Moreover, the new regional truces are tactical, and likely to wither as old animosities resurface.

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The U.S.-Cuba deal isn't the first time Francis has used his moral authority to try to broker international truces.

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It is true, however, that the Christmas truces were not repeated in the later years of the war.

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In fact, officers on both sides started several of the Christmas truces in 1915 and of the much wider truces in 1914.

ECONOMIST: Bertie Felstead

Nearby Belize offers a cautionary tale about the fragility of such truces.

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In his account of the truces, Robert Graves explained why.

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The many British contemporary accounts of the truces help scotch another myth: that the authorities kept all knowledge of fraternisation from the public at home lest it damage morale.

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Sending in peacekeepers, too, is a non-starter - typically, they are deployed to fortify existing truces or borders (not to fight) at the request of the government of a strife-torn country.

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