Summary Of All Quiet On The Western Front

The global bloodshed of World War I began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. The casualties of the war were at least 38 million, while others suffered significant losses, and were badly injured. World War I was significant in the advancement in weaponry, artillery, and strategies but still lacked the proper living conditions for the soldiers to remain healthy. The book All Quiet on the Western Front, narrated by Paul Bäumer, and written by Erich Maria Remarque tells the story of young German soldiers fighting on the German front during World War I. What began as a patriotic and heroic adventure, the soldiers begin to realize the harsh and grim reality of the war, as they experienced weeks of brutal training, inhumane officials,

War trenches are troughs in the ground where soldiers eat, sleep, prepare for battle, and fight. Besides the fact that the trenches were impractical, they were additionally very unsanitary, and caused countless issues for the soldiers. Diseases such as the flu and pneumonia were spread easily through the trenches. Other problems included conditions such as “trench foot” also advanced throughout rapidly. Dead bodies, trash, limbs, blood, guts and more were scattered across the trench floors, providing an unlivable space for the thousands of soldiers. The trenches were well also known for their rat infestations. These rats, were notoriously known as “corpse” or “trench rats” and grew to insanely abnormal sizes. They added to the filth and unsanitary conditions of the trenches, which increased rates of sickness and death among the soldiers. (INTRO TO QUOTE) “We must look out for our bread. The rats have become much more numerous lately because the trenches are no longer in good condition” (Remarque 101).

The most common psychological issue that soldiers faced is a disorder known as “PTSD” or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD is caused by the witness of an extremely traumatic event. Bombing, shelling, and even witnessing a close one die were all things that would have triggered a stress related disorder. Many soldiers, although young, began to feel worn out and old from the long, tiring years of the war. “I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another” (263). As the war comes to a gruesome end, Paul realizes how the war aged him. And how he went into the war a young man with a hopeful life ahead of him and ended the war as an exposed, aged