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

In his book All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque, who was a German soldier in World War I, used his experience and vivid details to tell the story of a young protagonist facing the dangers and hardships of war. Remarque was born into a poor family, but he had a happy childhood that was filled with music, poetry, and stories. He was drafted in 1916, and the very next year, he was wounded, which ended up giving him time to write while recovering in the hospital. All Quiet on the Western Front, which was published in 1929, became Remarque’s most popular novel, making him very financially successful, but the thoughts and reactions of the readers were very controversial. The Nazis greatly opposed the book, burning and banning it,
The novel focuses on the time during the last two years of World War I, taking the reader to a variety of settings and giving them an idea of what war was like for the typical soldier. Before World War I began there was a formation of alliances going on with the most powerful countries in Europe. The Central Powers consisted of Germany, Bulgaria, and Austria-Hungary, and the Allies included France, Great Britain, Russia, and some other countries. The starting point of World War I was the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. Germany, which had the strongest military in Europe, went to war with hopes of expanding their country. Their plan, which they have been devising for decades, was to fight on two different fronts, first attacking France and then Russia. Germany’s plans ended up not working out due to new weapons, resulting in a new war strategy called position, or trench, warfare. Trench warfare resulted in millions of deaths and millions of soldiers wounded, and it broke up Europe. The survivors of the war, or the “lost generation”, had severe mental instabilities because of all of the death, suffering, and pain that they have either witnessed or endured. Readers and critics today greatly admire Remarque's’ All Quiet on the Western Front to be a beautifully written work of art that accurately describes the struggle both