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Part I
Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men

An excerpt from The War of 1914 by E. M. Remarque

By December [of 1914], the war in the West had bogged down, and trenches had been dug. As commanders planned their next strategies, a lull in the fighting began to develop, and many soldiers began to fraternize with each other. This fraternization, however, would soon develop into shocking heights.

On Christmas Eve, German soldiers decorated the trenches, and began to sing Christmas carols. The British followed suit. By Christmas Day, units had emerged into "no man's land" [1] and exchanged presents and conversation. Some reports state that football games were played. Artillery fell silent.

Just like everyone else, high officers were shocked at the events of Christmas. Some were furious, while some were more tolerant of those activities - what was the harm in showing some Christmas spirit? Nonetheless, the Christmas celebrations could not be stopped, and all assumed that the fighting would resume the following day.

It didn't.

To the horror of their commanders, the soldiers again refused to fight. A British private wrote home in a letter, "I don't want to shoot at the men I have just made acquaintances with." Instead, the truce began to spread throughout the lines. Commanding officers were almost powerless to stop the soldiers. By December 27th, almost all positions had fallen silent.

While many leaders of the warring nations were furious, almost all civilians showed their support. Many neutral world leaders, most prominently American President Woodrow Wilson and Pope Benedict XV, also quickly came out in support of the Christmas Truce. With their citizens and soldiers in support of the truce, all combatants on the Western Front signed the New Years Truce on January 1, 1915. Two days later, on January 3, all other combatants signed peace agreements. Celebrations erupted in the streets.

Now that the war was over, peace negotiations were set to begin. The Germans proposed a status quo ante bellum, but Britain made the case that if nothing changed, then the tensions that had led to the war would remain, and they would inevitably flare up once more. Germany relented, and Rome was determined to be the site of the treaty negotiations.

The Treaty of Rome was signed on June 14 of that year. It's terms were as follows:

Western Europe

Germany returned Alsace-Lorraine to France, and withdrew all troops from Belgium.

Eastern Europe

Austria-Hungary was allowed to "co-operate" with the police forces of Balkan nations, and in return it agreed to promote more autonomy within its territories.

Africa

The Belgian Congo in its entirety would be given to Germany.

Other Terms

England, France, and Germany would meet every five years and sign a treaty which would regulate the size of their armed forces.

With the signing of the Treaty of Rome, peace had once again come to Europe. Almost all sides came away believing that they were the true victors: the British had defended their allies, the French had regained Alsace-Lorraine, the Germans had gained a huge swath of land in Africa, in many ways bringing to fruition their dreams of Mittelafrika. In the east, Austria-Hungary had managed to avenge its fallen archduke and hold town the tide of nationalism, and Serbia had defended itself against the Austrians. Russia, while having suffered a decisive defeat at the Battle of Tannenburg, managed to hold its territorial integrity, and the flaws of its military had been exposed. The only true loser was Belgium, which would later have devastating consequences on the world.
[1] - No man's land refers to the space in between the trenches.

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