The Christmas truce: When the fighting stopped for one day

This is thought to be a Christmas truce match in Frelinghien, France, between the Royal Welch Fusiliers and their opponents, the Saxons of the 133 Infantry Regiment and the Prussians of the 6 Jager Battalion. - chesterchronicle.co.uk

World War I disrupted half the planet, claimed 16 million lives, and wounded 20 million people. Yet in the midst of all that carnage, there were moments that showed that hope and humanity were not entirely lost.

The most famous of these are the unofficial ceasefires that took place during Christmas in 1914; they came to be known as Weihnachtsfrieden in Germany and Trêve de Noël in France, and famously included football matches played at several locations along the frontlines, in the no man’s land between the infamous trenches.