WI: Christmas truce turns into a mutiny (TL-191)

[A Piece of History]

So, much like in our timeline in Europe, there was a Christmas truce in North America between the United States and their Confederate rivals all along the front lines during the Great War in 1914. Gifts were exchanged between the two sides and there was even a game of football. These truces were not sanctioned by the military hierarchy and many officers despised it, including Custer who privately expressed his wish to hang the participants.

Of course, this truce was short lived and after Christmas was over, it went back to business as usual.

But what if a large number of soldiers on the both sides of the war realize the futility of prolonging the bloody and inhumane stalemate of trench warfare and decided to stage a mutiny? What if they decide to abandon the front lines and head to their respective capitals, Philadelphia for the US troops and Richmond for the Confederates, to demand an end to the war?

 

[Trotsky]

I don't recall Custer commenting on the Christmas truce other than calling them idiots. But I think, same as in France, that Christmas 1914 is way too early for war fatigue to set in and explode into violent unrest, especially all along the continent. Also, trench warfare at that time had only barely begun, and were still mere ditches and rifle pits for the most part. Nothing at all like the sophisticated fortifications that came years later like the Siegfried Line in 1917.

 

[Alterwright]

I don't recall Custer commenting on the Christmas truce other than calling them idiots. But I think, same as in France, that Christmas 1914 is way too early for war fatigue to set in and explode into violent unrest, especially all along the continent. Also, trench warfare at that time had only barely begun, and were still mere ditches and rifle pits for the most part. Nothing at all like the sophisticated fortifications that came years later like the Siegfried Line in 1917.

Revaunchism is very high in the United States as well. A whole generation of US citizens growing up to hate the Confederacy much the same way the French did after the Franco-Prussian War. If the truce spreads into outright mutiny on both sides, then I believe we need to see loss of life that would be near catastrophic in the very early months of the war. At least that way the glory of it all would wipe away quicker.