Barely 180 days into “the war to end all wars,” the European states were deadlocked in a conflict more destructive and dehumanizing than any previous war in the history of the world.
The death toll was already staggering. From August 1914, when hostilities broke out, until December, most of the British Expeditionary Force in France, about 160,000 men, had been wiped out. The French and German armies sustained combat losses of well over 600,000 between them. Nearly 200,000 of Austria’s best troops were dead, another half million wounded. As Christmas approached, Pope Benedict XV appealed for a temporary truce over the Christian holiday. It was soundly rejected by the warring governments and their generals.
