ABSTRACT
In 1914, a stalemate was reached on the western front. At first, soldiers tried to apply some of the old rules of chivalry to the new trench warfare. One striking example of this desire to fight a civilized war came during a moment known as the Christmas truce of 1914. Politicians, generals, and soldiers leave a battle with different perspectives of what transpired. The politicians focus on how the fighting advanced the political goals of the war. The steady call from Allied leaders for America to amalgamate its troops into already-formed French and British units was understandable given the seriousness of the situation along the western front. The desire to assimilate immigrants influenced the army’s handling of ethnic soldiers. Military training required all recruits to shed civilian habits and adopt military ones, but the army did not adopt 100 percent Americanism as its approach to dealing with immigrant soldiers. African American troops served in all-black units mostly under white officers.
