Truce is a short suspension of hostilities between opposing sides in a war. A truce may be called to allow each side to remove wounded from the battlefield, bury the dead, exchange prisoners, or observe a religious holiday. A truce may also be used for brief negotiations. In such cases, the negotiations are usually conducted under a white flag of truce, which indicates the peaceful intentions of the participants.
During the early 1000’s, Christian clergy of France instituted a custom called the Truce of God. This custom prohibited warfare on weekends and during certain religious observances. Opponents often ignored the truce.
A truce is different from an armistice. An armistice is an agreement to stop fighting that covers a longer period of time than a truce. It may even bring a permanent end of the fighting. Often, an armistice leads to a peace treaty that provides a political settlement of the war. The fighting in World War I (1914-1918) ended with an armistice followed by peace treaties. In the Korean War, truce talks were held from July 1951 to July 1953, when an armistice was signed and the fighting stopped. However, negotiations following the armistice failed to result in a final political settlement. Thus, the armistice did not lead to a peace treaty. In January 1973, a cease-fire agreement occurred during the Vietnam War. But it failed to lead to a peace treaty, and the war continued until 1975.
