1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:06,920 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works High brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:09,879 Speaker 1: Lauren vocal bomb. Here today, I've got a Christmas story 3 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:12,200 Speaker 1: for you, and I promise it has a happy ending. 4 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:15,400 Speaker 1: The beginning is a little bit harsh though a World 5 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:18,120 Speaker 1: War One gave the world its first brush with efficient 6 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:21,680 Speaker 1: and widespread death. More than eight point five million people 7 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:24,520 Speaker 1: would lose their lives to the war. Troops used trench 8 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:27,080 Speaker 1: warfare for the first time. The hundreds of miles of 9 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:29,520 Speaker 1: trenches that marked the landscape from the English Channel to 10 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:32,840 Speaker 1: Switzerland held an astounding average of one soldier for every 11 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:36,720 Speaker 1: four inches. Both sides held tenaciously to their positions. The 12 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: Battle of Verdun lasted nine months, caused three hundred thousand 13 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:42,680 Speaker 1: deaths and resulted in almost no change in the position 14 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:45,560 Speaker 1: of the lines. New technology made its way into battlefields 15 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:48,479 Speaker 1: of France, Germany and Belgium, bringing death to soldiers in 16 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:51,760 Speaker 1: new horrible ways. Machine guns, which had made their debut 17 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:54,200 Speaker 1: in the American Civil War, became more efficient over the 18 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:56,800 Speaker 1: ensuing decades, and by the early twentieth century they could 19 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: deal six hundred rounds per minute. Chemical warfare was we 20 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:02,920 Speaker 1: find in the form of mustard, chlorine, and phosgene gas. 21 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:05,520 Speaker 1: Airplanes were used for the first time in major combat, 22 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 1: including the concept of mass casualty bombings. The tank and 23 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:11,960 Speaker 1: the flamethrower both made their debuts with mixed results, and 24 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:14,800 Speaker 1: the casualties of World War One extended to civilians, making 25 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:17,480 Speaker 1: the Great War a total war. In the midst of 26 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: all this madness, however, an event took place that serves 27 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:22,920 Speaker 1: to renew a little faith in humanity. The Christmas Truce 28 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:25,480 Speaker 1: was a brief moment of sanity, standing out against the 29 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:28,559 Speaker 1: chaos of war. One of the first public statements Pope 30 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: Benedict the fifteenth made when he was elected to the 31 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:34,160 Speaker 1: papacy was to plea for a truce on Christmas Day. 32 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:36,520 Speaker 1: Although the Germans entertained the idea of a Christmas truce, 33 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:40,000 Speaker 1: the Allied forces rejected it. Benedict's request fell to the wayside. 34 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:43,120 Speaker 1: World War One had begun in earnest on the Western 35 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:45,959 Speaker 1: Front in the Flanders area of Belgium. The Christmas season 36 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:49,640 Speaker 1: arrived amid heavy fighting. Both sides were dug in and miserable. 37 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:52,360 Speaker 1: Soldiers learned what it meant to live in discomfort and fear. 38 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 1: In some cases, enemy soldiers fought from trenches just thirty 39 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:58,760 Speaker 1: yards or twenty seven meters from one another, all along 40 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 1: the front that Christmas, British and German troops received packages. 41 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: Inside they found notes of appreciation, chocolates, putting, tobacco, and 42 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:09,400 Speaker 1: other tokens in their packages. The German troops received Christmas trees. 43 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:12,440 Speaker 1: The small trees at ten and bombs in German were 44 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:14,720 Speaker 1: sent to the front, replete with small candles to light. 45 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:18,239 Speaker 1: On Christmas Eve of nineteen fourteen, German soldiers lit the 46 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:20,320 Speaker 1: candles and set some trees up on the ledges of 47 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:23,799 Speaker 1: their trenches. When they began singing, the British troops joined in. 48 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:27,480 Speaker 1: Wary hopeful soldiers began to peer over the trenches. As 49 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:30,040 Speaker 1: Christmas broke over Flanders, a truce was carved. From the 50 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:33,079 Speaker 1: spirit of the season. Germans held up signs Uni fight, 51 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:37,079 Speaker 1: wen Know Fight. British troops responded with signs proclaiming Merry Christmas. 52 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:39,520 Speaker 1: This Christmas did turn out to be a merry one. 53 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by Josh Clark and produced by 54 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:49,639 Speaker 1: Tristan McNeil. By the way, if you're listening to data, 55 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 1: episode publishes Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. For more on 56 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:55,640 Speaker 1: this and lots of other seasonal topics. Visit our home planet, 57 00:02:55,720 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com.