War Never Changes

“War. War never changes,” begins the trailer of Fallout 4, and indeed it does not. Even the entirety of human history could not prevent the bloodbath that is WWI. Also known as The Great War, this massive international battle was nothing short of transformative, meaning that it has significantly impacted the world even to this day. WWI lasted a total of four years, from 1914 to 1918, and was fought between the Central Powers (Germany, Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary) and Allied Powers (France, Russia, England) and took place in central Europe. The Allies emerged victorious in the end, but both sides suffered tremendous losses. All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, is a semi-autobiographical novel following the life of Paul Baümer, a nineteen year old German soldier fighting in WWI. He recounts the gruesome and horrifying routine of a soldier as well as the moral qualms he faces on the brink of death. Individuals traumatized by the horrors of war ultimately birthed a new genre of art and literature that focused on reshaping society’s perception of reality, which later aided the uprising of radical ideas and governments on a worldwide scale.
The Lost Generation, Paul’s peers, have been
He criticizes civilians’ blatant ignorance toward the reality of war by celebrating soldiers for their heroism with gusto while turning a blind eye to their sufferings. Little do they know that war is so horrible many soldiers choose to take their own lives instead, yet the public continues to glorify the bravery of taking slaughtering other humans. Both The Treachery of Images and “Suicide in the Trenches” serve to “wake up” the masses that have been blinded by propaganda. Both pieces urge the reader to not trust their eyes and alter the sheep-like mentality of society by seeing the war for the torture it really