My paternal grandfather only survived that ghastly war because a German officer came upon him lying injured in no man’s land and left him a bottle of water. It was 3 days before a British search party found him and a surgeon told him that without the water he would have died.
Your story is amazing. British and German soldiers of the First World War had much in common. Both believed they were fighting for freedom and were cousins at heart
The point of this advert is simple. Christmas was special enough to both Germans and Brits that ordinary young men saw each other as people. For a few hours, what they had in common far outweighed their leader's political conflicts that led to war.
Me too. If only we could see and understand that we are in the same boat and treat each other as we would like to be treated ourselves instead of doing what we are told to do.
Greetings from Scotland. Having served in the Army, the Christmas truce was fairly well known and remembered by those serving. The Sainsbury's advert, whilst commemorating the 100th anniversary, reproduced the same chocolate, or perhaps just the wrapper, from 100 years previous. Proceeds from the sale of the commemorative chocolate was given to the British Legion to support ex-servicemen and women. Some other well known British TV adverts also supported particular charities around Christmas time. I particularly remember the John Lewis advert, Man on the Moon, supporting help the aged.
Greetings from Yorkshire :-) Always interesting to learn how others interpret this advert - I was in bits when I first saw it back in 2014. I never knew it was a German that initiated the truce, Sainsbury's should have incorporated this also - many thanks for posting
I would like to have been in the German cinemas when they showed the film THE BATTLE of BRITAIN,we were in Germany at the time in married quarters and went to see the film in the Brttish cinema,it was also showing in German cinemas at the same time,❤from one Yorkshire lass to a Yorkshire lad,hope you had a nice christmas
@@michellebulmer9911 Bradfordian here with Keighley heritage. There were German war graves in Keighley that a German airship flew over between the wars. The soldiers were not despised and it was generally seen as such a pity that one folk was fighting another Volk, but as the German In the video admitted Germany invaded neutral Belgium that Britain had a treaty obligation to. My family were on rationing and my great grandmother was in bad health and died, so the idea of the Germans starving is not so shocking to me somehow. One of my greatgrandfathers was a machine gunner on the Western front right through the war and came home. My grandad joined up aged 14 but was deployed elsewhere. In Frankfurt I met a former WW2 German soldier who fought in North Africa and had been a POW. My pal, related to him by marriage, told him about my uncle having been in the British army there and also a POW. The German treated me as if I was close family due to the common experience. I decided not to tell of my uncle's ill treatment and escape through the Eastern front which was very different to his more pleasant captivity in USA, which granted him citizenship. I stuck to "Don't mention the war" unlike being from Yorkshire, which is something folk here are unable to resist mentioning as soon and as often as possible.
I had never considered what a German would think of this so thank you so much for this. As an English person when I saw this what I took from it was neither side were that different, neither really wanted to be there , they both wanted to be at home with their families. And neither neither side were much more than children 💕
I don't know anyone in The UK who thought this ad was controversial. It brought a tear to my eye then and still does does. I wonder how Germans [or the French would react to the British comedy 'ello ello' or the film War Horse.
Apparently the germans loved allo allo. When it was considered to be broadcast in Germany they were really concerned so had a test audience, the audience came out in tears of laughter.
My grandfather served in WW1, and often recounted the time his Trench experienced a brief incursion by the Germans. He found himself at a disadvantage, with a German soldier standing over him with his bayonet pointed at him. Fearing he was about to take his last breath, the German motioned for him to scarper!
Actually it is the exact opposite of a 'dark spot'... this was a moment of light to shine . Interesting the german's initial reaction is that it was to 'pick a dark spot'. This advert was carefully curated by the royal british legion so has good credentials. The making of this ad is here ua-cam.com/video/Jx3pQWbysmM/v-deo.html The inspiration was kinked to Francis Ledwidge the Irish war poet. The director Ringan Ledwidge (RIP) had lots of research behind him on 1st world war. Thanks to Sainsburys for bringing this piece of history to the wider public.
Hello from Hertfordshire and a Happy New year. This is my favourite TV Advert of all time and it always gets me. My county had two Regiments during WW1, The Hertfordshire Regiment and The Hertfordshire Yeomanry. The 1st Battalion of The Hertfordshire Regiment was involved with the Christmas Truce. The actual football used in the famous Football game during the Christmas Truce is still about today, and can be seen at The London Irish Regiment museum at their Barracks in London. 💂♂️ 🇬🇧🏴🇮🇪
It happened in multiple places spontaneously, across huge sections of the frontline over Christmas. There was actual German or British person who was the first to stand in a singular Christmas truce that happened.
In many ways it highlights one of the brightest moments in history, set against a bleak dark back drop. Soldiers on both sides felt the same as the people in opposite trenches. They were there for the meat grinder and knew that most of them would not be going home. In the midst of this chaos and horror, a genuine moment of humanity blossomed showing how we are all so much alike. However the people running the war were not in the trenches so never learned from this.
It helped that lots of British and German Christmas traditions are similar (carols etc.) because of the British royal family's German ancestry.Before WW1, France would have been Britain's more traditional enemy with Germans being more like cousins. This was also the first Christmas of the war, before they'd learned to really hate eachother. Both sides shelled no-man's land to force the men back into their trenches ☹
At Versailles the Brits wanted to treat the Germans less harshly...it was the French who demanded harsher treatment as they had had their territory invaded and devastated and also remembered the humiliation of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and wanted to crush Germany to make sure they never invaded them again.
I've always loved this film. If politicians had to fight fewer wars would happen, so easy to send others to do your bidding. I remember my Grandmother telling me she prayed for the POW trains that passed her home because if her sons were in their place she hoped their captors would be as compassionate. Lest We Forget.
I remember a German advert of an old man faking his death and funeral to get his far flung family to see him at a Christmas wake. That would be weird in the UK.
The sad thing is that few if any of those young lads on either sides survived the war . A tragic waste of young life due to a totally pointless war .🇬🇧
So true ! It wiped out nearly an entire generation of very young boys, teens & young men. Coincidentally, I remember a very similar video, portraying that exact same scenario, in a video for a single made by Paul McCartney, either in the mid/late 1970's or early 80's? It might have been for a Christmas single? It's so long long ago I vaguely remember it. But I recall Paul dressed as both a British Tommy & also as a blonde German soldier. After singing their own versions of "Silent Night" & other carols, they all meet in "No Man Land" to shake hands, play football, show photos/images of their girlfriends/loved ones & exchange souvenirs, keepsakes, etc. It so moving, as we know this all officially happened, but the top brass in government & military called it out as fraternization! The serious cases could result in being shot for it. So that totally frightened them & halted what could have been a proper ceasefire ! At that time we all thought of our granfathers, one of whom, enlisted at 16 years old. The "Pals" recruitment strategy also wiped out entire villages, towns of their young men & boys, as they kept friends, brothers together in the same units to encourage unity & more willing recruits!! Such a tragedy for a War, that served no real purpose!! 😢🙁
@@Mark-Haddow QUOTE.....Many British battalions participated in the Christmas Truce of 1914, including: 2nd Essex Regiment: The first documented truce took place on December 11, 1914, when soldiers of the 2nd Essex Regiment and the 19th Saxon Corps fraternized. The Queen's Royal Regiment: The 2nd Battalion of The Queen's Royal Regiment negotiated a truce on Christmas Day, 1914. The Gordon Highlanders: The 2nd and 6th Battalions of the Gordon Highlanders were involved in the truce. The Northumberland Hussars: British troops from the Northumberland Hussars were involved in the truce. The Royal Warwickshire Regiment: The 1st Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment was involved in the truce. The Wiltshire Regiment: The Wiltshire Regiment negotiated a truce on Christmas Day, 1914. ..UNQUOTE Nice try sunshine! BIG FAIL.
The facts in the Imperial War Museum have it that there were mini truces all along the lines between French/German lines as well as the football match so just who put their hand up first was even more unclear. It was clear the football was real and came from behind the German lines so they initiated the game. What was clear was that good will was on all sides except for the high ranks who said if it ever happened again there would be Court Martials.
All the proceeds from that chocolate bar being sold in Sainsbury's was donated to The British Legion and other veteran charities. As far as i am aware. Xx
As a veteran myself who ended up on the Streets of Lincoln after my Service ,i contacted the RBL they come 2 see me 2weeks after my call whilst on the streets ,They didt even by me a hot Drink and it was winter time , The lady took my details and commented on how clean i was asking ,"are you sure your Homeless " Never seen her after that a did not get any help from them ,In the End the Local church Helped me get a place and got myself a job and never looked back ,The Legion like a lot of Charity's its a Business and does not from my Experience Give a Dam
I disagree with Sarah, I think it would be beautiful to have such an advert in Germany, not weird at all. There should be a memorial day to celebrate this moment of peace and songs remembering those boys and men who should have been at home with their families. Also, why are there no German songs about this? There are at least 2 in English. Are German songwriters like Wader, Wecker and Mey so far left that they refuse to associate anything positive with German soldiers? As a German, I'm sooooooooooooo sick of this self-hating attitude! We have just as much reason to love our country as any other people. So please, any good german songwriters without a communist flag and a naked Baader-Meinhof poster in the bedroom, get to work and write a long overdue song about this amazing event! Sarah makes me really angry, by the way. She should not be a tour guide, so embarrassing. I will compartmentalize her, so I'll completely forget she exists. :D Let's focus on this beautiful moment in history. Oh, and Sarah, no, not anyone who took part in the war was guilty of everything that happened. Many of these boys were 17 or 18, some even younger. They had been lied to on both sides and both sides thought they are fighting for freedom and their country, which they loved. Now I'm getting triggered by her again, maybe we are not good at compartmentalizing after all. She made me so angry that I feel like conquering a country and rule most viciously over my slaves.
@@ginafromcologne9281 Your frustration is completely understandable. However, Sarah’s reaction highlights a sentiment that many Germans still experience when confronted with images of the First World War: an almost immediate association with the Second World War. Whilst the First World War can, and should, be remembered neutrally by both sides, the Second World War is a whole different ball game. This connection often brings up a complex and sensitive topic that Germans, as a society, continue to find challenging to discuss openly.
The story behind the guy getting shaved was that an English guy used to get his hair cut and a shave at a German barber in London, after war broke out the German went back. They bumped into each other on Christmas day, and he asked for a shave.
To be fair. When Sainsbury's used this story, his was a special year. It was literally 100 years since they did this on Christmas Day. In The UK we are told this story from a young age. So this really brought the story to life.
Unfortunate if it was the other way around with who first tried to initiate the truce, but, perhaps the writers decided it this way as, at least for an English-speaking audience, it's better to have those particular lines in German to add more suspense/danger as the majority of viewers wouldn't understand what he actually says and what might be about to happen? Just an idea anyway, as it wouldn't quite work the same if you had it from the British side and it being just plainly all laid out with "A German's coming! Stop! He's not armed!" Etc. Anyway, still the best Christmas advert. 😊 And although I've seen it loads of times, I never fail to tear up! It's just so clever how they show we're "same, same, but different", the way they blend "Silent Night/Stille Nacht" and the initial "My Name's.../Mein Name ist...". 💕
In 1919 the British economist John Maynard Keynes published 'The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919)', a book written rapidly after he attended the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 as a delegate of the British Treasury. Keynes was alarmed at the impossible burden of reparations being enforced on Germany and precisely predicted the interwar inflation and resultant crisis of German and European economies that would ensue from the Treaty of Versailles. Keynes's views became the guideline for the settlement after the Second World war when the German economy was given the chance to recover - to become within two decades the leading economy in Europe. Keynes was ignored in 1919.
Every time I see that advert it gets to me, yes I knew it was a German who decided to take the first step and not the British. For me the best film concerning the second world war has to be Downfall, nothing compares to it. I'm hoping to get over to Germany later in the year, so I'll look out for you guys.
Three films of All Quiet On The Western Front. The first was released in 1930, it was banned in America for decades. Second version came out in 1979, it starred Ernest Borgnine as Kat and Richard Thomas, John Boy in The Waltons, as Paul Baumer. The third one you know about.
In the UK, the story of the Christmas Truce is one of the stories everybody knows about WW1. I would have liked to hear from Sarah about whether people generally in Germany know about it or is it something only historians know about.
During the run up to the First World War, Germany was probably the most sophisticated country in Europe. In regard to music, openness to other cultures ,and its diverse population of different religions and practices. But that didn't help it win the war. After the first WW, the effects of the Versailles Treaty were devastating for Germany. It lost 75% of its iron building resources, had to drastically cut it military , which had been a great source of employment for many young German men, and had to pay crippling reparations to the victorious allies, which in turn laid the economic conditions Hitler exploited to start the Second World War. Some say, the allies didn't impose harsh enough consequences on Germany for the brutality of the second World War. Because compared with the first WW, Germany got away with a lot. But others say punishing Germany after a catastrophic war, would have prevented the development of the EU, and the economic success of many European countries, though some would say the open borders of Europe today, may directly lead to the rise of the right, and the greatest backlash to open borders and mass migration ever seen. There can be differences of opinion, but there can never be anything other than complete condemnation towards the Nazis, and what they did, and hoped to do. Now we have colleges all over the West in which so called educated students blame Israel for defending itself against it nazi like genocidal neighbours.
Saying that 30% of the German population were against the Nazi's is, in my opinion, vastly overstated. I would put it at 15%. My father, who was stationed in Berlin, in 1945, and spoke German said that many people he spoke to said that they wished they had got rid of Hitler at the start. This indicates that they simply went along with it. What is more worrying is that he complained that the Americans didn't do a very good job at de-Nazification.
In 2003 I was serving with the Canadian army in Bosnia and one of my friends was a German soldier. He was interested in military history as well so we used to chat about it quite a bit. We would inevitably start talking about WW2 and whenever we did he would start by saying "thank god we lost the war!" It got tedious after a while and I told him that we recognised that although there were some bad men in the SS or whatever that most German soldiers were just fighting for their country like we were. I realised at that point how well German kids are taught about their past.
My understanding is that there were a series of truces at various points along the trenches with different soldiers both German and British being the first to come out of the trenches in different places. There does though seem to be general agreement that it was the Germans singing Xmas hymns/carols and then the British responding in kind that led to these ceasefires.
first widespread depiction of the Christmas truce would be the 1983 video for the christmas single "Pipes Of Peace" by Paul McCartney. The first film "All Quiet On The Western Front" was filmed in 1929 for an early 1930 release. At the same time Nero film released "Westfront 1918" Directed by GW Pabst starring Gustav Diessel , adapted from the novel "Vier von der Infanterie" by Ernst Johannsen
Here in the North East of England we have a local cemetery that has war graves of various nationalities of aircrew including Germans. On Remembrance Day the local council and Royal Air Forces Association members lay a poppy at each and EVERY grave stone in remembrance of their sacrifice. Here lays some mothers son whatever their nationality RIP
I’m “ French “ because of my great grandmother, Olive C. In 1914 she was 18. And when the war reached her village the German army took it. And established the front of the line 10/12 km outside the village towards the French side. The German took their quarters in the village and as time when on she felt in love with the Quartiermeister Wolf. So much so that when the British took back the village in 1916 my grandfather was born. She was banned from the village, by her family, and so was my grandfather, who was just a baby at the time. She never married and waited hopelessly for years that followed for letters from that “ enemy who must have force himself on her ”, as her father kept on saying. But the undying love letters send by my great grandfather Wolf where held secret by the village and where discovered later in the mid 40s ( during the 2nd war ). That is why has a « French » and half German that part of history that showed fraternization among the troops hits me particularly hard. Because of prejudice by so many ppl against love I have never known my great grandfather ! War hits hard for generations on by its ripples effects. Thank you for sharing
We all know that Serbia was responsible for world war one when they killed the arch duke of Austria. That forced the Austria Hungarian empire to respond and dragged the rest of Europe and then the world into it.
We all know? Who taught you history? Princip was a Bosnian Serb who wanted a greater Yugoslavia. Austria declared war on the Serbia, using the excuse of unproven Serbian backing for the royal assassination, to crush the Serbian threat once and for all.
It's a terrific advert but certainly plays hard and fast with the truth. There were a number of sporadic truces that broke out at various points along the trench lines during the Christmas and New Year period (Scots troops particularly celebrated New Year which at the time was the main holiday in Scotland- Christmas Day was an ordinary work day until the late 1950s). In other sectors the fighting continued- especially where Prussian Troops were stationed. Many of the German troops had worked in the Great Britain prior to the start of war breaking out- many as barbers and waiters in London. There were very strong cultural links between the two countries. Christmas 1914 was just a few short weeks after the start of the war and prior to the horrendous infamous battles that saw tens of thousands killed and wounded. German troops in areas along the line set up Christmas trees and began singing carols- there was also "banter" shouted across No Mans Land. The Germans appear to have made the first moves out of the trenches into No Man's Land and spontaneous fraternisation took place by opposing armies including football kick about- there was no organised England vs Germany or Scotland vs Germany matches. Why the bar of chocolate? Princess Mary, daughter of King George V had arranged a charitable drive to provide all British Troops with a tin of Christmas "goodies' that included a special bar of chocolate. Hence the significance of the chocolate. British Army HQ was incensed at these fraternisations and feared it would blunt the men's fighting spirit and they might refuse to go into action when required. The official order in 1915 was that there would be no repeat during the festive period. By that point in 1915 attitudes on both sides had hardened following some fierce fighting over the preceding 12 months and there was no stomach for a repeat- although truces did take place in a few places that year. The story has grown over the past century and has become legendary. It still has the power to resonate with the public 100 years later.
One of the great tragedies of history. If only this had spread, so much suffering avoided. That war was the root cause of just about everything bad in the 20th century.
The whole idea of informal truces in war has a looong history. The Western Front in WWI was unusual in being static for so long. In previous wars in Europe wherever things settled down troops in advanced positions often had unwritten agreements to not shoot on each other, and sometimes this lead to exchanges of supplies. Britain had less involvement in Continental wars and maybe this was why the first moves in 1914 were from German soldiers. They were more plugged into the culture.
There’s an episode of black-adder goes forth that explains the reason for the Great War beautifully.. as for me I say ir was a family spat they may be called Windsor now but spot the difference between kings Tsars etc.
you should check out Blackadder "how the war started", its the fourth series of the show its hillarious and it explains the reason for WWI in 3 minutes. but every one was itching for a war
I really enjoyed time in Germany and see Germans like cousins, but the Kaiser's regime was not one that could be seen as one that deserves to be seen as just another European monarchy. If it were the Windsors would still have a German name. The roots of the nationalism in WW2 Germany were already there before WW1. As pointed out this does not make all Germans responsible. Many British soldiers felt they had more in common with the German soldiers than the French. My own city of Bradford has a Little Germany district and the city colours, used by one of the football teams and the rugby team are those of the modern German flag, which I sometimes imagine might be a link from seeing them on illustrations of the events in Germany in 1848.
Shows the futility of war, young men losing their lives under instructions of fat cat suits sat in boardrooms , both sides Christians , yet saw each as enemies , crazy world
No, no, no mate. Don't judge then from now. Not valid, even with hindsight. It's like passing judgement on Britain's participation in the transatlantic slave trade and ignoring that put and end to it and imposed it on the world. Don't judge out of context. BTW the Germans some pretty appalling things in WW I too (ask the Belgian civilians). No apologism. No victimhood please.
Hello From England , London , i am 53 years old , both my granddads Are Army survivors W W 2 . on my dads Side , grandad , Was stationed in INDIA , and it was a Few days , after the victory that it got to India . happy 2025 , stay safe take it easy
On the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign here in Australia the Woolworths supermarket chain replaced their normal advertising slogan "The fresh food people" with an image of models dressed up as soldiers with a caption "Fresh in our memories" . Was pulled within days as thousands of protests poured in basically saying " Are you ##$!?## that insensitive and stupid?!"
I've always wondered who was the first young British or German to actually make the first step onto nomans land unarmed. Doesn't really matter though ❤️
Hello I was wondering what your friend meant by starvation of the German people ? Was she talking about the 1st or 2nd War? If she was talking about the Second World War, we in the UK were on rationing because we fed Europe both Allies and Axis countries until the mid 50s. Also that the Germans U boats at the start of the war were sinking the majority of our food imports , which at that time accounted for a considerable amount of Britains imports due to commonwealth countries trade. think that sort of negates UK blame for the blockade a bit. Again I think tactics attributable to Nazis. However In Germany the same situation as caused food shortages in WW1 were responsible for food shortages in WW2. The German military knew that only 20% of food was imported into Germany and decided in both wars as food important were available from Scandinavian countries not invaded by them and from the countries that they conquered agriculture.There food imports , would not involve sea routes and that the wars would be over before food shortages would become a problem. This obvious didn’t work out as they planned and they knew this before they made yet more disastrous decisions , they no longer protected farm labourers from conscription so that they was a physical shortage of men AND they decided to use the nitrogen supplies they had previously used for agricultural fertiliser purposes for military weapons. At this time there was war on 2 fronts and there were calls for peace talks from the Allied front which the German military decided to ignore and go with the consequences of starving their population rather that negotiate a peace. Also as a point of,propaganda on behalf of the Germans they published that just over 750 , 000 Germans had died of starvation during the war , but they attributed deaths from things like pneumonia and The Spanish Flu to starvation as well. A study in 2018 said that it was impossible to actually get an accurate number of deaths from pure starvation as those figures were not collected and they think those numbers are considerably less , probably just under 400,000 . Which I of course appreciate is absolutely awful. I am not saying anything other just that for over a century Germans were fed a message of a considerably worse numbers. Was she aware of the new research and for all the reasons for food shortages in Germany quite a few of them were deliberately due to Military tactics.
This actually happened. Not exactly like this bit close enough. Also, nobody expects Germans to have any shame or blame over the first world war today. All the Germans who were awarded medals in ww1 still count. Its only ww2 where Germany briefly became like a James Bond level bad guy. First ww1 is absolutely fine today.
What a lovely german lady. Always good to get a german perspective . I have lovely memories of Germany, the germans were very patient with us pain in the arse drunk brits. Happy new year Germany. ❤
Every single time i see this advert i get goosebumps and brings a tear to my eye don't know if my feelings are sad 😢but at the same time happy 🥲 its the only time i don't know how to feel. And for being on the wrong side of history but there can still be some good for example this advert despite Germany being on the wrong side of history this beautiful moment happened, No matter what opinion people have what is a wrong or right side of history war is absolutely horrific and due to this people sadly die. And by the way I've just come across this channel and conveniently i love history i loved it in my school years i actually did more history lesson plus my GCSEs i loved it so much and still do now at the age of 35.
Compare and contrast the German and Italian individual war experience totally different. Both totalitarian regimes but the Average Italian was less committed to the fight unlike the average German soldier.
the truce went on for days in some sectors , in many sectors the truce never happened with each others friends dead in no mans land . Also Germany were on the wrong side of history on this war too , not just because of giving so much power to industrialists like Krupps , but aggressive invasions containing many war crimes across Belgium . This myth that it was all a big mistake belongs with the lions led by donkeys narrative which in my opinion is lazy , The First world war is far more complex than the second and far more interesting but its rushed when taught in history or in documentaries
It's strange to hear someone into history describe the English in WW1 as being on "the right side of history". In the UK in the 90s in a state comp in the east Midlands we were taught WW1 was pointless nationalist slaughter. The type of thing you see reflected in Blackadder goes forth. That was back when poppy day was about the dead, and not the US style celebration of war it is now. I worry we're headed back to a WW1 situation, but without all the legal hard drugs to explain it. EDIT- Ah this got addressed after the advert, and I just got caught up on a throwaway line in the intro.
You're so wrong. We aren't all proud that we won. WW1 should never have been fought in the first place. Most British I have grown up with (the older generation) hadn't a clue why it was fought in the first place. It was yet again, 2 'gangs' who opposed each other. For no good reason. a whole generation was wiped out. Prime example of a 'brother' war.
Hi and happy new year to both, people that have replied, think of this, in England most people call themselves Anglo-Saxon now think of what it means Anglo. / Saxon not forget the jutes all germanic tribes Anglo and jutes and Saxons are from north part now ( Germany and Denmark) And most England was take by Anglo-Saxon tribes and Danes and there was Dane law across Northern England, we are English and from germanic lands for northern Germany, it like to cousins fighting, at Queen Victoria marry prince Albert of Germany, we are tied together by ancient history 🙏🙏🙏🏴🏴🏴
What are you waffling about. Queen Victoria was descended from Scots royalty, as King Charles is now. Scots are native to the British Isles, and it was Scots that created *Great Britain* and later the UK, not England. PS, the Saxons were from Saxony, not Germany Germany (previously Prussia) was only created in the 19th century.
I disagree with some of the comments made towards the end of the video. Most Germans during WWII were apathetic towards what was going on, and didn’t oppose the actions of Germany at all. Similar to modern day Russians, they decided “ignorance is bliss”. I have members of my family who served on both sides of this war. I’m British, and so is most of my family but I’m also related to Austrians, who fought alongside the Germans. From what I’ve learned from them, many soldiers at the time were more than aware of what was happening but through a combination of brainwashing and again ignorance, they were quite content with what they were doing, and many were proud. Britain unfairly gets criticised for some of the actions it took during WWII, such as the naval blockade of food, leading to the starvation of many Germans. However the only innocent Germans during that time was the children. Germany created a situation whereby the whole world had to do all it could to stop it, no matter the cost. The people could have stopped the war from within Germany but chose not to. If the German people want someone to blame for Dresden and the other instances of German casualties, then they should look inwardly. You can’t poke a lion then complain when it bites you!!
I'm sorry to point this out but German troops committed a number of atrocities against French and Belgium civilians, German troops in occupied countries were awful, for reference my Grandfather was there, he joined the British Army in 1910 and served until 1924, he was a front line medic in the RAMC and was wounded.
This two have completely missed the point of this advert. Christmas is a time of Peace, of Wellbeing to All. This happened in many different sectors along all fronts, including the French; I believe. If you look at the photos that do exist of this event the advert has tried to replicate them. This advert brought a message of the essence of what Christmas is about. The advert sold the message of Christmas. Isn't that what an advert is meant to do?
So I take it that Aldi’s Kevin the Carrot 🥕 isn’t known in Germany? If you haven’t checked out the British Christmas adverts of Aldi’s Kevin the Carrot, then I recommend you do.
I find the German woman's reaction a bit perverse. She called it 'weird'. I thought it was beautiful because it reminded us what we all know but gets forgotten in war. People want to live together peacefully (unless of course you're an Islamic fundamentalist). More importantly, they are under the misapprehension that all countries were to blame for WW. Sure, there was a weakness in the system of alliances which made war difficult to evade, but historical analysis has shown pretty clearly that 1/ Germany was the key motivator behind the drive for war; that 2/ Great Britain was NOT driving for war and really wanted to stay out of it, trying desperately to scale things down with Germany, 3/ but UK felt compelled to join because of its alliance with France; and 4/ If UK had not joined, there is every likelihood that German + allies would have ended up winning and dominating Europe. Thank God UK made that decision. Nope, sorry, but WW1 was fundamentally the result of German ambition and aggression.
As sentimental as this advert is, and however inspiring it might seem, what isn't mentioned is that after the real life events portrayed in the ad, the junior officers on BOTH SIDES were court martialled by their superior officers and many of them were executed by firing squad - not really sentimental when you take those facts into account, is it? But as long as it increased Sainsbury's sales figures!...
Completely untrue. You should leave your politics out of it. No British officers were court martialled and executed by firing squad due to this truce. Some received a slight reprimand but that is as far as it went. I doubt if any Germans were executed either.
@@Roz-y2d ADs don't raise money - The AD increased sales for Sainsbury's and thus increased THEIR income, 'some of which' they donated to the British Legion - Don't let corporate business fool you into thinking they do anything for anyone that doesn't benefit themselves!
You have to do more than simply acknowledge that Germany invaded Belgium. Civilians in Belgium were mistreated appallingly. From August 1914, there were thousands of civilians of all ages summarily shot almost at random by the German army. Deportations, the destruction of Louvain, etc. The British press called it the rape of Belgium and 175,000 refugees ended up in England. In German East Africa at least 20,000 civilians starve to death, showing how brutal the German army was. The Royal Navy’s blockade of Germany, leading to food shortages, was paralleled by the German U-boat campaign to starve the British Isles. At one point there were just four days sugar supply and a week or two of wheat for bread - not mentioned in their conversation at all.
German atrocities in WW1 were greatly exaggerated by the Allies for propaganda purposes but a lot of German units did behave abominably. As you rightly suggest, if you'd asked a Belgian in 1919, I'm pretty sure they'd say the Germans were the "baddies".
To be fare it was scottish highlander and German unit that met up in world war 1 for Christmas meeting and celebrating Christmas..bag pipes was played and German and scottish solders sang played football ect and made alliance to tell each other when and where they would bomb there lines ...neather wanted war but was force to
You are confusing the armies, on both sides, which fought at the time of 1914 and of later. The armies which went to war in August 1914 were made up of the professional armies that had been together for some years. They had trained and learned tactics. By the end of 1914 there was little left of those armies especially on the British side. The British army was always a small army. It had the Royal Navy to show strength. What the British Army had was an extreme cadre. The men in the trenches in 1914 weren't the super-jingoistic type. They were professional soldiers. After 1914 Kitchener started recruiting the masses to create a civilian army. This army had to be enticed into joining and one of the ways was to portray the Germans as rapists and defilers breaking social norms. Thus making the civilian army shoot the enemy whereas normally they would think twice.
Disagree with the guy's assessment of how blame is to be shared.I would say Serbia, Austria-Hungary and Russia are equally to blame with Germany for the immediate cause of the war, France and UK less so. Of course all the Great Powers were equally to blame for the general tense state of relations.
i get the things youre saying and all the qualifying comments etc etc, but I really think, just leave this video as the short thought provoking advert and some well placed reaction over the tragedy and futility and waste of WWI and leapfrog over the middle bit to the subsequent friendship and reconciliation. Just my thoughts.
No one forced Shlieffen to make a plan to have Germany invade French sovereign territory . I know it is more complicated , but just because The Arch Duke Ferdinand got shot in his Balkans doesn’t quite explain it away it could have been ended at any time by mutual consent but it became a test of Wills. In its self led to a continuation after a long pause in 1939.
@@paulbromley6687 I love the British podcast The Rest is History, especially How Europe dived into WW1. I highly recommend this episode. The Schlieffen Plan was based on the assumption that France and Russia would always attack together. The entire country's military would get into motion, rotating clockwise, fighting the French for six weeks before they moved east to fight the Russians. Every aspect was meticulously planned, a giant clockwork. But in 1914, all they had to fight was Russia. The moment when General von Moltke, in charge, had to admit to his Kaiser that they had two choices: open the Western Front and attack France for no reason, or do nothing and risk the Russians taking Berlin, was so overwhelming that the man burst into tears. The rest is history. You can't explain the rise of Hitler by Allied mistakes. The vast majority of Germans had (reluctantly) accepted Hitler as their nation's savior, knowing he would "push the boundaries." They thought it was justified to commit "some burglaries." They tried to listen in on the first shots, but they didn't expect to be blamed for serial killings. They never really talked about it. That's how I see it. A damn gut wrenching moment.
Hello from England and this advert brings tears to my eyes. Thankfully Britain and Germany are friends. 🏴🇬🇧🇩🇪🤝
For the moment...
@wardAndrew Germany is being betrayed by its own leaders as are Britain.
Churchill was all for a European Union to stop any form of negative conflict happening again. Two wars was two too many. Now Brexit!
Churchill would never have signed up for this.
@@maudeboggins9834using brexit is crazy. If you have to have the EU to stop certain states from committing genocide then that's crazy
My paternal grandfather only survived that ghastly war because a German officer came upon him lying injured in no man’s land and left him a bottle of water. It was 3 days before a British search party found him and a surgeon told him that without the water he would have died.
Wow. ❤️
Your story is amazing. British and German soldiers of the First World War had much in common. Both believed they were fighting for freedom and were cousins at heart
The point of this advert is simple. Christmas was special enough to both Germans and Brits that ordinary young men saw each other as people. For a few hours, what they had in common far outweighed their leader's political conflicts that led to war.
Religion is bad !
nailed it
This advert never fails to make me cry
Me too. If only we could see and understand that we are in the same boat and treat each other as we would like to be treated ourselves instead of doing what we are told to do.
Greetings from Scotland. Having served in the Army, the Christmas truce was fairly well known and remembered by those serving. The Sainsbury's advert, whilst commemorating the 100th anniversary, reproduced the same chocolate, or perhaps just the wrapper, from 100 years previous. Proceeds from the sale of the commemorative chocolate was given to the British Legion to support ex-servicemen and women. Some other well known British TV adverts also supported particular charities around Christmas time. I particularly remember the John Lewis advert, Man on the Moon, supporting help the aged.
Thank you for highlighting this!
I don't remember this advert having any controversy personally, if anything it was a lot of emotion about it being 100 years and the idea of hope.
England (Britain) and Germany should never have gone to war (twice).....a tragedy.
Greetings from Yorkshire :-) Always interesting to learn how others interpret this advert - I was in bits when I first saw it back in 2014. I never knew it was a German that initiated the truce, Sainsbury's should have incorporated this also - many thanks for posting
I would like to have been in the German cinemas when they showed the film THE BATTLE of BRITAIN,we were in Germany at the time in married quarters and went to see the film in the Brttish cinema,it was also showing in German cinemas at the same time,❤from one Yorkshire lass to a Yorkshire lad,hope you had a nice christmas
Greetings from Bingley, West Yorkshire ❤ I'm so glad I had the tissues to hand😢 best wishes for 2025 ladies ❤
@@michellebulmer9911 Bradfordian here with Keighley heritage. There were German war graves in Keighley that a German airship flew over between the wars. The soldiers were not despised and it was generally seen as such a pity that one folk was fighting another Volk, but as the German In the video admitted Germany invaded neutral Belgium that Britain had a treaty obligation to. My family were on rationing and my great grandmother was in bad health and died, so the idea of the Germans starving is not so shocking to me somehow. One of my greatgrandfathers was a machine gunner on the Western front right through the war and came home. My grandad joined up aged 14 but was deployed elsewhere.
In Frankfurt I met a former WW2 German soldier who fought in North Africa and had been a POW. My pal, related to him by marriage, told him about my uncle having been in the British army there and also a POW. The German treated me as if I was close family due to the common experience. I decided not to tell of my uncle's ill treatment and escape through the Eastern front which was very different to his more pleasant captivity in USA, which granted him citizenship. I stuck to "Don't mention the war" unlike being from Yorkshire, which is something folk here are unable to resist mentioning as soon and as often as possible.
I had never considered what a German would think of this so thank you so much for this.
As an English person when I saw this what I took from it was neither side were that different, neither really wanted to be there , they both wanted to be at home with their families. And neither neither side were much more than children 💕
Actually in 1914 the BEF were a professional army reinforced with older reservists, therefore the average age was mid to late 20s.
@@blowingfree6928 Yes, it was only later in the war that the recruits came. During the truce it was the professional army.
I don't know anyone in The UK who thought this ad was controversial. It brought a tear to my eye then and still does does. I wonder how Germans [or the French would react to the British comedy 'ello ello' or the film War Horse.
Apparently the germans loved allo allo. When it was considered to be broadcast in Germany they were really concerned so had a test audience, the audience came out in tears of laughter.
A lot of the gutter press tried - it didn't get much traction for more than a couple of days
The best and most poignant Christmas ad ever. I cry every time I see it.
I didn’t think there was controversy about this advert as the chocolate sales profits went to the war veterans
The Mail is always up for faux outrage - and god's teeth they tried.
My grandfather served in WW1, and often recounted the time his Trench experienced a brief incursion by the Germans.
He found himself at a disadvantage, with a German soldier standing over him with his bayonet pointed at him. Fearing he was about to take his last breath, the German motioned for him to scarper!
Best Christmas advert EVER 🙏
Actually it is the exact opposite of a 'dark spot'... this was a moment of light to shine . Interesting the german's initial reaction is that it was to 'pick a dark spot'. This advert was carefully curated by the royal british legion so has good credentials. The making of this ad is here ua-cam.com/video/Jx3pQWbysmM/v-deo.html The inspiration was kinked to Francis Ledwidge the Irish war poet. The director Ringan Ledwidge (RIP) had lots of research behind him on 1st world war. Thanks to Sainsburys for bringing this piece of history to the wider public.
Hello from Hertfordshire and a Happy New year. This is my favourite TV Advert of all time and it always gets me. My county had two Regiments during WW1, The Hertfordshire Regiment and The Hertfordshire Yeomanry. The 1st Battalion of The Hertfordshire Regiment was involved with the Christmas Truce. The actual football used in the famous Football game during the Christmas Truce is still about today, and can be seen at The London Irish Regiment museum at their Barracks in London. 💂♂️ 🇬🇧🏴🇮🇪
It happened in multiple places spontaneously, across huge sections of the frontline over Christmas. There was actual German or British person who was the first to stand in a singular Christmas truce that happened.
In many ways it highlights one of the brightest moments in history, set against a bleak dark back drop.
Soldiers on both sides felt the same as the people in opposite trenches. They were there for the meat grinder and knew that most of them would not be going home.
In the midst of this chaos and horror, a genuine moment of humanity blossomed showing how we are all so much alike.
However the people running the war were not in the trenches so never learned from this.
SOME people kicked up a bit bit it was approved by the Royal British Legion so they soon backed down.
It helped that lots of British and German Christmas traditions are similar (carols etc.) because of the British royal family's German ancestry.Before WW1, France would have been Britain's more traditional enemy with Germans being more like cousins. This was also the first Christmas of the war, before they'd learned to really hate eachother. Both sides shelled no-man's land to force the men back into their trenches ☹
At Versailles the Brits wanted to treat the Germans less harshly...it was the French who demanded harsher treatment as they had had their territory invaded and devastated and also remembered the humiliation of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and wanted to crush Germany to make sure they never invaded them again.
I've always loved this film. If politicians had to fight fewer wars would happen, so easy to send others to do your bidding. I remember my Grandmother telling me she prayed for the POW trains that passed her home because if her sons were in their place she hoped their captors would be as compassionate. Lest We Forget.
I remember a German advert of an old man faking his death and funeral to get his far flung family to see him at a Christmas wake. That would be weird in the UK.
I completely forgot about that!!
This made me laugh (as a Brit) Love that dark German humour!
Maybe we should react to that advert! Who made it?
@@ministeriumofhistory wont be much of a reaction as I basically told you what happens. I can't remember what company made it, either.
The sad thing is that few if any of those young lads on either sides survived the war . A tragic waste of young life due to a totally pointless war .🇬🇧
So true ! It wiped out nearly an entire generation of very young boys, teens & young men.
Coincidentally, I remember a very similar video, portraying that exact same scenario, in a video for a single made by Paul McCartney, either in the mid/late 1970's or early 80's? It might have been for a Christmas single?
It's so long long ago I vaguely remember it. But I recall Paul dressed as both a British Tommy & also as a blonde German soldier. After singing their own versions of "Silent Night" & other carols, they all meet in "No Man Land" to shake hands, play football, show photos/images of their girlfriends/loved ones & exchange souvenirs, keepsakes, etc. It so moving, as we know this all officially happened, but the top brass in government & military called it out as fraternization! The serious cases could result in being shot for it. So that totally frightened them & halted what could have been a proper ceasefire !
At that time we all thought of our granfathers, one of whom, enlisted at 16 years old. The "Pals" recruitment strategy also wiped out entire villages, towns of their young men & boys, as they kept friends, brothers together in the same units to encourage unity & more willing recruits!!
Such a tragedy for a War, that served no real purpose!! 😢🙁
We lost on penalties, starting a long tradition.
We?
The football match was between Scots and Germans. Germany won 3-2, according to the Germans. .
@@Mark-Haddow QUOTE.....Many British battalions participated in the Christmas Truce of 1914, including:
2nd Essex Regiment: The first documented truce took place on December 11, 1914, when soldiers of the 2nd Essex Regiment and the 19th Saxon Corps fraternized.
The Queen's Royal Regiment: The 2nd Battalion of The Queen's Royal Regiment negotiated a truce on Christmas Day, 1914.
The Gordon Highlanders: The 2nd and 6th Battalions of the Gordon Highlanders were involved in the truce.
The Northumberland Hussars: British troops from the Northumberland Hussars were involved in the truce.
The Royal Warwickshire Regiment: The 1st Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment was involved in the truce.
The Wiltshire Regiment: The Wiltshire Regiment negotiated a truce on Christmas Day, 1914. ..UNQUOTE
Nice try sunshine! BIG FAIL.
What this advert did, is bring home that we are all just humans and those poor young men that are doing the fighting are not the ones with the beef.
Exactly.
The facts in the Imperial War Museum have it that there were mini truces all along the lines between French/German lines as well as the football match so just who put their hand up first was even more unclear. It was clear the football was real and came from behind the German lines so they initiated the game. What was clear was that good will was on all sides except for the high ranks who said if it ever happened again there would be Court Martials.
THERE WERE COURT MARTIALS - On BOTH sides, and several junior officers (German AND British) were executed by firing squad as a result.
Artie,you have great mullet. ❤ Merry Christmas from your neighbour (I'm from Poland).
That’s so sweet of you! Thank you so much 🫶
Wising you a Happy New Year 🇬🇧
The Ministry wishes you a happy new year too!
All the proceeds from that chocolate bar being sold in Sainsbury's was donated to The British Legion and other veteran charities. As far as i am aware. Xx
As a veteran myself who ended up on the Streets of Lincoln after my Service ,i contacted the RBL they come 2 see me 2weeks after my call whilst on the streets ,They didt even by me a hot Drink and it was winter time , The lady took my details and commented on how clean i was asking ,"are you sure your Homeless " Never seen her after that a did not get any help from them ,In the End the Local church Helped me get a place and got myself a job and never looked back ,The Legion like a lot of Charity's its a Business and does not from my Experience Give a Dam
I disagree with Sarah, I think it would be beautiful to have such an advert in Germany, not weird at all. There should be a memorial day to celebrate this moment of peace and songs remembering those boys and men who should have been at home with their families.
Also, why are there no German songs about this? There are at least 2 in English. Are German songwriters like Wader, Wecker and Mey so far left that they refuse to associate anything positive with German soldiers? As a German, I'm sooooooooooooo sick of this self-hating attitude! We have just as much reason to love our country as any other people. So please, any good german songwriters without a communist flag and a naked Baader-Meinhof poster in the bedroom, get to work and write a long overdue song about this amazing event!
Sarah makes me really angry, by the way. She should not be a tour guide, so embarrassing. I will compartmentalize her, so I'll completely forget she exists. :D Let's focus on this beautiful moment in history. Oh, and Sarah, no, not anyone who took part in the war was guilty of everything that happened. Many of these boys were 17 or 18, some even younger. They had been lied to on both sides and both sides thought they are fighting for freedom and their country, which they loved. Now I'm getting triggered by her again, maybe we are not good at compartmentalizing after all. She made me so angry that I feel like conquering a country and rule most viciously over my slaves.
@@ginafromcologne9281 Your frustration is completely understandable. However, Sarah’s reaction highlights a sentiment that many Germans still experience when confronted with images of the First World War: an almost immediate association with the Second World War. Whilst the First World War can, and should, be remembered neutrally by both sides, the Second World War is a whole different ball game. This connection often brings up a complex and sensitive topic that Germans, as a society, continue to find challenging to discuss openly.
The story behind the guy getting shaved was that an English guy used to get his hair cut and a shave at a German barber in London, after war broke out the German went back. They bumped into each other on Christmas day, and he asked for a shave.
We must remember to look on past foes, with passion and humilty. 💞
They didn't realise they had another 4 years of hell.
To be fair. When Sainsbury's used this story, his was a special year. It was literally 100 years since they did this on Christmas Day.
In The UK we are told this story from a young age. So this really brought the story to life.
The video to a Paul McCartney single released in the eighties also tells this story. The song is called The Pipes of Peace.
Our country's have come so far ....Happy New year 🎉
Sainsbury's did actually make and sold a limited number of the vintage chocolate bars that Otto found in his pocket.
Unfortunate if it was the other way around with who first tried to initiate the truce, but, perhaps the writers decided it this way as, at least for an English-speaking audience, it's better to have those particular lines in German to add more suspense/danger as the majority of viewers wouldn't understand what he actually says and what might be about to happen? Just an idea anyway, as it wouldn't quite work the same if you had it from the British side and it being just plainly all laid out with "A German's coming! Stop! He's not armed!" Etc. Anyway, still the best Christmas advert. 😊 And although I've seen it loads of times, I never fail to tear up! It's just so clever how they show we're "same, same, but different", the way they blend "Silent Night/Stille Nacht" and the initial "My Name's.../Mein Name ist...". 💕
In 1919 the British economist John Maynard Keynes published 'The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919)', a book written rapidly after he attended the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 as a delegate of the British Treasury. Keynes was alarmed at the impossible burden of reparations being enforced on Germany and precisely predicted the interwar inflation and resultant crisis of German and European economies that would ensue from the Treaty of Versailles. Keynes's views became the guideline for the settlement after the Second World war when the German economy was given the chance to recover - to become within two decades the leading economy in Europe. Keynes was ignored in 1919.
@@robertbrennan2268 this is very true and an excellent point… stay tuned as this subject may or may not be being covered very soon on the MoH Podcast…
Every time I see that advert it gets to me, yes I knew it was a German who decided to take the first step and not the British.
For me the best film concerning the second world war has to be Downfall, nothing compares to it.
I'm hoping to get over to Germany later in the year, so I'll look out for you guys.
Three films of All Quiet On The Western Front. The first was released in 1930, it was banned in America for decades. Second version came out in 1979, it starred Ernest Borgnine as Kat and Richard Thomas, John Boy in The Waltons, as Paul Baumer. The third one you know about.
In the UK, the story of the Christmas Truce is one of the stories everybody knows about WW1. I would have liked to hear from Sarah about whether people generally in Germany know about it or is it something only historians know about.
During the run up to the First World War, Germany was probably the most sophisticated country in Europe. In regard to music, openness to other cultures ,and its diverse population of different religions and practices. But that didn't help it win the war.
After the first WW, the effects of the Versailles Treaty were devastating for Germany. It lost 75% of its iron building resources, had to drastically cut it military , which had been a great source of employment for many young German men, and had to pay crippling reparations to the victorious allies, which in turn laid the economic conditions Hitler exploited to start the Second World War.
Some say, the allies didn't impose harsh enough consequences on Germany for the brutality of the second World War. Because compared with the first WW, Germany got away with a lot. But others say punishing Germany after a catastrophic war, would have prevented the development of the EU, and the economic success of many European countries, though some would say the open borders of Europe today, may directly lead to the rise of the right, and the greatest backlash to open borders and mass migration ever seen.
There can be differences of opinion, but there can never be anything other than complete condemnation towards the Nazis, and what they did, and hoped to do. Now we have colleges all over the West in which so called educated students blame Israel for defending itself against it nazi like genocidal neighbours.
Saying that 30% of the German population were against the Nazi's is, in my opinion, vastly overstated. I would put it at 15%. My father, who was stationed in Berlin, in 1945, and spoke German said that many people he spoke to said that they wished they had got rid of Hitler at the start. This indicates that they simply went along with it. What is more worrying is that he complained that the Americans didn't do a very good job at de-Nazification.
In 2003 I was serving with the Canadian army in Bosnia and one of my friends was a German soldier. He was interested in military history as well so we used to chat about it quite a bit. We would inevitably start talking about WW2 and whenever we did he would start by saying "thank god we lost the war!" It got tedious after a while and I told him that we recognised that although there were some bad men in the SS or whatever that most German soldiers were just fighting for their country like we were. I realised at that point how well German kids are taught about their past.
I am pretty certain that I knew that the Germans initiated the truce but perhaps Sainsbury's assumed people would prefer 'altered history.'
Well ithappen in a American movie they said they captured the amigna machine, but the British did, it happens...
My understanding is that there were a series of truces at various points along the trenches with different soldiers both German and British being the first to come out of the trenches in different places. There does though seem to be general agreement that it was the Germans singing Xmas hymns/carols and then the British responding in kind that led to these ceasefires.
" My big takeaway from this was ... "My name is Jim and Mein name ist Otto"" they are speaking the same damn language. we are one family!
One of the best Xmas adverts is the Edeka advert where an old man fakes his own funeral to get his adult kids to come to see him.
first widespread depiction of the Christmas truce would be the 1983 video for the christmas single "Pipes Of Peace" by Paul McCartney.
The first film "All Quiet On The Western Front" was filmed in 1929 for an early 1930 release.
At the same time Nero film released "Westfront 1918" Directed by GW Pabst starring Gustav Diessel , adapted from the novel "Vier von der Infanterie" by Ernst Johannsen
Sabaton, Christmas Truce full music video, listen all the way through to the end
Here in the North East of England we have a local cemetery that has war graves of various nationalities of aircrew including Germans. On Remembrance Day the local council and Royal Air Forces Association members lay a poppy at each and EVERY grave stone in remembrance of their sacrifice.
Here lays some mothers son whatever their nationality RIP
I’m “ French “ because of my great grandmother, Olive C.
In 1914 she was 18. And when the war reached her village the German army took it. And established the front of the line 10/12 km outside the village towards the French side. The German took their quarters in the village and as time when on she felt in love with the Quartiermeister Wolf. So much so that when the British took back the village in 1916 my grandfather was born.
She was banned from the village, by her family, and so was my grandfather, who was just a baby at the time.
She never married and waited hopelessly for years that followed for letters from that “ enemy who must have force himself on her ”, as her father kept on saying. But the undying love letters send by my great grandfather Wolf where held secret by the village and where discovered later in the mid 40s ( during the 2nd war ).
That is why has a « French » and half German that part of history that showed fraternization among the troops hits me particularly hard.
Because of prejudice by so many ppl against love I have never known my great grandfather !
War hits hard for generations on by its ripples effects.
Thank you for sharing
We all know that Serbia was responsible for world war one when they killed the arch duke of Austria. That forced the Austria Hungarian empire to respond and dragged the rest of Europe and then the world into it.
We all know? Who taught you history? Princip was a Bosnian Serb who wanted a greater Yugoslavia. Austria declared war on the Serbia, using the excuse of unproven Serbian backing for the royal assassination, to crush the Serbian threat once and for all.
Makes me cry every time I watch this.
It's a terrific advert but certainly plays hard and fast with the truth. There were a number of sporadic truces that broke out at various points along the trench lines during the Christmas and New Year period (Scots troops particularly celebrated New Year which at the time was the main holiday in Scotland- Christmas Day was an ordinary work day until the late 1950s).
In other sectors the fighting continued- especially where Prussian Troops were stationed.
Many of the German troops had worked in the Great Britain prior to the start of war breaking out- many as barbers and waiters in London. There were very strong cultural links between the two countries.
Christmas 1914 was just a few short weeks after the start of the war and prior to the horrendous infamous battles that saw tens of thousands killed and wounded.
German troops in areas along the line set up Christmas trees and began singing carols- there was also "banter" shouted across No Mans Land. The Germans appear to have made the first moves out of the trenches into No Man's Land and spontaneous fraternisation took place by opposing armies including football kick about- there was no organised England vs Germany or Scotland vs Germany matches.
Why the bar of chocolate? Princess Mary, daughter of King George V had arranged a charitable drive to provide all British Troops with a tin of Christmas "goodies' that included a special bar of chocolate. Hence the significance of the chocolate.
British Army HQ was incensed at these fraternisations and feared it would blunt the men's fighting spirit and they might refuse to go into action when required.
The official order in 1915 was that there would be no repeat during the festive period. By that point in 1915 attitudes on both sides had hardened following some fierce fighting over the preceding 12 months and there was no stomach for a repeat- although truces did take place in a few places that year.
The story has grown over the past century and has become legendary. It still has the power to resonate with the public 100 years later.
One of the great tragedies of history. If only this had spread, so much suffering avoided. That war was the root cause of just about everything bad in the 20th century.
I never heard any controversy about it? have you got any proof of that.
Solidarity among Native Europeans against our common enemy
The whole idea of informal truces in war has a looong history. The Western Front in WWI was unusual in being static for so long. In previous wars in Europe wherever things settled down troops in advanced positions often had unwritten agreements to not shoot on each other, and sometimes this lead to exchanges of supplies. Britain had less involvement in Continental wars and maybe this was why the first moves in 1914 were from German soldiers. They were more plugged into the culture.
I often wonder how many conflicts would happen if the leaders of the nations seeking war had to lead the initial charge into battle.
My grandfather fought in WWI. He always said "Keep a very close eye on the Germans."
There’s an episode of black-adder goes forth that explains the reason for the Great War beautifully.. as for me I say ir was a family spat they may be called Windsor now but spot the difference between kings Tsars etc.
you should check out Blackadder "how the war started", its the fourth series of the show its hillarious and it explains the reason for WWI in 3 minutes. but every one was itching for a war
@@norbertrottenari9986 that is a great idea for another reaction video. Blackadder is fantastic!
I really enjoyed time in Germany and see Germans like cousins, but the Kaiser's regime was not one that could be seen as one that deserves to be seen as just another European monarchy. If it were the Windsors would still have a German name. The roots of the nationalism in WW2 Germany were already there before WW1. As pointed out this does not make all Germans responsible. Many British soldiers felt they had more in common with the German soldiers than the French. My own city of Bradford has a Little Germany district and the city colours, used by one of the football teams and the rugby team are those of the modern German flag, which I sometimes imagine might be a link from seeing them on illustrations of the events in Germany in 1848.
Shows the futility of war, young men losing their lives under instructions of fat cat suits sat in boardrooms , both sides Christians , yet saw each as enemies , crazy world
No, no, no mate. Don't judge then from now. Not valid, even with hindsight. It's like passing judgement on Britain's participation in the transatlantic slave trade and ignoring that put and end to it and imposed it on the world. Don't judge out of context. BTW the Germans some pretty appalling things in WW I too (ask the Belgian civilians). No apologism. No victimhood please.
Hello From England , London , i am 53 years old , both my granddads Are Army survivors W W 2 . on my dads Side , grandad , Was stationed in INDIA , and it was a Few days , after the victory that it got to India . happy 2025 , stay safe take it easy
On the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign here in Australia the Woolworths supermarket chain replaced their normal advertising slogan "The fresh food people" with an image of models dressed up as soldiers with a caption "Fresh in our memories" .
Was pulled within days as thousands of protests poured in basically saying " Are you ##$!?## that insensitive and stupid?!"
I've always wondered who was the first young British or German to actually make the first step onto nomans land unarmed. Doesn't really matter though ❤️
Hello I was wondering what your friend meant by starvation of the German people ? Was she talking about the 1st or 2nd War?
If she was talking about the Second World War, we in the UK were on rationing because we fed Europe both Allies and Axis countries until the mid 50s. Also that the Germans U boats at the start of the war were sinking the majority of our food imports , which at that time accounted for a considerable amount of Britains imports due to commonwealth countries trade. think that sort of negates UK blame for the blockade a bit. Again I think tactics attributable to Nazis.
However In Germany the same situation as caused food shortages in WW1 were responsible for food shortages in WW2.
The German military knew that only 20% of food was imported into Germany and decided in both wars as food important were available from Scandinavian countries not invaded by them and from the countries that they conquered agriculture.There food imports , would not involve sea routes and that the wars would be over before food shortages would become a problem.
This obvious didn’t work out as they planned and they knew this before they made yet more disastrous decisions , they no longer protected farm labourers from conscription so that they was a physical shortage of men AND they decided to use the nitrogen supplies they had previously used for agricultural fertiliser purposes for military weapons. At this time there was war on 2 fronts and there were calls for peace talks from the Allied front which the German military decided to ignore and go with the consequences of starving their population rather that negotiate a peace.
Also as a point of,propaganda on behalf of the Germans they published that just over 750 , 000 Germans had died of starvation during the war , but they attributed deaths from things like pneumonia and The Spanish Flu to starvation as well. A study in 2018 said that it was impossible to actually get an accurate number of deaths from pure starvation as those figures were not collected and they think those numbers are considerably less , probably just under 400,000 . Which I of course appreciate is absolutely awful. I am not saying anything other just that for over a century Germans were fed a message of a considerably worse numbers. Was she aware of the new research and for all the reasons for food shortages in Germany quite a few of them were deliberately due to Military tactics.
This actually happened. Not exactly like this bit close enough. Also, nobody expects Germans to have any shame or blame over the first world war today. All the Germans who were awarded medals in ww1 still count. Its only ww2 where Germany briefly became like a James Bond level bad guy. First ww1 is absolutely fine today.
What a lovely german lady. Always good to get a german perspective . I have lovely memories of Germany, the germans were very patient with us pain in the arse drunk brits. Happy new year Germany. ❤
And I guess we Brits are also patient with Germans. Don't run us down please
Every single time i see this advert i get goosebumps and brings a tear to my eye don't know if my feelings are sad 😢but at the same time happy 🥲 its the only time i don't know how to feel.
And for being on the wrong side of history but there can still be some good for example this advert despite Germany being on the wrong side of history this beautiful moment happened,
No matter what opinion people have what is a wrong or right side of history war is absolutely horrific and due to this people sadly die.
And by the way I've just come across this channel and conveniently i love history i loved it in my school years i actually did more history lesson plus my GCSEs i loved it so much and still do now at the age of 35.
Compare and contrast the German and Italian individual war experience totally different. Both totalitarian regimes but the Average Italian was less committed to the fight unlike the average German soldier.
It was co-produced by the British Legion and all proceeds, from the sale of that chocolate bar, went to that charity.
If you watched the full video, you would have seen that this was mentioned.
Its a beautiful story its good it was an advert so you g people learn about it- such a negative reaction to a beautiful moment!
You put us to shame by speaking English. Happy New Year😊
the truce went on for days in some sectors , in many sectors the truce never happened with each others friends dead in no mans land . Also Germany were on the wrong side of history on this war too , not just because of giving so much power to industrialists like Krupps , but aggressive invasions containing many war crimes across Belgium . This myth that it was all a big mistake belongs with the lions led by donkeys narrative which in my opinion is lazy , The First world war is far more complex than the second and far more interesting but its rushed when taught in history or in documentaries
It's strange to hear someone into history describe the English in WW1 as being on "the right side of history". In the UK in the 90s in a state comp in the east Midlands we were taught WW1 was pointless nationalist slaughter. The type of thing you see reflected in Blackadder goes forth. That was back when poppy day was about the dead, and not the US style celebration of war it is now. I worry we're headed back to a WW1 situation, but without all the legal hard drugs to explain it. EDIT- Ah this got addressed after the advert, and I just got caught up on a throwaway line in the intro.
You're so wrong. We aren't all proud that we won. WW1 should never have been fought in the first place. Most British I have grown up with (the older generation) hadn't a clue why it was fought in the first place. It was yet again, 2 'gangs' who opposed each other. For no good reason. a whole generation was wiped out. Prime example of a 'brother' war.
Hi and happy new year to both, people that have replied, think of this, in England most people call themselves Anglo-Saxon now think of what it means Anglo. / Saxon not forget the jutes all germanic tribes Anglo and jutes and Saxons are from north part now ( Germany and Denmark)
And most England was take by Anglo-Saxon tribes and Danes and there was Dane law across Northern England, we are English and from germanic lands for northern Germany, it like to cousins fighting, at Queen Victoria marry prince Albert of Germany, we are tied together by ancient history 🙏🙏🙏🏴🏴🏴
What are you waffling about. Queen Victoria was descended from Scots royalty, as King Charles is now. Scots are native to the British Isles, and it was Scots that created *Great Britain* and later the UK, not England. PS, the Saxons were from Saxony, not Germany Germany (previously Prussia) was only created in the 19th century.
I disagree with some of the comments made towards the end of the video. Most Germans during WWII were apathetic towards what was going on, and didn’t oppose the actions of Germany at all. Similar to modern day Russians, they decided “ignorance is bliss”.
I have members of my family who served on both sides of this war. I’m British, and so is most of my family but I’m also related to Austrians, who fought alongside the Germans. From what I’ve learned from them, many soldiers at the time were more than aware of what was happening but through a combination of brainwashing and again ignorance, they were quite content with what they were doing, and many were proud.
Britain unfairly gets criticised for some of the actions it took during WWII, such as the naval blockade of food, leading to the starvation of many Germans. However the only innocent Germans during that time was the children. Germany created a situation whereby the whole world had to do all it could to stop it, no matter the cost. The people could have stopped the war from within Germany but chose not to. If the German people want someone to blame for Dresden and the other instances of German casualties, then they should look inwardly. You can’t poke a lion then complain when it bites you!!
I'm sorry to point this out but German troops committed a number of atrocities against French and Belgium civilians, German troops in occupied countries were awful, for reference my Grandfather was there, he joined the British Army in 1910 and served until 1924, he was a front line medic in the RAMC and was wounded.
This two have completely missed the point of this advert. Christmas is a time of Peace, of Wellbeing to All. This happened in many different sectors along all fronts, including the French; I believe. If you look at the photos that do exist of this event the advert has tried to replicate them. This advert brought a message of the essence of what Christmas is about. The advert sold the message of Christmas. Isn't that what an advert is meant to do?
So I take it that Aldi’s Kevin the Carrot 🥕 isn’t known in Germany?
If you haven’t checked out the British Christmas adverts of Aldi’s Kevin the Carrot, then I recommend you do.
Now have her react to "Are we the baddies?" The Mitchell and Webb sketch...
I find the German woman's reaction a bit perverse. She called it 'weird'. I thought it was beautiful because it reminded us what we all know but gets forgotten in war. People want to live together peacefully (unless of course you're an Islamic fundamentalist). More importantly, they are under the misapprehension that all countries were to blame for WW. Sure, there was a weakness in the system of alliances which made war difficult to evade, but historical analysis has shown pretty clearly that 1/ Germany was the key motivator behind the drive for war; that 2/ Great Britain was NOT driving for war and really wanted to stay out of it, trying desperately to scale things down with Germany, 3/ but UK felt compelled to join because of its alliance with France; and 4/ If UK had not joined, there is every likelihood that German + allies would have ended up winning and dominating Europe. Thank God UK made that decision. Nope, sorry, but WW1 was fundamentally the result of German ambition and aggression.
As sentimental as this advert is, and however inspiring it might seem, what isn't mentioned is that after the real life events portrayed in the ad, the junior officers on BOTH SIDES were court martialled by their superior officers and many of them were executed by firing squad - not really sentimental when you take those facts into account, is it? But as long as it increased Sainsbury's sales figures!...
The AD raised money for the British legion!!!
Completely untrue. You should leave your politics out of it. No British officers were court martialled and executed by firing squad due to this truce. Some received a slight reprimand but that is as far as it went. I doubt if any Germans were executed either.
@@Roz-y2d ADs don't raise money - The AD increased sales for Sainsbury's and thus increased THEIR income, 'some of which' they donated to the British Legion - Don't let corporate business fool you into thinking they do anything for anyone that doesn't benefit themselves!
You have to do more than simply acknowledge that Germany invaded Belgium. Civilians in Belgium were mistreated appallingly. From August 1914, there were thousands of civilians of all ages summarily shot almost at random by the German army. Deportations, the destruction of Louvain, etc. The British press called it the rape of Belgium and 175,000 refugees ended up in England. In German East Africa at least 20,000 civilians starve to death, showing how brutal the German army was. The Royal Navy’s blockade of Germany, leading to food shortages, was paralleled by the German U-boat campaign to starve the British Isles. At one point there were just four days sugar supply and a week or two of wheat for bread - not mentioned in their conversation at all.
German atrocities in WW1 were greatly exaggerated by the Allies for propaganda purposes but a lot of German units did behave abominably. As you rightly suggest, if you'd asked a Belgian in 1919, I'm pretty sure they'd say the Germans were the "baddies".
To be fare it was scottish highlander and German unit that met up in world war 1 for Christmas meeting and celebrating Christmas..bag pipes was played and German and scottish solders sang played football ect and made alliance to tell each other when and where they would bomb there lines ...neather wanted war but was force to
Not true, as someone else has pointed out and listed the regiments involved in the truce. Also 'fair'.
You are confusing the armies, on both sides, which fought at the time of 1914 and of later. The armies which went to war in August 1914 were made up of the professional armies that had been together for some years. They had trained and learned tactics. By the end of 1914 there was little left of those armies especially on the British side. The British army was always a small army. It had the Royal Navy to show strength. What the British Army had was an extreme cadre. The men in the trenches in 1914 weren't the super-jingoistic type. They were professional soldiers. After 1914 Kitchener started recruiting the masses to create a civilian army. This army had to be enticed into joining and one of the ways was to portray the Germans as rapists and defilers breaking social norms. Thus making the civilian army shoot the enemy whereas normally they would think twice.
Disagree with the guy's assessment of how blame is to be shared.I would say Serbia, Austria-Hungary and Russia are equally to blame with Germany for the immediate cause of the war, France and UK less so. Of course all the Great Powers were equally to blame for the general tense state of relations.
So sad that so many of them died soon after 😢
i get the things youre saying and all the qualifying comments etc etc, but I really think, just leave this video as the short thought provoking advert and some well placed reaction over the tragedy and futility and waste of WWI and leapfrog over the middle bit to the subsequent friendship and reconciliation. Just my thoughts.
No one forced Shlieffen to make a plan to have Germany invade French sovereign territory . I know it is more complicated , but just because The Arch Duke Ferdinand got shot in his Balkans doesn’t quite explain it away it could have been ended at any time by mutual consent but it became a test of Wills. In its self led to a continuation after a long pause in 1939.
@@paulbromley6687 I love the British podcast The Rest is History, especially How Europe dived into WW1. I highly recommend this episode. The Schlieffen Plan was based on the assumption that France and Russia would always attack together. The entire country's military would get into motion, rotating clockwise, fighting the French for six weeks before they moved east to fight the Russians. Every aspect was meticulously planned, a giant clockwork. But in 1914, all they had to fight was Russia. The moment when General von Moltke, in charge, had to admit to his Kaiser that they had two choices: open the Western Front and attack France for no reason, or do nothing and risk the Russians taking Berlin, was so overwhelming that the man burst into tears. The rest is history.
You can't explain the rise of Hitler by Allied mistakes. The vast majority of Germans had (reluctantly) accepted Hitler as their nation's savior, knowing he would "push the boundaries." They thought it was justified to commit "some burglaries." They tried to listen in on the first shots, but they didn't expect to be blamed for serial killings. They never really talked about it. That's how I see it. A damn gut wrenching moment.
It was more mobile on the Eastern front...Germany pushed far into Russia.
I heard that the war was over that day and the only reason they continued fighting was because Germany won on penalties
Our enemy has always been within.
You say we won but, it wasn’t really a win lose it was an agreed end to hostilities. That was the problem.