounts less effectively), but the chapters are essentially unstructured compendiums of these anecdotes and observations, grouped by timeline (i.e. all the football anecdotes are grouped together, all the reports of how the various truces ended are together, etc.). The characters only come alive in half-light and then shuffle offstage (or die). I found it difficult to follow and ultimately frustrating and unfulfilling. Sub-headings or better transitions would have helped me follow along a lot better.
Also, the author assumed a relatively high level of knowledge about WWI, foreign languages, history, etc., often stating a person's name or a town or a German word or phrase, without explaining what it was or why it was important in context. I bought this book to learn; I ended up feeling dumber after I read it.
Also, opening a book by quoting yourself seems a little conceited.
Rating: 
Summary: At least for a brief time, "All is calm...."
Review: I was curious to know why Weintraub wrote a book about a brief period prior to Christmas in 1914, on the battlefields of Flanders, when German and British soldiers spontaneously agreed to declare a truce and suspend fighting, thereby defying their commanding officers. The answer to that question, in my opinion, has profound significance 87 years later. No doubt the book's impact on me is explained, at least in part, by the fact that I read it during the holiday season, following the events of September 11th, as a war on terrorism continues. But also because, as an eager student of military history, I am intrigued by isolated situations in which humanity (for lack of a better term) at least temporarily prevails over death and destruction. Centuries ago, knights and their attendants would work with their enemies to clear a field for combat the next day. Such cooperation had an obvious practical value. That's not what interests Weintraub as he examines a temporary truce during one of the bloodiest wars ever fought. It had little (if any) practical or tactical value but it did (and does) suggest a human need which transcends military obligations.Weintraub draws upon a wealth of primary sources (e.g. letters and diaries) in which firsthand accounts comment on the shared misery created by "shells, bombs, underground caves, corpses, liquor, mice, cats, artillery, filth, bullets, mortars, fire, and steel." I am reminded of movies such as All's Quiet on the Western Front and Paths of Glory in which the human misery portrayed is almost unbearable to watch. I had the same reaction when seeing more recent movies such as Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down. As Weintraub explains in this book, at least some of the opposing forces decided to call what we today would describe as a "time out." Several displayed signboards and banners which said "You no fight, we no fight" (by the Germans) and "Merry Christmas" (by the British). Messages and holiday greetings were exchanged, sometimes conveyed by trained dogs serving as intermediaries. Weintraub credits the Germans with taking the initiative but not all of the German soldiers and few of their officers condoned the truce. (The choice of the book's title is apt. More than 200 years ago, Joseph Mohr wrote the lyrics and Franx X. Gruber the music of "Stille Nacht," a German carol.) Nor did all of the Allied forces. Everyone involved correctly understood that battle would soon resume but at least for a very brief time, everyone involved (to varying degrees) experienced "peace on earth, good will toward man." For many of them, death had merely been delayed. How welcome it must have been to have a silent night or two after enduring deafening bombardments. And no doubt an opportunity to reflect upon loved ones far away and to recall happier Christmases in the past. It is possible but highly unlikely that there will ever again be a land war of the nature and to the extent of the two World Wars. Never again will opposing warriors in near proximity exchange Christmas greetings and gifts. This is part of the significance of what Weintraub has recreated in his book: Warfare in the 21st century will mostly be waged by high-tech systems to deliver weapons of mass destruction to achieve global and regional military objectives. At least to this reader, Weintraub seems to ask: Why not eliminate war in any form so that the world can have a "silent night" every night? Why not indeed?
Rating:
Summary: A Unique and Irresistible Christmas Tale
Review: If you are looking for a Christmas book this year, for yourself or for a friend, one that gives a view of the season previously not appreciated, that tells of the power of the holiday to change participants, that is full of poignant hope for better things for humanity, I have a suggestion for you. You may have heard of some of the episodes contained in _Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce_ (Free Press) by Stanley Weintraub, but this is a recognized historian's review of the soldiers' truce, its origins, incidents, and effects, as well as reflections on what might have been if the truce had been allowed to hold. It is such a sweet and sad tale full of paradoxes that I think any reader will shake his head in wonder over these pages at just what strange creatures these humans are. It was the first Christmas within a world war, 1914. All combatants claimed some version of Christianity as a majority religion, and all were thinking of the hearths of home rather than the routine of eating, sleeping, standing guard, and digging in the dripping, rat- and louse-infested, stinking trenches. And then the German Christmas trees came out. The _tannenbaum_ was so important to the German soldiers that trees were included within logistic supplies. Gradually, warriors put up banners to wish the other side the best of the season, and began chants of carols, and under strictly forbidden flags of truce, they emerged into No Man's Land to meet their enemies. They sang songs together. The Germans shared their surfeit of beer, the English theirs of plum-and-apple jam. One soldier wrote, "Where they couldn't talk the language, they were making themselves understood by signs, and everyone seemed to be getting on nicely. Here we were laughing and chatting to men whom only a few hours before we were trying to kill!" On Christmas day, soccer balls were produced, and fields laid out among the shell holes. One soldier wrote that if someone had thought to supply 10,000 footballs at the time, that would have solved the war without bloodshed. It was not to be, of course. This was a bottom-up truce, and commands on both sides insisted on renewal of hostilities. Tradition and discipline demanded it, and just in case, various threats were put into play. There was still good cheer on Christmas, and in some places on the following day, but eventually the sides parted and got back to business. A rifleman remembered a German parting from him with, "Today we have peace. Tomorrow you fight for your country; I fight for mine. Good luck." Any hesitation about firing upon their temporary comrades evaporated when new troops were ordered in. Anyone who reads this book will be struck with the question of "What If..." which is indeed the title of its last chapter. This is a fine recounting of the unique episodes of a war that failed to end all wars. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, contemplating those candle-lit Christmas trees erected on the trenches wrote, "It was an amazing spectacle, and must arouse bitter thought concerning those high-born conspirators against the peace of the world, who in their mad ambition had hounded such men on to take each other by the throat rather than by the hand."
Rating:
Summary: Eye Opener
Review: In 'Silent Night' Weintraub has given the World an invaluable treatise on an incredible event that occurred during WW I in which individual and spontaneous humanitarian actions by soldiers on the front transcended the cold orders from the top brass not to fraternize with the enemy and to proceed with the war on Christmas Eve and Day. When I tell people about the Christmas truce of 1914, that soldiers from opposing sides shook hands, exchanged gifts and played soccer, the response is invariably "no way!" My thanks to Stanley Weintraub for telling us this story, and in such detail. There are few books that I have read as fast as this. It is great Christmas time reading.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful look at a very special Christmas
Review: In 1914, as the Great War turned from a glorious adventure into a grinder of human meat, something unexpected and beautiful happened. When Christmas Eve arrived, quite against orders, peace mysteriously broke out. In many places along No-Man's Land, soldiers from the opposing armies mingled, traded trinkets, sang songs, and even played impromptu soccer matches. This is the story of that all too brief interlude in that human tragedy that was the First World War. The author of this book has brought together a wonderful book. It is a collection of anecdotes about that Christmas Truce, complete with a series of pictures. Being a minor student of that tragic war, I could not help but be touched by this story, being at times brought close to tears by some of the stories. I must admit that I found the author's speculation on what might have happened if the opposing armies had decided to make the peace permanent to be quite fanciful, and rather anticlimactic. That said, though, this is a wonderful book, one that is quite informative on a little studied chapter of World War I. I highly recommend this book to all readers!
Rating: 
Summary: Cultural History of a little-known Episode of the Great War
Review: In the first months of World War I, while the mud was still new and disgusting to the troops in the trenches, and the killing was still novel to them, Christmas approached. Some of the soldiers on both sides (but chiefly, curiously, the Germans) crossed no-man's-land and met to exchange gifts, sing carols, play games of soccer, and socialize. This so-called Christmas truce lasted in some sectors for several days or even a couple of weeks, and was localized and generally restricted to areas where the British were facing non-Prussian units of the German army, though there were many exceptions. The Belgians and French, less friendly towards the invaders of their country, were only involved sporadically. This book, then, is the story of this truce, and its impact on Western society, both in terms of the actual effect and the effect it could have had. The author uses diaries and later interviews with participants, newspaper articles of the time, and the few official histories which mention the events, to bring the account to life. He supplements these with versions of the event in fiction in various places, but is careful to tell you the accounts are fictional, and there's generally a reason for including them. One of the best-known British writers from the Great War, Robert Graves, apparently based a fictional account of the event on stories he heard after the fact, for instance. The book also includes a sort of mini-history of the history of the event, including everything from a British rock group in the seventies to Snoopy and his mythical duel with the Red Baron. The book concludes with a what-if speculation, that tries to imagine the world after a Christmas truce that lasted, and forced the politicians to peace. This is somewhat clumsily handled, because the image of the French or Belgians accepting the German occupation of parts of their country at this stage isn't believable, and the Germans weren't going to give up what they'd fought so hard to capture. The author acknowledges this somewhat in the main part of the book when he recounts that the Germans often boasted that they would be defeating their enemies soon, even while they were exchanging gifts and carols with them. This speculative chapter is the weakest part of the book. I did enjoy the book overall, though, and would recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Great Story
Review: Let me open by saying that the book is not all that well written. However the story is amazing. I am shocked that I have never really heard about this prior to reading this book. Everyone should read this book especially those who think peace will never happen. Very good lesson.
Rating:
Summary: Great Story
Review: Let me open by saying that the book is not all that well written. However the story is amazing. I am shocked that I have never really heard about this prior to reading this book. Everyone should read this book especially those who think peace will never happen. Very good lesson.
Rating:
Summary: Confirms Human Nature
Review: Mr. Stanley Weintraub's, "Silent Night", documents the exceptional events of Christmas 1914 amongst the trenches of World War I. This war was the conflict that revealed the true horror that modern warfare made possible. This was a war that killed 6,000 people every day for nearly 52 months. This was trench warfare when men died by becoming consumed by the mud that was routinely knee deep, and often deep enough to consume a soldier entirely. The book is very good; the only reason for the missing 5th star was due to the counter-factual history the author offered at the book's close. What if scenarios are always a dicey leap to make, and I found several of the author's entirely implausible. When the reader learns about the cessation of the fighting that took place by the soldiers on the field, in spite of orders to the contrary, and you read of their posting mail for one another, helping to bury the dead together, and sharing Christmas dinner in genuine friendship, for a moment you think, "how exceptional an event". This is after you accept these interactions took place, that the men who had killed each other's comrades then buried them together, broke bread, and played soccer. The photographs in the book show the men who had been doing their utmost to kill each other standing together and sharing the holidays. These were the men on the front lines, the men who did not decide to wage war, rather they fought for their nation, their own sense of duty, and because that was what they were sent to do. Those higher placed in the chains of command wanted the fighting to continue, they feared that the men would not fight after treating each other as humans, as people, as men who had no desire for more war, whether German, English, French, Irish, and many others. Simple signs saying, "we no shoot, you no shoot", literally brought the war to a halt along long stretches of the front. However it did not last, because it could not last, and measures were taken by the officers to see that this fraternization with the enemy would not happen in 1915, 1916, 1917, or 1918. Soldiers on either side were threatened with a court martial and a firing squad for treason, subsequent Christmases had planned constant shelling so no one would repeat the moments of humanity that took place on that first Christmas of the war. I expect that there will be a variety of opinions about what took place, how important it was, and why anyone bothered. For the reality is, that this was a brief respite when sanity held sway, when the human foundations of these countries made their own decisions, the generals and the politicians had nothing to say, they were ignored. In the end it was like when a cancer falls into a remission. There is no question it will return; it is only a matter of how soon. This was the case with these soldiers. For a brief moment of the war they put down their weapons and treated each other with mutual respect and conducted themselves with honor. But even as the improvised soccer matches took place, both sides improved their fortifications, and brought up additional war material knowing that the interlude was just that. As horrible as the war had been, the fighting resumed and decimated a generation. When enough time had passed and a new generation was born, arms were once again taken up, and the slaughter began again, and the second world conflict was even more repulsive than the first. Humanity found new methods to plumb the depths of evil. What these men did was and is admirable, however it was an exception to longstanding rules. For just as the fighting was stopped, it once again began, a generation was slaughtered, so there was a pause, and then the slaughter began again. This is a fascinating story, however in the end what should we take from it? What is more difficult to comprehend, that men will slaughter strangers, or that they will come to see their commonality, their sameness, and then shake hands, return to the trenches and slaughter faces that have names?
Rating: 
Summary: Overall good but somewhat superfacial
Review: The author definitely done his research. The book is crammed with anecdotes, remembrances, drawings, soldier's songs, newspaper headlines centered around that remarkable Christmas day. All of them interesting, but reading through them is a disjointed experience due to the book's one-thing-after-another organizing style. In the last chapter author tried to introduce a little theory for the smorgasgord of facts he had so impressively assembled, speculating unconvincingly about the historical significance of the informal truce. Interested people who wish to consider/speculate how this event fit into European history could try The Rites of Spring, by Modris Ekstein, a cultural history of Europe of that period. Nonetheless, the facts of the event shines through.
So if you are interested in gaining general knowledge of the 1914 Christmas truce, it's a good book. But don't look for discussions on why this event occurred or why no truces approaching its scale ever happend again.
|
