Analysis Of Erich Maria Remarque´s All Quiet On The Western Front

World War One, The Great War, or The War to End All Wars lasted between summer 1914 to the fall of 1918. This period of destruction would be fought between the Allies, consisting of Great Britain, Italy, France, and later the United States, and the Central Powers made up of mainly Germany. An estimated 17 millions soldiers and civilians are said to have died in the war. Motives for countries entering the war included a series of alliances and agreements tying countries together, nationalism, and violation of foreign policy. However, the experience of the average soldier was far from those at the top deciding who and when to go to war with as told from Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front. His novel follows from the perspective
Post-traumatic stress disorder can occur after an individual undergoes a terrifying event, symptoms include disinterest, irritability, and poor concentration. Claustrophobia is the extreme fear of confined or tight spaces, such as the trench systems of the front lines. When Paul is on leave, he goes back to his hometown to visit his family. After Paul leaves a from a bar in town he thinks to himself, “I imagined leave would be different from this. Indeed, it was different a year ago. It is I of course that have changed in the interval. There lies a gulf between that time and today. At that time I still knew nothing about the war, we had been only in quiet sectors. But now I see that I have been crushed without knowing it. I find I do not belong here anymore, it is a foreign world”(Remarque 168). Being exposed to the war has changed him mentally as when he remarks, ” But now I see that I have been crushed without knowing it”, Paul is not talking about being crushed physically from the war but rather emotionally. Feeling disconnected from society is a possible symptom of PTSD, “I find I do not belong here anymore, it is a foreign world”, As Paul returns home he find that he doesn’t belong in his old, pre-war life. An immediate consequence of Paul going to war is that his
The Treaty of Versailles was written by the Allied powers to ensure that Germany would never again be able to wage war on the scale that had just happened. As part of the treaty, the Allies imposed war reparations. War reparations are payments made to cover the damages and injuries inflicted during combat. These reparations totaled to $400 billion when adjusted for inflation (Hooper Binder). Due to the massive debt put on Germany, their economy could not handle it and thus collapsed. This collapse put many people out of work. When the government printed more and more money to try and solve the problem the inflation only increased even more. Hitler took advantage of the feelings of the German people and promised to stop the reparations, bring people jobs, and make them proud to be German again (Rise of Hitler). Only because of the way Germany was treated as by the Allies their people turned towards a leader such as Hitler who was promising to lead Germany into its former glory and