Initially, everyone believed that this war would be over by Christmas, but on Christmas Eve 1914, soldiers were still facing each other in France, Belgium, throughout Eastern Europe, and all of the other theatres of war. But instead of shooting at each other, quite a few soldiers decided to sing and celebrate this night with their enemies. This happened in many places on the Western Front, and the commanding officers were not happy about it. In future, they would see to it that it did not happen again.

You can read some of the soldiers letters about the Christmas Truce right here: http://bit.ly/1zATZO0

If you want to find out how the whole war started in the summer of 1914, check out our three part prelude to war special: http://bit.ly/PL2WR

» HOW CAN I SUPPORT YOUR CHANNEL?
You can support us by sharing our videos with your friends and spreading the word about our work.You can also support us financially on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thegreatwar

Patreon is a platform for creators like us, that enables us to get monthly financial support from the community in exchange for cool perks.

» MORE HISTORY?
Check out our sister channel ITS HISTORY: http://youtube.com/itshistory

» WHERE CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION ABOUT WORLD WAR I AND WHERE ELSE CAN I FIND YOU?
Were offering background knowledge, news, a glimpse behind the scenes and much more on:
reddit: http://bit.ly/TheGreatSubReddit
Facebook: http://bit.ly/WW1FB
Twitter: http://bit.ly/WW1Series
Instagram: http://bit.ly/ZpMYPL

» CAN I EMBED YOUR VIDEOS ON MY WEBSITE?
Of course, you can embed our videos on your website. We are happy if you show our channel to your friends, fellow students, classmates, professors, teachers or neighbours. Or just share our videos on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit etc.

We are also happy to get your feedback, criticism or ideas in the comments. If you have interesting historical questions, just post them and we will answer in our OUT OF THE TRENCHES videos. You can find a selection of answers to the most frequently asked questions here: http://bit.ly/OOtrenches

» CAN I SHOW YOUR VIDEOS IN CLASS?
Of course! Tell your teachers or professors about our channel and our videos. Were happy if we can contribute with our videos. If you are a teacher and have questions about our show, you can get in contact with us on one of our social media presences.

» WHAT ARE YOUR SOURCES?
Videos: British Pathé
Pictures: Mostly Picture Alliance
Background Map: http://d-maps.com/carte.php?num_car6030&langen
Literature (excerpt):
Gilbert, Martin. The First World War. A Complete History, Holt Paperbacks, 2004.
Hart, Peter. The Great War. A Combat History of the First World War, Oxford University Press, 2013.
Hart, Peter. The Great War. 1914-1918, Profile Books, 2013.
Stone, Norman. World War One. A Short History, Penguin, 2008.
Keegan, John. The First World War, Vintage, 2000.
Hastings, Max. Catastrophe 1914. Europe Goes To War, Knopf, 2013.
Hirschfeld, Gerhard. Enzyklopädie Erster Weltkrieg, Schöningh Paderborn, 2004
Michalka, Wolfgang. Der Erste Weltkrieg. Wirkung, Wahrnehmung, Analyse, Seehamer Verlag GmbH, 2000
Leonhard, Jörn. Die Büchse der Pandora: Geschichte des Ersten Weltkrieges, C.H. Beck, 2014

If you want to buy some of the books we use or recommend during our show, check out our Amazon Store: http://bit.ly/AmazonTGW
NOTE: This store uses affiliate links which grant us a commission if you buy a product there.

» WHAT IS THE GREAT WAR PROJECT?
THE GREAT WAR covers the events exactly 100 years ago: The story of World War I in realtime. Featuring: The unique archive material of British Pathé. Indy Neidell takes you on a journey into the past to show you what really happened and how it all could spiral into more than four years of dire war. Subscribe to our channel and dont miss our new episodes every Thursday.

» WHO IS REPLYING TO MY COMMENTS? AND WHO IS BEHIND THIS PROJECT?
Most of the comments are written by our social media manager Florian. He is posting links, facts and backstage material on our social media channels. But from time to time, Indy reads and answers comments with his personal account, too.

The Team responsible for THE GREAT WAR is even bigger:

- CREDITS -
Presented by: Indiana Neidell
Written by: Indiana Neidell
Director: David Voss
Director of Photography: Toni Steller
Sound: Toni Steller
Sound Design: Sebastian Henkys
Editing: Ole-Sten Haufe
Research by: David Voss
Fact checking: Latoya Wild & David Voss

A Mediakraft Networks Original Channel
Based on a concept by Spartacus Olsson
Author: Indiana Neidell
Visual Concept: Astrid Deinhard-Olsson
Executive Producer: Astrid Deinhard-Olsson and Spartacus Olsson
Producer: David Voss
Social Media Manager: Florian Wittig

Contains licenced Material by British Pathé
All rights reserved - © Mediakraft Networks GmbH, 2014