The Christmas Truce of 1914 | What If World War I Really Had Ended By Christmas?

Canada would still eventually break away I think, they were a dominion for 50 years, already mostly self governing....i think it would take a bit longer but Canada would still seperate.

Dr Chris has a dose of manflu by the sounds of it. Hope he feels better soon

Mark Felton as a guest would go so hard. You would have to play his intro music though when you introduce him

Oh, I remember the silence
On a cold winter day . . .

What might have happened in Palestine?

O Tannenbaum,
O Tannenbaum,
wie treu sind deine Blätter.
Du grünst nicht nur zur Sommerzeit,
Nein auch im Winter, wenn es schneit.
O Tannenbaum
O Tannenbaum,
wie treu sind deine Blätter.

No more brothers wars

Dla zasięgu komentarz składający się z przynajmniej siedmiu słów

Hope Mr. Parry gets better, sounds like he has the flu.

Myth, legend or reality, it really doesn’t matter….. Merry Christmas to all.

We needed WW2 to work out that anti Semitism was a bad thing.

I really appreciate your efforts! A bit off-topic, but I wanted to ask: My OKX wallet holds some USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (alarm fetch churn bridge exercise tape speak race clerk couch crater letter). Could you explain how to move them to Binance?

Monarchy isn't an ideology. Monarchists dont have the semi religious drive to maintain other monarchies like you get with certain political fanatics.

What if the French and British shortened the line 1914 and the British landed near Hamburg, Germany after the sinking of the German fleet? (ie a conclusive Battle of Jutland)

Alex is the history teacher we all wanted

Schlieffen was an attaché in Washington when RE Lee made his hook around the Potomac fortifications...

The Christmas truce dropped out of the discussion, but it was still interesting. Thanks.

Hope Chris gets better soon!

Great podcast but the maps need to be better

Sweaters for goalposts

The Battle of Mons and the heroic rearguard action of the BEF is given scant regard here. Without the BEF contribution, a replay of 1870 was the most likely outcome. Still a great episode. Thankyou to Times Radio and James for this wonderful initiative.

Wonderful show. Great moderator and even better contributors!

The final delusion.

The peace they describe would radicalize the French,and probably lead to the rise of a French military revival .

This series shows the greatness of history and proof of A.J.P. Taylor's dictum that nothing is inevitable in history until it happens. Bravo gentlemen.

Thanks for another wonderful episode. It was good have a bit more disagreement as it further stimulates thinking. Any plans to do shows or more recent conflicts such as the Iraq wars?

Fascinating.
Thank you, sincerely.

This is such a brilliant channel concept.

there is no proof that the krauts and limeys together had a "kick about" during the truce up around Flanders...urban legend is that

Amazing as always

Thank you for not only answering the question about the WW1 Christmas Truce; but, the WHAT IFS about different potential outcomes.

Wasn't there a very localized Christmas Truce during WW2 mainly involving one town only?

This didn’t really tell me anything when it came to the possible outcome. They just said it would been worse if we would’ve had a piece in 1914 and didn’t tell me why it would be worse.

Chris Parry's premise about "how do you deal with the German problem?" is completely invalid. In the event of a 1914 German victory in the west scenario, an autocratic and highly antisemitic Russian monarchy would have been much more of a problem for Europe than Germany. It is quite possible that Germany would have transitioned to a constitutional monarchy, but I simply could not see that happening in Russia; a revolution with unknown consequences is more likely. A victorious Germany would not have felt as threatened as it as in 1914, and would not have been belligerent - as indeed it was not from 1871 to about 1900. The main threat to peace would have come from a revanchist, resentful France and/or Russia. There is also another factor to consider: a Germany with little or no antisemitism in the 20s and 30s would probably have been the first country to develop nuclear weapons, as German-Jewish physicists would have remained in Germany.

Germany beats Britain 3-2. “That’s normal.” Harsh.

With the USA turning away from Europe and turning west into the Pacific and aligning itself against Japan, are we looking at an increased likelihood of an Anglo-American conflict? Britain and Japan were allies at the time....

Glossing over the drawing of ‘maps’ in Africa and the Middle East is a bit daft..the cause of millions of deaths, also didn’t mention Japan and them grabbing a lot of the Pacific from the Germans. Love to see this dived into a bit deeper than the Eurocentric view.

James,
Thanks for this discussion into the consequences(some quite far-reaching) of a cessation of hostilities by Christmas 1914.

Very interesting program. Thank you Gentleman.

Forgive me if this is a stupid question but does anyone here think the Ottoman Empire surviving with German influence would have been better than what we have today? I imagine most terror groups would be put down as rebellions.

The British and Germans wanted peace. The French did not...

The common soldier, even from different cultures & backgrounds could come to terms, yet the officer's & politicians couldn't?? Interesting.

Always enjoy this show and am a fan of A Watson’s books. One nit-pick - the picture of Moltke is not the right one - showed the Elder, not the Younger.

That so called Xmas truce has out of all proportion from what was at best a football kick-about to a sentimental ‘love in’

This has quickly become and unmissable channel. Thank you so much for the epic and creative content.

That would have spared my Grandpa from getting drafted and dragged over to Europe for nothing. Eating rotten foods is no man's way to eat and stay alive. 😢😢

And what about Irish Home Rule? It was legislated for to take effect but was put on ice due to WW1.

I would like to see Spartacus or Indy from Time Ghost or Jesse from TGW as guests to see their povs as well one day.