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Truce isn't primarily a book about World War I. As is often the case in Jim Murphy's books, Truce explains the essential facts that led to the war, but then zeroes in on one unusual section of the war that was strikingly memorable, and makes it the focus of the book. In this case, the unusual occurrence is the almost unexplainably widespread truce between the British and German soldiers which took place in the battle zone of the Western Front on Christmas Eve and Day of 1914.

I knew a fair amount about World War I before reading this book, but reacquainting myself with the facts of how it started equipped me with a lot of new information. To think that a war ending with the worldwide deaths of eight million soldiers and twenty-one million suffering ghastly wounds was based on a lack of information on the part of Austro-Hungarian leader Franz Josef is nearly beyond comprehension. Is it possible that "The War to End All Wars" could have even been prevented were it not for the hasty decision of Franz Josef to attack Serbia, or would war have eventually broken out between the two contentious nations at some point anyway, on some prefix or another? It's hard to say for sure, but the possibilities are worth a bit of ponderance.

As the metaphoric dominoes fell and nation upon nation found itself pulled into the heart of war, the encroaching German troops and defending British found themselves facing each other in a sort of Mexican standoff at the Western Front, each firmly entrenched in the ditches dug for their side with the expansive "No Man's Land" plain spread before them to prevent a successful overtake by one side or the other. In their home countries, both British and German had been whipped into a frenzy of disgust for the other by the propaganda machines of their respective governments, hardly regarding the opponent anymore as better than subhuman. It was on this chess board of battle that the sides settled in to wait, and wait, and wait for the chance to launch an attack to defeat the hated opposition.

It appears that one reason for so many deaths in World War I can be attributed to the transitional period that fighting strategies were experiencing. Modern artillery was becoming a mainstay of every nation's army, with tanks, machine guns, grenades and other high-power weapons staking claim to the vanguard, yet combat styles had not sufficiently changed to address the horrifying dangers of such devastating weaponry. In many cases, war strategy was leading soldiers right into the heart of combat zones that were sure to completely overwhelm them, against firepower that was certain to rip them to pieces. How must it feel to dash across an open field directly into the teeth of machine gun fire, knowing that you don't really stand a chance of survival but also knowing that one's commanding officer must be obeyed? I can't imagine something like that.

It turns out that such antiquated fighting methods cost both the British and German forces shockingly high numbers of casualties as they faced each other down on the Western Front. The problem was that neither side was comfortable with the stalemate they were facing, and the commanders repeatedly ordered massive numbers of their soldiers to conduct "raids" on the opponent, running madly across No Man's Land despite the fact that such maneuvers could never work when faced with the kind of heavy artillery possessed by both sides, and ordering those mad dashes was only going to get more soldiers killed. This was a new type of war, though, one that commanders were not used to, and the price of their experience was paid in the blood of their men.

Despite the fact that the German and British governments had created so fierce of propaganda against the opposing side that the armies regarded each other as something less than human, as the two militias warily sat for so long watching each other from their trenches, a remarkable thing happened. At night, through the whelming quiet of No Man's land, sliced the sounds of conversation and even laughter between soldiers on the other side. There may have been differences in language, but it was easy for the soldiers to see that the people in ditches on the other side were having the same kinds of discussions that they were having with people in their own trenches. The soldiers they were fighting didn't seem like the monsters they had been told they were; they were just like real...people.

As time continued to crawl along, the British and German armies began to occasionally call out to each other, sometimes even tossing a package of new food over to the other side. Relations between the divided soldiers began to warm and the hatred to dissipate, until the unforgettable night of Christmas Eve, when simultaneously all along the Western Front divide, German and British came together in No Man's Land for a quiet temporary truce to observe Christmas as friends. Amazingly, as the enemy came into view of each other, shaking hands and even exchanging gifts, the cacophony of shots being fired that had been the audio backdrop for so long receded into the night, and British and German became friends on the bloody field of battle.

The truce lasted all through Christmas Day and was spread across almost the entire Western Front, all of which really is amazing when one considers that the commanding officers on both sides were dead set against the truces, and in many cases even ordered their men not to take part in them at the risk of court martial. It seems that one reason the troops on both sides were so agreeable to a Christmas truce, even to the point of openly defying their commanding officers, is that the men were just totally sick of fighting. They didn't want to watch their comrades losing their lives in No Man's Land anymore, dying in ill-advised raids that were destined for failure. Since they had come to see the opposition as real, amiable human beings they no longer wanted to be killing them, either. In this one place, at least, at this one time, soldiers just decided that they had experienced enough death and destruction. They didn't want to fight anymore.

In fact, along many places on the Western Front the truce lasted longer than just Christmas day. One British officer later said that the soldiers in his area (and the Germans across the way) didn't relinquish the last vestiges of the truce until Spring thaw had begun. Whatever kind of miracle it was that led to the widespread Christmas truce, it was clear that this miracle changed people, and at least that it had briefly given them a respite from the monstrously rising death tolls that were such a constant part of World War I.

So, what was the major lesson to be learned in all of this? I don't know if there necessarily was one, but it's heartening to think that people who had been trained to despise each other and who had seen that reason for hate bolstered by the sight of their friends being gunned down by the enemy could still have minds open enough to perceive the humanity in the opposing forces, and could in the interest of all present lay aside the rules of engagement in war and take a day to show respect for each other regardless of nationality, and to learn that neither side really wanted at all to be doing battle in these trenches. When it came down to it, virtually every soldier on either side would have much rather been at home with their families, living peacefully together without the imminent specter of death hanging over their heads like the scythe of the grim reaper. In short, they all just wanted to go home, and the miraculous truce on Christmas of 1914 allowed them at least a short break from the horrors of war.

The entry of the United States into World War I, along with their three million fresh soldiers to aid the Allies, was a huge decisive factor in turning the tide of success toward the Allies. By 1918 the war was over, but it would never be forgotten by the families of the nearly thirty million (!!!!!) soldiers estimated to have been killed or injured, worldwide. Here was a war that many historians say never should have been fought at all, and the death tolls had reached such astronomical numbers that the world would be forever changed. All over Europe, fields of rich crops had been blown to bits and replaced by solemn little white crosses to commemorate the fallen. Winners and losers of the war were all affected beyond what anyone could have imagined when the first shot was fired between Austria-Hungary and Serbia.

As always, Jim Murphy has written a book featuring some unusually poetic language for a non-fiction tome, and has unerringly researched and explained a small corner of world history that should have a lasting impact on his readers. I would give two and a half stars to Truce.