Plot
In the late summer of 1914, three teenage boys in Suffolk—Will, Freddie, and Lacey—are out playing a game of football when they discover their opponents intend to enlist the British Army in light of the outbreak of the First World War. On their way home, a singing Kitchener springs from his poster to tell the cousins that they should "play the game" (go to war). The young men have initial doubts about becoming soldiers but are persuaded to enlist at a recruitment event. That evening, Will and Lacey inform their family of their enlistment. Though their father wishes them well, their sister Annie cries, and their mother (Kate Winslet) warns her sons that war is not a game, and that they will be killed.
The boys leave for France regardless, where they quickly encounter hardships of the trenches, witnessing artillery barrages, dogfights, and dying soldiers. After complaining about the quality of the bully beef issued in their field rations, the boys kick the beef can through the air like a football, drawing the fire of an Imperial German Army soldier, whose precise marksmanship they test using a meal plate. As the seasons change to winter, the boys hear German soldiers in the opposing trenches singing Christmas carols.
On Christmas Day, a German soldier steps out onto no man's land and, after planting a Christmas tree, invites the English soldiers out with them. All of the soldiers peacefully step out to play football, exchange pleasantries, and conduct shared funerals for their dead. The soldiers also learn that they have much in common, evidenced by a German soldier revealing he was once a barber in London. However, the truce is broken up by each side's commanding officers, and the soldiers are forced to return to their trenches. The Germans suggest another truce, but the British are ordered by headquarters to never conduct another truce again, which they reluctantly obey. Instead, headquarters sends them official gifts, such as playing cards and treats; Will receives a Christmas card containing a photo of King George V, which mockingly sings to him about dying for his country before being blown away in the wind.
Time passes to 1916, during the Battle of the Somme. The boys, who are waiting to be relieved, are now so dirtied by the war that they can barely recognize each other. They learn the German soldiers from the truce have been replaced by unfriendly soldiers who do not want to conduct another truce. Their commanding officer wearily prepares a charge, which is signaled by the football from the truce being kicked across no man's land. The soldiers emerge from the trenches but are rapidly cut down by artillery and machine gun fire. Lacey and Freddie are killed, while Will is mortally wounded, and lies in a shell crater with a German soldier. They exchange photos from their home countries before both men die of their wounds.
All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental trauma during the war as well as the detachment from civilian life felt by many upon returning home from the war.
The Christmas truce was a series of widespread unofficial ceasefires along the Western Front of the First World War around Christmas 1914.
Lance Corporal Hubert William Lewis was a Welsh soldier and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Freddie Stowers was an African-American corporal in the United States Army who was killed in action during World War I while serving in an American unit under French command. Over 70 years later, he posthumously received the Medal of Honor and Purple Heart for his actions.
Sir Iain Colquhoun, 7th Baronet, 29th Laird of Luss, KT, DSO & Bar, FRSE, was a Scottish landowner and British Army soldier during the First World War.
War Game is a children's novel about World War I written and illustrated by Michael Foreman and published by Pavilion in 1993. It features four young English soldiers and includes football with German soldiers during the Christmas truce, "temporary relief from the brutal and seemingly endless struggle in the trenches".
Joyeux Noël is a 2005 war drama film based on the Christmas truce of December 1914, depicted through the eyes of French, British, and German soldiers. It was written and directed by Christian Carion, and screened out of competition at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.
Charley's War was a British comic strip about the First World War, written by Pat Mills and drawn by Joe Colquhoun.
Passchendaele is a 2008 Canadian war film, written, co-produced, directed by, and starring Paul Gross. The film, which was shot in Calgary, Alberta, Fort Macleod, Alberta, and in Belgium, focuses on the experiences of a Canadian soldier, Michael Dunne, at the Battle of Passchendaele, also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, inspired by stories that Gross heard from his grandfather, a First World War soldier.
All Quiet on the Western Front is a television film produced by ITC Entertainment. It was released on November 14, 1979. Based on the 1929 book of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque, it stars Richard Thomas and Ernest Borgnine. Directed by Delbert Mann, this film is a joint British and American production for which most of the filming took place in Czechoslovakia.
Soldier's Heart: Being the Story of the Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers is a historical war novella by Gary Paulsen aimed at the teenage market. It is a fictionalization of the true story of a Minnesotan farm boy, Charley Goddard, who at the age of 15 enlisted in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Charley lied about his age to join the First Volunteers of Minnesota and was involved in combat at Bull Run and Gettysburg. He returned home traumatized and suffering from "soldier's heart". Although some events and time sequences are not completely factual, the essential elements of the book's story are true.
Frank Edwards, also known as The Footballer of Loos, was a British Army soldier in the First World War who served as a rifleman in the 1st Battalion, London Irish Rifles, during the Battle of Loos. He is distinguished for leading the London Irish across no man's land to storm enemy trenches kicking a football ahead of the troops. The successful capture of enemy positions that followed earned the London Irish Rifles their second battle honour, Loos, 1915. The football is still preserved in the regimental museum of the London Irish and to this day the memory of Edwards is commemorated on Loos Sunday.
"Christmas in the Trenches" is a ballad from John McCutcheon's 1984 album Winter Solstice. It tells the story of the 1914 Christmas Truce between the British and German lines on the Western Front during the Great War from the perspective of a fictional British soldier. Although Francis Tolliver is a fictional character, the event depicted in the ballad is true. McCutcheon met some of the German soldiers involved in this Christmas story when he toured in Denmark.
Bernard Donaghey, sometimes known as Barney Donaghey, was an Irish professional footballer, who played as an inside forward in the Football League for Burnley and Manchester United. He also played in the Scottish League for Hibernian and in his native Ireland for Derry Celtic, Ulster, Belfast Celtic and Glentoran. Donaghey was capped by Ireland at international level and represented the Irish League.
Bertie Felstead was a British soldier, World War I veteran and centenarian who gained fame at the end of his life as the last surviving soldier to have taken part in the Christmas truce of 1914.
Mademoiselle from Armentieres is a 1926 British World War I silent drama film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Estelle Brody, John Stuart and Alf Goddard. The film was Elvey's first collaboration with screenwriter Victor Saville. It was followed by a 1928 sequel Mademoiselle Parley Voo.
Silent Night is an opera by composer Kevin Puts and librettist Mark Campbell. As Silent Night: Opera in Two Acts the work had its world premiere at the Ordway Theater, Saint Paul, Minnesota, on November 12, 2011 under the directorship and dramaturgy of Eric Simonson. As Silent Night, the opera had its East Coast premiere at the Philadelphia Academy of Music on February 8, 2013. It premiered in the Southwest at Bass Performance Hall with Fort Worth Opera on May 4, 2014. The European premiere took place on October 24, 2014, in a new production by Tomer Zvulun, at the Wexford Festival Opera in Ireland. In 2014 the work was staged at the Calgary Opera and the Cincinnati Opera, The Wexford production was performed at the Atlanta Opera and in 2015 it was performed at the Opéra de Montréal and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. It received its West Coast premiere at Opera San Jose on February 11, 2017. The Glimmerglass Festival and University of Kentucky Opera Theatre presented the opera in 2018. It won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Music.
Land of Mine is a 2015 historical war drama film directed by Martin Zandvliet. It was shown in the Platform section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. It was selected and nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 89th Academy Awards.
Between August and November 1914, sixteen Heart of Midlothian Football Club players enlisted to fight in World War I. In doing so, they became the first British team to sign up en masse. The majority joined the 16th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Scots, otherwise known as McCrae's Battalion. On the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916, the British Army lost nearly 20,000 men, including three of Hearts footballers who had signed up. The war ended up claiming the lives of seven of the Hearts players who had enlisted, with several others returning so severely wounded they were unable to play football again.
John Raymond Evelyn Stansfeld was a British army officer involved in the Relief of Ladysmith, the Battle of Spion Kop during the Boer War and the First Battle of Ypres. Stansfeld died at the Battle of Loos during World War I. He served with the Gordon Highlanders.
