Review Score: 5/5 Stars
War has always been a constant in human history. We have fought for personal grievances against our neighbor. We have fought for our greed to obtain more lands and riches. We have fought for necessities and outright survival. Humanity has always found a just cause for war, where diplomacy failed and men died for a purpose only the perpetrators of conflict could truly discern and understand. Ideals and axioms flood the mind of the warrior, he who seeks glory, bravery, and blood with the idea that it’s he that fights for his country and is on a grand adventure that will fill him with experience and the spice that one needs in their life.
But war deceives.
War seduces the mind of its monger, and the young men seeking to prove themselves in the eyes of the world. Romantics and the inexperienced alike tell of its thrills and opportunities for grand exploits, and the soldiers that have trained and drilled want nothing more but to finally practice their craft. They think to themselves that war will be a quick and trivial matter, but they themselves should know better that no plan survives first contact with the enemy.
All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel about the experiences of a young man enlisted in the Imperial German Army during the First World War, or as it was called back then, the Great War. Paul Baumen, along with his friends and classmates, have willingly enlisted in the army after being encouraged by their school teacher, Kantorek. They went off to war, towards the Western Front where they were baptized by its indifference. Machine guns, artillery, mortars, and the God-forsaken trenches that characterized the motionless war cared not for them, whether they were young, old, learned and smart, or noble and good. Futures were smashed and lives were lost.
When one sends a man to war, the man with his livelihood and family can return to their own world from the years-long interruption… but can a child? Young men, fresh out of school and wanton to make their mark on their world, can return to a life after their minds have been impressed by the trials of fire? Paul Bauman asks himself and his friends this question, whether there will be a place for them in society after the war. Katczinsky, Paul’s mentor and the eldest of his friends at the age of forty, says that he has his farm to go back to, while another, one of Paul’s classmates, says that he’s willing to have a career in the army. But for the others, and Paul himself, there is not a clear answer. All aspirations and dreams are forgotten, tossed out by its inadequate quality in the field and forgotten.
It is said that in war, the youth is killed and replaced by a grown man. Modesty and shyness disappear in favor of comradeship and practicality. Where most would squirm at the thought of defecating in the vicinity of others, these men do it in groups and stay there for hours, playing cards and nattering to their heart’s content. Where most would find themselves nauseated and faint at the sight of a person that has been torn apart and scattered throughout a field, these men can discern by a mere squint how this unfortunate soldier died and the caliber of the artillery shell used to accomplish it. They become desensitized to war’s sights, smells, and sounds, and often remain aloof to the recruits that are sent to the front lines, inexperienced and highly probable to die in their first day.
This culminates on Paul’s experience during his leave of absence, where he returns home to his family and find that he no longer belongs there. They receive him with warmth and tears, but Paul felt detached from his family and neighborhood; out of place and without comfort. He wishes he could tell his dying mother why he felt so alienated to his home, that he had a responsibility to his friends in the front, wanting to know how they were faring. In a way, it’s they who could only understand him, and not his family who seek to comfort him nor the people that tell him how brave he was. To Paul, they do not understand anything of it. He no longer felt attracted to the trivial matters of civilian life, to the point that his favorite books no longer entertained him as they did before he enlisted. He would look into the peaceful lives of the people of his home and feel repulsed, despite yearning for the calm that they enjoy in their day-to-day activities.
In the end, Paul wishes to have never gone on leave, for it filled him with far more uncertainty in thanks to his mother’s health, the wailing woman of whom Paul had told that her son had perished, and the peace that was absent in his life.
Trench warfare is seen as one of the most horrific types of armed conflict there is, for nothing is gained but a hundred meters of land at the cost of thousands of lives. The industrial might of the contending nations are put to blows against one another, and their manpower is forever churned to hold and advance to no real gain. Without the mobility of armored vehicles that characterized war in the remainder of the Twentieth Century, men were forced to seek the bowels of the earth to protect themselves against artillery and machine guns. The tactics of Napoleon and the lessons of the Franco-Prussian War could never prepare for the devastation and stagnation that was trench warfare, and the soldiers paid dearly for it.
Paul Bauman and his friends and comrades are forced to hide in dugouts when artillery barrages bear down on them, watching as the youngest recruits are driven mad by the incessant shelling and claustrophobia. One could not do anything but wait and hope that by sheer chance a direct hit does not bury them alive, but even then, it’s not enough to dissuade some, who rush out, and meet their maker in the field of fire. And yet, even after the quakes and the thunders seize, it’s not over, as they’re forced to rush out to their positions – now a meager collection of thrown earth and craters – and defend them against advancing storm troopers. Rest would not be found until the enemy said so.
To many, including the recruits mentioned before, these conditions would drive them mad with shell shock and claustrophobia, but to Paul, it’s another day in the Western Front, and he endures this in thanks to the friends he has. His classmates and the old-timer, Katzcinsky, have given him courage and sanity in times where none would ever be found, and it’s not only because they have coursed through four years of trench warfare together, but because they know and understand war. They can understand the difficulties of a soldier, and dispense helpful advice to those that are in dire need. Eating, sleeping, and fighting together, they’re brothers forged in fire.
But during the last years of the war, the state of the Imperial German Army was incredibly dire. Material shortages, such as munitions and food, plagued the troops, of whom were the anvil that the Allies constantly struck against with their superior numbers and materiel. One by one, Paul’s friends fell under the onslaught of the Allied nations, France, Great Britain, and the United States, up until only he and Katzcinsky were left. And yet, not even he was free from the war’s toll.
After four years of battles and seemingly worthless exploits, Paul Bauman stood alone, drained and hopeless, without his friends and without a future. He would be found dead during an unusually calm day in the trenches, his face not contorted in pain or slack by horror, but instead displaying one of pure calm, and even bliss.
This book is one of the greatest works of literature about one of the worst conflicts in human history. It serves to criticize the war, the state of the German military, the use of animals in combat operations, the needless death of untrained recruits, and the burden that the soldiers found themselves carrying. It’s clear why the Nazi government sought to ban and burn this book. It completely contradicts the image they wanted to portray war as, that there was really no point to it and caused so much damage to their nation. The Allies were portrayed much more positively than the Central Powers, more by the fact that they outproduced the Germans in materiel and food and seemingly provided better welfare to their soldiers. The war and its criticisms towards the German military would have broken the spell and revealed the ugly truths that the Nazi government did not want to disperse to the masses.
Such a book is worth reading, even if one is not a military/history nut. The characterization and the gut-punching stories and messages within are more than worth it.
But war deceives.
War seduces the mind of its monger, and the young men seeking to prove themselves in the eyes of the world. Romantics and the inexperienced alike tell of its thrills and opportunities for grand exploits, and the soldiers that have trained and drilled want nothing more but to finally practice their craft. They think to themselves that war will be a quick and trivial matter, but they themselves should know better that no plan survives first contact with the enemy.
All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel about the experiences of a young man enlisted in the Imperial German Army during the First World War, or as it was called back then, the Great War. Paul Baumen, along with his friends and classmates, have willingly enlisted in the army after being encouraged by their school teacher, Kantorek. They went off to war, towards the Western Front where they were baptized by its indifference. Machine guns, artillery, mortars, and the God-forsaken trenches that characterized the motionless war cared not for them, whether they were young, old, learned and smart, or noble and good. Futures were smashed and lives were lost.
When one sends a man to war, the man with his livelihood and family can return to their own world from the years-long interruption… but can a child? Young men, fresh out of school and wanton to make their mark on their world, can return to a life after their minds have been impressed by the trials of fire? Paul Bauman asks himself and his friends this question, whether there will be a place for them in society after the war. Katczinsky, Paul’s mentor and the eldest of his friends at the age of forty, says that he has his farm to go back to, while another, one of Paul’s classmates, says that he’s willing to have a career in the army. But for the others, and Paul himself, there is not a clear answer. All aspirations and dreams are forgotten, tossed out by its inadequate quality in the field and forgotten.
It is said that in war, the youth is killed and replaced by a grown man. Modesty and shyness disappear in favor of comradeship and practicality. Where most would squirm at the thought of defecating in the vicinity of others, these men do it in groups and stay there for hours, playing cards and nattering to their heart’s content. Where most would find themselves nauseated and faint at the sight of a person that has been torn apart and scattered throughout a field, these men can discern by a mere squint how this unfortunate soldier died and the caliber of the artillery shell used to accomplish it. They become desensitized to war’s sights, smells, and sounds, and often remain aloof to the recruits that are sent to the front lines, inexperienced and highly probable to die in their first day.
This culminates on Paul’s experience during his leave of absence, where he returns home to his family and find that he no longer belongs there. They receive him with warmth and tears, but Paul felt detached from his family and neighborhood; out of place and without comfort. He wishes he could tell his dying mother why he felt so alienated to his home, that he had a responsibility to his friends in the front, wanting to know how they were faring. In a way, it’s they who could only understand him, and not his family who seek to comfort him nor the people that tell him how brave he was. To Paul, they do not understand anything of it. He no longer felt attracted to the trivial matters of civilian life, to the point that his favorite books no longer entertained him as they did before he enlisted. He would look into the peaceful lives of the people of his home and feel repulsed, despite yearning for the calm that they enjoy in their day-to-day activities.
In the end, Paul wishes to have never gone on leave, for it filled him with far more uncertainty in thanks to his mother’s health, the wailing woman of whom Paul had told that her son had perished, and the peace that was absent in his life.
Trench warfare is seen as one of the most horrific types of armed conflict there is, for nothing is gained but a hundred meters of land at the cost of thousands of lives. The industrial might of the contending nations are put to blows against one another, and their manpower is forever churned to hold and advance to no real gain. Without the mobility of armored vehicles that characterized war in the remainder of the Twentieth Century, men were forced to seek the bowels of the earth to protect themselves against artillery and machine guns. The tactics of Napoleon and the lessons of the Franco-Prussian War could never prepare for the devastation and stagnation that was trench warfare, and the soldiers paid dearly for it.
Paul Bauman and his friends and comrades are forced to hide in dugouts when artillery barrages bear down on them, watching as the youngest recruits are driven mad by the incessant shelling and claustrophobia. One could not do anything but wait and hope that by sheer chance a direct hit does not bury them alive, but even then, it’s not enough to dissuade some, who rush out, and meet their maker in the field of fire. And yet, even after the quakes and the thunders seize, it’s not over, as they’re forced to rush out to their positions – now a meager collection of thrown earth and craters – and defend them against advancing storm troopers. Rest would not be found until the enemy said so.
To many, including the recruits mentioned before, these conditions would drive them mad with shell shock and claustrophobia, but to Paul, it’s another day in the Western Front, and he endures this in thanks to the friends he has. His classmates and the old-timer, Katzcinsky, have given him courage and sanity in times where none would ever be found, and it’s not only because they have coursed through four years of trench warfare together, but because they know and understand war. They can understand the difficulties of a soldier, and dispense helpful advice to those that are in dire need. Eating, sleeping, and fighting together, they’re brothers forged in fire.
But during the last years of the war, the state of the Imperial German Army was incredibly dire. Material shortages, such as munitions and food, plagued the troops, of whom were the anvil that the Allies constantly struck against with their superior numbers and materiel. One by one, Paul’s friends fell under the onslaught of the Allied nations, France, Great Britain, and the United States, up until only he and Katzcinsky were left. And yet, not even he was free from the war’s toll.
After four years of battles and seemingly worthless exploits, Paul Bauman stood alone, drained and hopeless, without his friends and without a future. He would be found dead during an unusually calm day in the trenches, his face not contorted in pain or slack by horror, but instead displaying one of pure calm, and even bliss.
This book is one of the greatest works of literature about one of the worst conflicts in human history. It serves to criticize the war, the state of the German military, the use of animals in combat operations, the needless death of untrained recruits, and the burden that the soldiers found themselves carrying. It’s clear why the Nazi government sought to ban and burn this book. It completely contradicts the image they wanted to portray war as, that there was really no point to it and caused so much damage to their nation. The Allies were portrayed much more positively than the Central Powers, more by the fact that they outproduced the Germans in materiel and food and seemingly provided better welfare to their soldiers. The war and its criticisms towards the German military would have broken the spell and revealed the ugly truths that the Nazi government did not want to disperse to the masses.
Such a book is worth reading, even if one is not a military/history nut. The characterization and the gut-punching stories and messages within are more than worth it.
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