HULSE CHRISTMAS WAR LETTER ANALYSIS - Assignment Example

Christmas, 1914 in Edward Hamilton Hulse`s Letter Edward Hamilton Hulse was born in the family of Edward Henry Hulse in 1889. He got a commission of Coldstream Guards in 1912 and fully immersed in the duties of a soldier. He was included into the 1st Scots Guards in 1913. He was taking part in the Battle of the Aisne and at Mons in august 1914. The letters the paper is dedicated contained the description of the most vivid points of these event according to his opinion. In March 1915 Edward Hamilton Hulse was promoted to a higher position – Captain, however he was killed just few days later at Neuve Chapelle where he was going to help the Commanding Officer.

In his first letter we are getting cognizance with Hulse`s point of view about the War of 1914, which was declared Germany in August,1914. According to the historical works this decision is often described as the beginning of the World War One. Germany got an ultimatum form Britain`s Prime Minister of that period - Herbert Asquith on the 3rd of August1. So, Asquith `s simple decision had cataclysmically influenced the British society. Hulse names in his letter flanking directions of the army for Gernany, be sea and by Belgium.

He expresses his admiration for Churchill as “his action and the war-like spirit is compatible with his popularity and personal advancement”2. Before the letter dated the 12th of August 1914 their unit was resting and this made the narrator angry, he wanted to start greater action, and on that day he describes the following way “we start tonight, about midnight, but do not know destination or anything yet”3. Hulse tried not to write in his letter the most strategically important things.

Like every person he used to describe also ordinary things like cold autumn. The letter of 27 November is not full of happiness. The soldiers get sick and the Germans are winning on the Western Front, but the most quantity of legends about World War One is about the first Christmas of the 1914, mentioned in the letters. The general situation looked as the British were fighting in the mud of Flanders and got an impression that the Germans want to destroy everything on their way. This impression was clearly broken.

“It was absolutely astounding, and if I had seen it on a cinematograph film I should have sworn that it was faked”4, in such manner lieutenant of the 2nd Scots Guards Sir Edward Hulse described this event. On Christmas Eve the Western Front were not involved into great battles compared to the previous days of this month. The trenches heard the sound of the Christmas carols. German and British soldiers signed a truce for that day and evening and met in No-Man’s Land. It is impossible for historians to determine whose initiative it was, however this took place all over the Western Front.

Christmas Day started with collecting the dead of both German and British soldiers. This was a necessary condition to stop fire. The dead of both armies were buried in one burial service near the Lille city. After that they exchanged some kind of gifts with each other, in the military situation it consisted primarily of food. When the midnight approached, soldiers of both armies went back to their trenches, waiting for a signal meaning that that the cease fire was over.The so-called Christmas Truce of 1914 represents that even the War can`t ruin the Christmas spirit, however it was a unique case, not having more historical precedents in future.

References:" Christmas 1914 and World War One", 2014. HistoryLearningSite.co.uk.  "The British Declaration of War", 2014. HistoryLearningSite.co.uk. Hulse, Edward Hamilton Westrow, “Letters written from the English front in France between September 1914 and March 1915” archive.org/details/letterswrittenfr00hulsrich.