The history of the 20th century is a story of great progress mixed with periods of collective madness. Such a period of collective madness was World War One ("The Great War") from 1914-1918.

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria at Sarajevo in 1914 was the spark that ignited a mixture of international rivalries, military pride, Treaties and Alliances and political ambition into total war across Europe.

They said that it would "all be over by Christmas". That optimism quickly turned into the reality of trench warfare where progress was to be measured in yards gained each day. The Western Front pitched the young men of Great Britain, its colonies, France, Germany and Austria at each other. Two lines of men in trenches were divided by the strip of daily death called "No Man's Land".

The period leading up to Christmas 1914 was particularly brutal in fighting terms and carried out against the backcloth of incessant rain. On Christmas Eve the weather turned colder and the frost arrived. This was not going to be an ordinary day.

An English officer reported afterwards that, late on Christmas Eve, "lights began to appear on the length of the German line". They were Christmas trees lit by candles placed there by the German soldiers. From their dug-out the British peered out and listened as singing voices were heard, "Stille nacht, heilige nacht" (Silent Night, Holy night"). When singing stopped, the officer reported that "Applause rang down the length of our line and spontaneous singing of: The First Nowell, the Angel did say... began".

The singing continued for some time, then a silence as the men tried to understand what was happening. From the German line a voice called out in English, "English come out, no shooting". So they did and there was not. More men climbed out of the trenches and mingled in "No Man's Land" exchanging cigarettes, badges and, wherever possible, their stories.

So, Christmas reached the Western Front 1914. Within a short time the men who had shared this special time of the year in the most unlikely of surroundings were back to killing each other.

I wonder what this teaches us. Why did they go back to killing? Could they have collectively decided not to fight?