Summary Of Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front

World War I and All Quiet on the Western Front

World War I was the first of two major wars that affected the world. Germany was one of the Central Powers during the war. In Erich Maria Remarque’s novel All Quiet on the Western Front follows the story of how German soldiers braved complications during World War I. It tells the experience of a young soldier named Paul Bäumer. Since the book is based off of true events it can be compared with factual events from history. Although the book is fiction it tells a great details about World War I. Erich Maria Remarque’s novel shows the struggles of German soldiers by explaining rations during war, showing the effect of soldiers seeing each other die and describing the battles soldiers went through.

This means that they were limited on the food they received. During Paul Bäumer’s time in war he received rations. Two instances of this are, “What's more important still is the issue of a double ration of smokes” (2) and “"What a bean-feast! That's all for us! Each man gets--wait a bit--yes, practically two issues." (3). This shows that soldiers had to live with what they were given during the war. Not only were things rationed in a fictional book it was also rationed during World War I. An article from Imperial War Museums says, “Hunger stalked the civilian populations of all the combatant nations. Agriculture and food distribution suffered from strains imposed by the war and naval blockades reduced food imports.” Since there was less food during the war that’s what resulted in the rationing of food. Not only did soldiers get barely get enough to eat, they had to see each other

Often battles were fought with many types of weapons. In All Quiet on the Western Front one of the weapons used was shells. One example of this is, “Then only again the rockets, the singing of the shells and the stars there--most strange.” (30). While fighting in battle the soldiers knew what they were up against. On a site called the British Library, they talk about the different types of weapons used. They write, “The trench experience involved the terror of mud, slime and disease and the constant threat of shellfire. Heavy artillery and new weapons such as poison gas threatened death from afar; but hand to hand combat with clubs and knives killed many during the grisly business of trench raids.”. This shows that battles were brutal and there was lots of ways to