Truce Gallery

Gifts from Germans following the Christmas truce, WW1

British non-commissioned officers pose with gifts and souvenirs given to them by Germans after the informal truce which took place at certain points along the Western Front in December 1914. They display a German song book, Pickelhaube helmets, a cap and, ironically, a rifle and bayonet.
December 1914

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Ratification of the Truce of Andrusovo, 1667 (litho)

3244542 Ratification of the Truce of Andrusovo, 1667 (litho) by Russian School, (17th century); Russian State Archives of Ancient Documents (RGADA); (add.info.: The Truce of Andrusovo (Polish: Rozejm w Andruszowie, Russian: АÐoeÐŽN€NƒNÐYвNÐºÐYе пеN€ÐµÐOEОN€ÐžÐµ, Andrusovskoye Pieriemiriye, also sometimes known as Treaty of Andrusovo) established a thirteen-and-a-half year truce, signed in 1667 between Tsardom of Russia and the Polisha€“Lithuanian Commonwealth, which had fought the Russo-Polish War since 1654 over the territories of modern-day Ukraine and Belarus.); Russian, out of copyright

© Russian State Archives of Ancient Documents (RGADA) / Bridgeman Images

Christmas Truce by Bruce Bairnsfather

A memory of Christmas, 1914: "Look at this bloke's buttons, arry. I should reckon e as a maid to dress im." A picture by the famous wartime Bystander cartoonist and creator of Old Bill, Bruce Bairnsfather which drew from personal experience. Bairnsfather took part in the Christmas truce on Christmas Day 1914 and swapped buttons with a German officer, afterwards regretting that he had neglected to find a way to get hold of a photograph taken by the German. Date: 1916

© Mary Evans Picture Library