Historian Reacts - WW1 Christmas Truce: Silent Night - Extra History #1
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ธ.ค. 2021
- See my reaction to Sabaton's Christmas Truce here - • Historian Reacts - CHR...
See the original video here - • WW1 Christmas Truce: S...
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#History #WW1
"They're remembered for a victory entirely of their own."
Gets me every time.
"what if you don't smoke?" WWI was *why* it became a cultural normal, as soldiers who made up such a large percentage of their generation, took up smoking thinking it helped calm their nerves
They smoked in all wars. Both before and after WWI. That is ever since tobacco was used by white men.
British and German military personnel need to have football matches every Christmas as a tribute to the truce
I'm actually surprised that isn't a thing already.
@@Spartan265 surprises me as well. They could've ended the war with a series of football matches. Do a best of 3 and winner wins the war lol.
I'd very much agree in principle, but we Europeans have all been close allies since 1949 and despite some political squabbles and an occasional attempt by some areas to declare themselves independent or a recent partial political withdrawal from the EU by a disheveled insular populist, overall we've never felt as united as in this very moment in history, which makes me feel as if we are way past the moment where this would have been perfectly appropriate.
As an Italian grown up in the late 1990's, I never ever thought that I would one day feel just as much emotion at hearing the European Anthem as I feel whenever I hear our Italian Anthem. Even just thinking about it gives me goosebumps! What I find most moving about it, is that while the official version is purely instrumental, out of respect for the 24 official languages of our Union and the many other dialects and foreign languages spoken by minorities ho happen to dwell amongst us, the original version was written in German by one of the greatest composers of all time, and it was based on a wonderful 1785 poem about brotherhood and friendship between nations (which back then wasn't as obvious a concept as it is nowadays). Here it is:
"Ode To Joy"
th-cam.com/video/Jo_-KoBiBG0/w-d-xo.html
"Ode To Joy" (w/ Eng. lyrics)
th-cam.com/video/ORdSU0Yp_6g/w-d-xo.html
@@paoloadam Thank you for sharing your feelings. It's the same for me as a german.
The Germans would win in penalties..... as always
WWI is like a tragic movie or a written script. It’s amazing that all this actually happened.
Makes me wonder about ancient myths and legends.
True a lot of such events were probably not recorded and documented in history. Humankind sure has gone through a lot.
World War 1 is the really sad Original Movie, WW2 is the sequel with much higher scales and stakes
John Doe
More like ww2 was the unfortunate aftermath of ww1.
In my opinion this is the greatest moment in all of history. Nothing will ever beat it.
A most monumental triumph of hope, indeed
I'd say May 8 1980 is far more important.
@@ravenknightvincent2722 the eradication of smallpox?
@@ravenknightvincent2722 context
to me this moment demonstrates that on an individual level, we don't want to harm each other. It is only when we divide ourselves and create different "tribes" or "nations" that we start to dehumanize each other
I've heard the generals back home were also worried that British and German troops realising that both sides were sick of the war and had so much in common might have led to them conspiring to turn their guns on their own leaders.
Can we just take a moment to imagine if that actually happened?
@@huldanoren951 if only
"Execute Order 66"
I was only aware of the British/German Western Front "football" game story during the 1914 Christmas Truce. So glad you reacted to this video. What a wealthy of knowledge. Thank you for the early Christmas gift.
The conclusion of this moving video reminded me of Stanislav Petrov, the Russian officer who may have saved the world in 1983, when one day the Soviet Union's early warning system's alarm suddenly went off, reporting the detection of several inbound American nukes. Having faith in human decency, he trusted that the U.S. would not do such a thing as just attack, and knowing that his bosses were hardliners who might immediately retaliate, he just didn't report the detection as he was supposed to, an act of insubordination he was punished for. Merry Xmas everyone, and happy holidays to anyone who doesn't happen to celebrate it! 🙏❤🙏
The main point was a bit different:
A nuclear first strike would include a huge swath of missiles, but the detection system showed a supposed attack with only five of them. That would have been a very strange nuclear attack.
His quick thinking probably saves the world there, yes.
He did get demoted or even fired, and he died in poverty.
Specia shoutout to Vasili Arkhipov who did a very similar thing during the Cuban Missile Crisis. A Soviet submarine thought that a war had broken out on the surface and needed all 3 leading officers to agree to an attack. He was the only one to oppose it so likely saved us too.
Very interesting! I'd love to learn more about both Arkhipov and Petrov, as well as any other similar figures in the (forgotten?) annals of history...
@@vladimirulyanov7855 I've heard that usually the Soviet nuclear submarines only had 2 leading officers, and that Arkhipov just so happened to be on that sub. If that's true, then the world sure is lucky.
The movie “joyeux Noel” did an excellent job of showing this part of history.
I'm really not big on Christmas, but hearing about this true story always brings a tear to my eye.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
The film "Joyeux Noel" looks not only at these events, but also the aftermath, including the Germans moving participating units to a different front or sector. A great wartime Christmas motion picture, along with "The Crossing" about the Battle of Trenton.
One of my favorite stories! First heard of it in Dan Carlin’s Blueprint for Armageddon series, and man’s humanity to man never ceases to amaze me.
This and the one about how WW1 got started, always brings tears to my eyes
In flander fields where poppies grow
Do you need the assassination of Franz Ferdinand
Peace is too strong of a feeling
same here
i'm so glad you reacted to this! i remember learning about the christmas truce in my highschool's world history class when my teacher showed us the movie "joyeux noel"!
I randomly thought about this truce at work today. I'm glad to see my favorite history channel is reacting to a lesser-known but amazing story from WW1.
Something about the Victoria Cross that’s quite different from your Medal of Honour.
Once a Victoria Cross is bestowed it can NEVER be taken away from those that get them. Besides having V.C. added to their name (of which will always be signed) even if the man were to commit a crime bold enough to have him sent to the gallows, he would still be allowed to wear the Victoria Cross even as he swung.
Personally if you want to see how important they are to Britain, Jeremy Clarkson done an amazing video you can find on TH-cam about them and the story of how one British Officer at Arnhem won his - along with several others.
I suspected you would cover this for Christmas. So glad you did, as it is such a powerful story.
Fun (or maybe not-so-fun) fact: Russian troops attempted to do an Easter Truce in 1916 with the Austro-Hungarians, but the Russians used the Julian calendar and not the traditional Gregorian calendar, so for the Austro-Hungarians Easter wasn't for a few days. All of the Russian men were captured and imprisoned.
Excellent choice to react to this video. Telling such an amazing story play exactly to Extra Credits strengths.
I don’t think that there is a better thing that ever happened in history, imo it should be remembered much more than it is.
Merry christmas to everyone
I can't hear about this story without tears coming to my eyes. Fantastic job from you and Extra History bringing all the humanity involved in this.
It's specially tough to think about it when you look at our days and people seem to be looking for reasons to be enemies of someone. The same Christmas spirit that could have potentially brought the war to an end is now challenged as if it was some sort of oppression. We are a sad generation.
8:15 I love this little detail. That sheet music have rang over the men’s singing actually has the correct notes for O Christmas tree, love it!!!
Its human nature not to kill you fellow man, Harry Patch the last veteren of the trenches noted specifically targeting a germans leg in attempt to wound him rather than to kill something i belive was very common. We even saw this in the civil war with troops often jamming of their muskets with round after round refusing to fire at the enemy line.
the problem with shooting the leg is that it still kills someone if you hit a bone or the femural artery. In facts it's probably safer to shoot at center mass because of this
@Robert Seaes literally gave you a quote unless you ment the civil war whcih i apologise if im wrong im not an expert
@@Kriegter again i dont think the solidiers understood anatomy
@Robert Seaes th-cam.com/video/SIwOSXcVQm8/w-d-xo.html Are you going to call a living breathing veteren of ww1 a liar? i did missquote a little he shot him in the shoulder not the leg but the point remains
@Robert Seaes because you know more about it than an actual veteran of the first world war
This is one of my favourite extra history mini-series. Excited for the reactions to rest of the episodes.
I remember requesting this during a Livestream, so happy you got to react to it. Hopefully you react to even more Extra History (Punic Wars or the John Snow series are my favorites ✨)
love your vids VTH, hope you continue with this, as with me personally losing a loved one, this helps me and puts a smile on my face, so thank you
Thank you so much for these videos. I think I can say we all appreciate the effort you are taking. I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas.
Sometimes I go back and watch old videos and it’s crazy to see how much u have changed, like I loved your content then but wow it’s gotten so much better and I also like your hair cut now then it used to lmao, I have been watching for a while, I think since u had about 20k or 30k subs, love the content keep up the great work 👍
Probably the best possible alternate history outcome. The truce becoming a peace
Merry Christmas Chris! I hope you and your family have a fantastic Christmas.
I just finished rewatching your playthrough of Valient Hearts, and this reaction combined with that playthrough is perhaps the second most emotional thing that re-sparked my interest in the Great War.
He's played Valiant Hearts? Where? I can't find it in the gaming channel. I want to see it, it sounds very interesting.
@@G_Okr The video title is this, "Valiant Hearts: The Great War (WW1 RPG - my first time playing)"
“War makes men mad”
Can't help but feel a tear in my eye. I know it's late, but Happy 2022 to all, no matter how challenging it may be. Stay safe, historians!
Merry Christmas, Chris! Keep up the good work! Love from Philippines 🇵🇭
I just finished rewatching the vod from a few weeks ago and here I am watching this again.
Merry Christmas, VTH! Hope you have a good holiday. 😀😀😀
Great video teach! Merry Christmas to you and your family!
i watched this on the stream, your wife is lovely!
I like the fact that they make a brief mention of indian soldiers. Before i watched this video i had never thought about this topic from their perspective.
We don't celebrate Christmas in my country, but I hope all of you have a Merry Christmas, be safe
Crown Prince Wilhelm was the Commander of the german 5th Army, the one that fought at Verdun. This caused him to be seen as a butcher by people on both sides (which was one factor for the collapse of the prussian monarchy in 1918 - most people didn't want him to become the new King/Emperor in place of his father). However, he was mostly a figurehead and his Chief of Staff really managed all military matters. When he was appointed as army commander, the Emperor wrote to him: "You will get General Lieutenant [Konstantin] Schmidt von Knobelsdorf as your Chief of Staff. Whatever he advises you, you will do."
I was thinking of the Crown Prince of Württemberg, Albrecht who was in command at Ypres when the Germans first used chlorine gas.
@@VloggingThroughHistory Ahh, I see. :) Also not to be confused with Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, who commanded the 6th Army.
Merry Christmas! :D (It's the 24th already in my timezone.)
Can't wait for your reaction videos on HistoryMarche
Advance Merry Christmas Chris, I'm from the Philippines.
Great video hope everyone has a great Christmas Day
You sound like you've recovered from your cold. That's fantastic!
I get choked up everytime I hear of those kind of stories
Shame everyone involved including the Kings, Emperors, PMs etc. didn't have this mentality/humanity! The war truly WOULD be over by Christmas! Even Shakespeare could not create such a Great Tragedy of the Modern Age/History!
They didn't have this mentality because they were not the ones sent to kill and die in the trenches over a pointless family feud. Had they been forced to fight in the front lines, they would sing a different tune and the war would end within a week.
@@this_is_patrick 100% SPOT ON!
@@this_is_patrick That is why when these 'leaders' send soldiers to the frontline to die, maybe those soldiers should go ''no, you fucking do it yourself''.
Very nice peace of history and something that can also be learned from as a life lesson.
Well done choosing this video to react to. Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas btw I hope you have a wonderful holiday
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas 🎅🎄
The ball play happened, there are even few pics of the soldiers playing with a ball
Merry Christmas from Germany!
Merry Christmas Chris! Also uploaded a video about the Christmas Truce today. Coincidence 😎
1.08 That's the statue outside the bombed out church in Liverpool city centre: "All Together Now" designed by Andy Edwards
Oh boy, it's time for Dan's era Extra History again.
“Yes they’re angry and frustrated and scared and tired and fed up and aggravated. They’re full of potential, and they are deeply flawed. In other words, they are a person. Just like you. Please remember that.” - Jocko Willink
YeAh they were people, and so was Hitler, so was HiroHito. So what?
This is my favorite story during this time.
Happy holidays everyone, hope everybody has a very merry Christmas!
Great choice! It seems hopeless when you have to fight a war started by the higher ups who never experience what the soldiers go through.
The Kronprinz was one of the commanders on the ground near Verdun for a time too.
Not related to the Christmas truce, but have you ever read Ernst Jünger's 'Storm of Steel'? A first person account of the great war from the German perspective(1915-1918) (the initial release was a private publication and most of the gruesome details has been removed in the editions released since) Highly suggested to anyone interested in contemporary historical reading.
For a moment, I expected you to say "War, War Never Changes." I was ready to start laughing. xD
If you ever read Ernst Junger's Storm of Steel there's a telling chapter of just how much more bitter the fighting got post Christmas truce the following year in 1915.
"We spent Christmas Eve in the line, and, standing in the mud, sang hymns, to which the British responded with machine-gun fire. On Christmas Day, we lost one man to a ricochet in the head. Immediately afterwards, the British attempted a friendly gesture by hauling a Christmas tree up on their traverse, but our angry troops quickly shot it down again, to which Tommy replied with rifle-grenades. it was all in all a less than merry Christmas. "
Happy Holidays
And today we're all brothers
Tonight we're all friends
A moment of peace in a war that never ends
Today we're all brothers
We drink and unite
Now Christmas has arrived and the snow turns the ground white
Great video! Would love to see you react to musicals about history like Hamilton or Six!
I did a two hour stream about Hamilton a year ago
I struggle to think of anything quite as valuable as Peace.Here is to Christmas and Peace - Cheers!
Yay I love this story.
Was watching the reaction to Oversimplified WW1. How are you posting at a higher rate than i can watch your videos? How is this even possible?
I don't know how well a reaction to a podcast would work but you might want to try the iron dice which is a history of the german revolution of 1918 and the weimar republic
Very topical
The Canadians took advantage of the Truce to take enemy trenches... couldnt figure out why the Germans werent shooting. They had no idea that a truce had been declared...
9:05 The opposing forces singing in competition and then joining together in harmony reminds me so much of the creation "myth" in Tolkiens universe. Considering he was a soldier during ww1, his story about the Ainulindalë (song of creation) in which the angels together with God sang the universe into creation with the devil trying to create discord in the melody and with God incorporating it into the harmony over and over. He has to have either consciously or subconsciously drawn reference from these events
Eh. I see a lot of Tolkien fans trying to link many unique features of his writings to his WW1 experience, like his trench fever inspiring Frodo's hallucinations or the Dead Marshes being taken from no man's land. But I think sometimes it's an overstretch. Tolkien only served for a few months 1916; he was sent home to recover from his trench fever and stayed in England for the remainder of the war. He couldn't have experienced the Christmas Truce, and even if he'd heard of it, I don't think it would've been more of an influence on the Ainu's music than plain old church music (the man was a devout Catholic).
@@samrevlej9331 yeah maybe. I know that Tolkien has said that he hates allegories in regard to the real world and his mythical world. But still, some things in his works are pretty analogous to ww1.
Let's not forget another Christmas truce later in the war when the Red Barron offered Snoopy a holiday toast.
You should reqct to House of History. He really has a great series about the Formation about Prussia or the Battle of the Lechfeld and many more. Highly apreaceate you Content and Reactions!
The Christmas truce is a good example of how war is evil, although sadly not unnecessary.
There is a great Movie about these Events. From 2005 with Daniel Brühl ,Joyeux Noel. Its a fictionalisation, still would love a reaction to that :)
No Man's Land by The Farm is about this, I think. It's a really good song.
How about reacting to Poland Animated History or other vids from IPNtv? They have cool animations! And would love some hints from you about Poland
The WW1 Christmas truce is so tragic because it shows just how utterly pointless the fighting was
Merry Christmas to everyone!
In late WW2 especially British generals often met their goals a few days late, but with far fewer losses than anticipated. My thinking about this is that most of the divisional, corps, and army commanders of WW2 had been company commanders in WW1, and seen the senseless slaughter of the trench warfare. There's no doubt in my mind, had Lt Hall talked about in this video survived, he would've been exactly such a general.
This is pretty cool
Also merry Christmas
A friend in the Army some years ago told me he took up smoking, purely to get the daily smoke breaks. If you didn’t smoke, you had to keep working.
Are you thinking of doing any videos on the indigenous empires of America soon like the aztecs, maya etc and also the spanish conquest ???
One minor note about "What are you going to do if you don't smoke?":
Not just a concern during WWI, but WWII as well, as cigarettes were included as part of the daily ration. And soldiers had an answer: barter. I mean, tobacco products as an unofficial currency aren't just a "prison" thing.
Hell there are many stories of soldiers trading their cigarettes for stuff they actually wanted during the truce. German sausage, British corned beef, and other such things
This Christmas, the new Great War update's coming out for Napoleon Total War. It's gonna be great!
As far as I’m aware the whole fighting for your “brother in arms” didn’t exist until the nazis. Before that you were often moved to other divisions and such. The nazis had there people trained together and kept them together so that they became family, that changed warfare since you are much more likely to kill for your family than some far off idea.
It definitely existed before that. In WW1, in the US Civil War, and in many others, the men served alongside men from their same town, village, etc. They definitely fought for the guy beside them. They wrote letters home about it.
The Spartans would like to have a word with you
I should have said it better. Point 1 I meant as an aim of the military, at the beginning of the civil war they mostly grouped people by where they are from and that is how they fought (which worked really well) however it was not by design that they trained people together and made them family, it was a coincidence that they already were close. The second point I meant modern army’s (although Sparta is surprisingly not the best example of this. The best example of this is the Sacred Band of Thebes who were a group of 300 where everyone would fight side by side there lover).
A truly moving story, and yet another reminder of how pointless war is in the modern age. Another thought that I have is that, in a way, WW1 is way more tragic than WW2. Of course, I'm not discounting the tragedies, horrors and sacrifices that people suffered during WW2, but that war was initiated by people who had brutal ambitions, and supported by nations that suffered hurt and disrespect, and only knew one way to retaliate, so you could understand why they would do that. The cause of WW1 on the other hand, was down to a few people, who just wanted to start a war, and from their perspective - they got lucky and got what they wanted. For everyone else though, it was a tragic coincidence, there was no real reason to fight a war, yet so many died just because the politicians and generals wanted glory. Frankly, the pre- and post-WW1 politicians and generals have to be some of the worst leaders in history, when you consider the consequences of their actions, and the near 100 million people they helped wipe out.
In any case, hopefully we will never return to such wanton manslaughter, and the world will be a better place in the future. Happy holidays, everyone!
Merry Christmas y'all/joyeux Noel a tous.😉
God bless you!
Can you do some easyteach games (i don't know if you can do it on pc and laptop )
And Crown Prince Wilhelm was the commanding general of the German Fifth army, and they headed the attacks at Verdun
Yes I was thinking of Crown Prince Albrecht who commanded the troops in Ypres.
It's completely true about perception about length of wars. My Grandfather told me when he enlisted after Pearl Harbor nobody expected the war to last more than a few months.
Am I having deja vu or did I watch this video before in November because I remember seeing this before and I remembered things that did happen later in the video please help me clarify this because I’m very confused
Maybe his reaction to the Christmas truce video by Sabaton?
What university did you get your hostory degree?
Ive heard this story many times but no one has really ever explained how they actually went about “started talking to each other”.. like did they just slowly emerge from their trenches with their hands raised as others nearby them urged them to get down? Did the singing stop when these groups slowly walked towards each other perhaps holding white flags? And their officers just stood by as they did this? Idk..
If you want a good video on the Victoria Cross. The Jeremy Clarkson documentary is a good one
If i were a soldier back then I would just find it very unusual to say "Well....it was good hangin out with ya.....hope i dont shoot you tomorrow" it just feels so surreal to me.
In the civil war there was only one Christmas day engagement and it was in 1864 when the war was at it's meanest.
Christmas was normally a day off, why change the habit of a lifetime. Victoria Cross is very hard to earn, Jeremy Clarkson does a video The Victoria Cross for valour, the history of the medal. Hardest medal to be awarded. Compliment of the season to you too.
Truly a great and beautiful moment from a such a terrible tragedy