The "Christmas truce" is a term used to describe the brief unofficial cessation of hostilities that occurred between German and British troops stationed on the Western Front of World War I during Christmas 1914.
The truce began on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1914, during World War I, when German troops began decorating the area around their trenches in the region of Ypres, Belgium, for Christmas.
The truce is also depicted in the video for Sir Paul McCartney's 1983 hit song Pipes of Peace, and was referred to in an episode of the science fiction TV drama, Space: Above and Beyond.
The Truce of God is a temporary suspension of hostilities, as distinct from the Peace of God which is perpetual.
It arose amid the anarchy of feudalism as a remedy for the powerlessness of lay authorities to enforce respect for the public peace.
The Truce soon spread from France to Italy and Germany; the oecumenical council of 1179 extended the institution to the whole Church by Canon xxi, "De treugis servandis", which was inserted in the collection of canon law (Decretal of Gregory IX, I, tit., "De treuga et pace").
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