PTSD In All Quiet On The Western Front

PTSD is a condition that affects soldiers and others who experience traumatic events during their lives. In All Quiet On The Western Front many of the characters, including Paul, experience PTSD. All Quiet on The Western Front takes place during the events of World War One when PTSD was called shell shock. The condition was often dismissed as cowardice, and soldiers even after experiencing many traumatizing events, were forced to fight and go back to the front line. PTSD now and in World War One are the same condition, and were often caused by chaotic and modernized warfare. PTSD is still affecting soldiers today, but there is much higher awareness. Now, there are many treatments for PTSD due to better technologies and higher awareness. Shell

World War One was the first war to use lots of technology in warfare. Since many of these technologies were new, they were often used in excess. Trenches could be shelled for many days, which caused trauma for many of those who fought in the war. This is mentioned in All Quiet On The Western Front. One of the best descriptions of this is when Paul is in the trenches which are under attack, “They say the bombardment extends undiminished as far as the artillery lines. It is a mystery where the enemy gets all of his shells. We wait and wait. By midday what I expected happens. One of the recruits has a fit. I have been watching him for a long time, grinding his teeth and opening and shutting his fists” (Remarque 109). The excess use of new technologies and prolonged shelling often caused soldiers to experience trauma and anxiety which both lead to PTSD. Soldiers also greatly feared these new technologies. When Paul is in the trenches under shell fire, he describes how the soldiers feel about the new war technologies, “Bombardment, barrage, curtain fire, mines, gas, tanks, machine guns, hand grenades, words, words, but they hold the horror of the world” (Remarque 132). Many of these new technologies were feared by the soldiers and made them more liable to PTSD due to the constant use of them and the amount of people who died as a result. Explosives and other newer technologies that make battlefields more chaotic are also a large contributor to PTSD now, “Terrorist strikes, urban warfare, numerous and more protracted combat operations and the pervasive hazard from roadside bombs are some of the distinctive characteristics of the OEF and OIF conflicts, which put particular stress on surviving military service members” (Kinney). Warfare now and in World War One are more chaotic and modernized which led to many people being affected with PTSD during World War One and the modern