Christmas in the Trenches

For Advent:

It may be wrong to politicize this, but I will. Notice that it is religion that draws them together. This puts the lie to the common slander that religion causes wars. 

No, this war and the next was caused by "heathen heart that puts her trust/In reeking tube and iron shard." And it is their common Christian faith reminds the soldiers of how wrong it all is.

Another comment: it is no surprise that the finest rendition of this song is by a Canadian artist.

The First World War is in a special sense Canada's, Australia's, and New Zealand's war. 

Every little town in Canada has its cenotaph, recording the names of the dead.  It is almost the town's centrepiece. 

It was for the first war that these were erected. 

Every cenotaph, it is true, was later adapted to add the names of those who dies in the Second War, and in Korea, and now in Afghanistan.

But the number of names for the First World War is always far larger. For a much smaller population. The First World War was Canada's biggest war. 

For the UK the Second looms larger because of the Blitz. It was brought home to every family in this literal way. Not so for Canada, or Australia, or New Zealand: it was WWI that was brought home, by the loss of sons, husbands, and fathers.

For the US, of course, the First War was a minor affair compared to the Second: they showed up only in the last year, when the Central Powers were weakened. They actually lost more men in Korea.

So World War One is remembered more vividly in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand than in the two largest English-speaking countries.

Canadians commonly feel we came of age on Vimy Ridge; the Anzacs came of age at Gallipoli. It is we who bear the torch, who hold it high.