All Quiet War and Death in All Quiet on the Western Front Essay

An Accurate Depiction of War

There is no question that the novel All Quiet on the Western Front is as big of a literary success as it is a large window of debate amongst critics. The novel sold more than fifty million copies, was translated into thirty languages and has been made into two English-speaking movies, one of which won an Academy Award for best picture (Tighe). Even though critics and reviewers didnt agree with the novels depictions in the past, over time the novel slowly gained critical acclaim once the actual war was over. Remarquess All Quiet on the Western Front can be proven as an accurate source in describing what real soldiers went through during World War One by explaining the history of Erich Maria Remarque, the advanced warfare technology, the serious dangers of trench warfare, and the physical and mental needs for survival.

To begin with, the author of the novel, Erich Maria Remarque, is an accurate source on the topic of World War One because he actually served in the war. Remarque grew up in Germany and at the age of eighteen, he enlisted in the German Army to fight in the First World War. While serving, he was wounded five times, the last severely, and because of this he was discharged. He wrote the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, in 1929, at the age of 33 after the war had ended. (Hoffmann). Even though the novel became successful at first, the novel was practically outlawed in Germany. The ten years distance from World War I allowed for objective assessment, but attitudes to the lost war had polarized: those who saw it as a bloody warning accepted Remarque's book; those who attributed Germany's defeat to a stab in the back, or viewed the war as a test by fire of German nationhood rejected it (Murdoch). The Nazis were so appalled by Remarque's books; they were burned in 1933 for betraying the German soldiers. These actions taken by the Nazis show that the book must contain very true accounts of warfare of that period that could have discouraged many Germans from entering the Second World War (Hoffmann).

Having experienced World War I first hand, Remarque could easily relate himself to the characters in the book. Many of his own experiences of the First World War were seen in the experiences of Paul Baumer, the main character of the novel. A huge part of his experience of war is seen in Paul through his opinions of the War. Paul and Remarque both felt there to be no good reason for waging war, after all everyone is a human being and therefore all are brothers and sisters in that sense. (Henningfeld) Because Remarque was able to base much of the book from first hand experiences, much of the book is very true to the essence of war.

Aside from opinions of the war, Remarque and Baumer both agreed on the dangers that soldiers faced on the battlefield. A primary example of this was the introduction of trench warfare. In the time of World War I, this type of warfare was rather new and was, for the first time, being used on a wide spread basis. As explained by William Storey in his novel, First World War : A Concise Global History, Trench warfare is a form of occupied fighting lines, consisting largely of trenches, in which troops are largely immune to the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery (Storey 20). While the trench warfare seemed like an interesting concept, the trenches were basically hell. They were swamp like and filled with dead bodies and human feces and also led to numerous diseases such as body lice and trench foot (Keene) Most of the depictions of these issues were clearly shown through the eyes of Paul Baumer throughout the novel as the characters were faced with these dangers.

One of the worst travesties in the trenches were the numerous rats that inhabited the battlefields. Many men killed in the trenches were buried almost where they fell. If a trench subsided, or new trenches or dugouts were needed, large numbers of decomposing bodies would be found just below the surface. These corpses, as well as the food scraps that littered the trenches, attracted rats. One pair of rats can produce 880 offspring in a year and so the trenches were soon swarming with them (Ware). The soldiers in the novel had to fight off these fat, aggressive rats to protect their food especially when they received large rations of cheese and rum (Remarque 102).

Aside from the trenches and diseases, The new weapons and types of warfare were also a strong fear for the soldiers. The Germans were the first to use chemical warfare on the Western Front. They shot out poisonous chlorine gas to sicken and destroy the lungs of the enemy. In order to protect themselves, the soldiers wore gas masks to shield their lungs from danger (Salisbury and Kersten). An example of this can be seen in All Quiet on the Western Front when Baumer and his comrades use the gas to escape an attack (Remarque 68).

Even though there were numerous ways the German soldiers could have faced death, most of the soldiers ended up preventing this due to starvation. Since there was a lack of production in Germany, fewer goods were produced which eventually created wide spread famine. The famine did not hit the army as badly as the civilians, but the German soldiers did receive much, much less than the British and French and often fought on stomachs that had been empty for days. This famine was the cause of many of the civilian deaths of the war, along with the Spanish flu (Tiege). In All Quiet on the Western Front, we see both sides of this, military and civilian. It is mentioned multiple times in the book how they do not receive ration loaves for days, and how for every one German ration loaf there are fifty tins of corned beef for the Allied forces (Remarque 286). The civilian famine is also alluded to when Paul brings his family lots of food when he arrives home while on leave (Remarque 160).

All of these dangers of war take a larger toll on the soldiers mentally than they do physically. Since All Quiet on the Western Front is set among soldiers fighting on the front, one of its main focuses is the ruinous effect that war has on the soldiers who fight it. These men are subject to constant physical danger, as they could literally be blown to pieces at any moment. This intense physical threat also serves as an unceasing attack on the nerves, forcing soldiers to cope with primal, instinctive fear during every waking moment. They are forced, moreover, to deal with the frequent, sudden deaths of their close friends and comrades, often in close proximity and in extremely violent fashion. Remarque portrays the overall effect of these conditions as a crippling overload of panic and despair. The only way for soldiers to survive is to disconnect themselves from their feelings, suppressing their emotions and accepting the conditions of their lives (Remarque 21). In Remarques view, this emotional disconnection has a hugely destructive impact on a soldiers humanity. An example of this is in the beginning of the novel when the soldier Kemmerich is on his deathbed after having his leg amputated. Even though he is slowly dying, the most pressing question among his friends is who will inherit his boots (Remarque 29). The Soldiers no longer pause to mourn fallen friends and comrades which proves how inhumane the war has made them.

Another reality that is portrayed in All Quiet on the Western Front is the amount of death. Every one of Pauls comrades, including Paul himself, is dead by the end of the book. Not only were the characters that were introduced by Remarque killed, but also all of the other classmates who enlisted with Paul who were unnamed are killed. This is a very real portrayal of probability of one dying in the War. (Remarque 293) With 9 million military casualties and 16 million total, there was a very good chance that one would have been dead by the end of the war, whether or not one was in the military (Kronenberger). Death was very real at this time in history and was witnessed by many, including Remarque and Paul.

Overall, there are an astounding amount of examples and historical facts that can prove that Erich Maria Remarque is an excellent source on the dangers of World War One. Whether it is described through his own history or through the eyes of Paul Baumer, we all can understand how difficult survival was on the western front. Even though many may still disagree on Remarques depictions, most can agree that World War One was quite possibly the most dangerous war in history.