Hochschild, Adam: No-one remembers the peacemakers

Hochschild, Adam

Why no one remembers the peacemakers: celebrating war over and over and peace once‘, TomDispatch, 9 December 2014 and updated

Describes the commemoration of the Christmas Truce of 1914 and notes that such commemorations are selective and have a political and commercial undertone. Fraternisation on the Russian Front in 1917, mutinies in 1918 and conscientious objection get much less attention. The Christmas Truce does not ‘represent a challenge to the sovereignty of war’, it is good business and it is well-suited to be celebrated by professional soccer.

Scroll down is necessary as the piece is introduced by Tom’s remarks about spinning the US war on terror. There is also a link to an article by author Rory Fanning about how American veterans are getting sick of being thanked ‘for their service’. Another view of the 1914 Christmas Truce. And another. And another. History website. A dedicated website. Eyewitness to history website. Letters from both sides quoted. Another history website. Balanced view from Imperial War Museum historian. BBC site. Finally, a different perspective from the World Socialist Web Site. Opinions differ on what happened and how widespread it was. It was rarely repeated.

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