All Quiet on the Western Front - Assignment Example

Name: Tutor: Course: Date: All Quiet on the Western Front Introduction The First World War was experienced in Europe, Middle East, parts of Africa and in the East and Central Asia. It mainly begun in Europe as the third Balkan warand its main cause was the fight for land. The spread to other continents was caused by the fact that many Europeans had settled in those specific continents (Stevenson, 2012 p.45). The essay discusses and highlights the experiences of the German soldiers during the war against French nation, their relationship with the other soldiers, the commanding officers and with their families back home. History of the First World War In Europe, the Ottoman felt the need of fighting to protect and maintain its relationships with the other European powers. The war was fought without limits, it first started on land, then the use of submarines and later they started fighting in the air. Fighting in the air was deemed as the most dangerous and feared mode of fighting. The war really affected civilians and threatened their lives when the barriers were broken and boarders crossed. This was a result of the war becoming mobile, soldiers plundered food reserves. Fear was instilled in the civilians and each day they feared for their lives. The fear and rumors of attacks from soldiers and the food insecurities led to atrocity. According to Orlow, Industrialization was brought to a standstill as the war progressed because the workforce of the industries which mainly constituted of men was taken in to fight in the war. Some were willing to join the soldiers while others were not willing and neither were they trained soldiers (67). This is what increased the number of deaths experienced during the war. Most of the men who died while in the battle fields were civilians who were not well trained and were only handpicked. The involvement of the men fraternity of the community created a major burden to the women who were not used to taking care of the families on their own. They were not used to doing farming on their own and this became challenging because the food production decreased. Fear engulfed with the alarming rise of food production. The war brought with it the major loss of food, heat, clothing and even light. After a period of time, the war took a swift turn to the use of technology where aircrafts were built. Attacks were done from the aircrafts up in the skies. Trenches were built as a mode of saving the soldiers. The soldiers were being attacked on land through explosives which were being thrown down from the aircrafts. The use of new technology brought with it the use of mortars and grenades in the explosions. New engineering skills generated the mass production of light machine guns which were portable and easy to fire. Mulligan points out that the introduction of new skills and knowledge in chemical engineering helped in developing new forms and types of explosives and also phosgene gas (30). On the other hand, electrical engineering led to new developments in communication gadgets and real-time intelligence was made achievable and easy. The information gathered was also very accurate and precise. The ambitions of getting information by the soldiers were made easy, achievable and realizable. These characteristics of the use of technology were the ones that gave it the name-modern war. Introduction of the Germans to the war was politically motivated. All Quiet on the Western Front was compiled based on the happenings of the First World War and it is based on German soldiers. The book was first written in German and later translated to English. The book’s main characters were soldiers, their lives, family, experiences at war and their commanding officers. Most of the soldiers were young men who were not married and had no exact focus or direction of life. They faced great challenges in the war and some of them ended up losing their lives in the war while others lost either their arms or legs. Some of them were even left with traumatizing experiences which made their lives and the lives of their families difficult after they get back home. Foot soldiers versus their commanding officers The relationship between the soldiers and their commanding officers as depicted in these two books was conflicting. The two groups had different ideas of the war and the operations taking place. The commanding officers appeared too strict and cruel to the soldiers in most occasions. Their strategies for winning the war were sometimes controversial. They did not accept any contributions from the soldiers on what is to be done. They only saw the soldiers as people who participated in the war but not as people who were supposed to make decisions regarding the war. Decisions were made from up above from the commanders and the soldiers opinion were not considered. The commanding officers did not care for the lives of the soldiers they only cared about winning the battles and defeating their enemies. In one event regarding the conflict between the soldiers and the commanding officers, Kantorek who was their trainer and ex-teacher was humiliated by a former student in front of other soldiers after the roles were changed and he becomes the subordinate of his former student. This illustrates that there was never a good relationship between Kantorek and the students and soldiers in general(Ramaque, pp. 81). Himmelstoss who was their commander also faces another humiliation from almost all the soldiers. The soldiers first start by disobeying his order and responding with excessive slowness, he becomes very angry and agitated. As a result he tries to become more harsh and strict on the soldiers and the soldiers in return attacked him without raising any suspicion and beat him thoroughly. The book describes him as tyrannical corporal (Ramarque 25) The soldiers have become very united and they have formed their own comrade. They work together, eat together and spend most of their time together. They go through traumatizing situations together and this is what gives them the courage of standing against their cruel and mean commanding officers, the likes of Himmelstoss. They have become the ‘us’ while their commanders become ‘them’. The closeness and intimacy that they share is demonstrated when Baumer hears the voices of his fellow comrades looking for him and this brings him so much joy and warmth caused by the familiarity of their voices. Baumer points this out by admitting that “an uncommon warmth flows through me all of a sudden. Those voices, those few, softly-spoken words, those footsteps in the trench to my rear suddenly wrench me out of the terrible isolation of the mortal fear to which I had all but succumbed. Those voices mean more to me than my life . . . they are the most powerful and protective thing that there can ever be: they are the voices of my comrades” (Ramarque 191–192). The soldiers still cannot see the importance of the war and they try to find out the objectives and origin. They all agree that there is no need of calling the war “their” war because they were never consulted when it was started and they deem this situation of one nation attacking another nation as nonsense (Ramarque 92). They feel cheated and robbed off their past lives and the connections to their families. Baumer comments by saying “The war has ruined us for everything”. (Ramarque 84) The major similarity between the commanders and the soldiers is that they all know at one point or the other any of them will die. They conclude this by saying that life is short. They try to enjoy it the best way they can even though they are at war. Later when they are in the trenches, the commanders and the soldiers decide to work together and this is evident when Himmelstoss comes in carrying one of the injured soldiers. He urges the other soldiers to work together and every one responds except Tjaden who is still suspicious of himmelstoss’s intentions (Ramarque 63). Foot soldiers versus the enemies in the trenches After the First World War gained the knowledge of the use technology, aircrafts were used for attacks. The soldiers on land had to hide in deep trenches which were dug by men for protecting the soldiers from attacks done on air. The trenches were first built by Germans in the aim of grabbing more land and later the French also started building. This helped the two nations in attacking each other at a closer distance and in larger troops. The use of trenches brought with it many challenges which greatly affected the soldiers (Ramarque, pp 48). When the comrades took to the trenches, food was hard to find and they had to go out hunting for meat. While in the trenches, the soldiers realize that life no longer belongs to them. The life in the trenches made the comrades even closer than before. Many lives are lost here and only a few of them including Baumer and Tjaden survive. They were infected with diseases such as gangrene and some of their toes or even the whole leg had to amputated. This was as a result of standing in water for a long time or even days without moving. This was mainly caused by a lot of rainfall and flooding that was experienced in the trenches. The trenches were filled with odor, filth and dirt from human waste, human bodies from soldiers who stayed for days on end without bathing and also from decaying corpses (Ramarque, pp 37-38). These unsanitary scenarios brought with it diseases and the spread of those diseases and lowly rats which trooped in to come and feast on the dead corpses. The rats became the inmates of the soldiers in the trenches (Ramarque, pp 47). The soldiers killed them by shooting them out of frustration and disgust but this did not stop the rats from multiplying. The soldiers’ spaces in the trenches were also invaded by head and body lice, swarms of flies, scabies and mites. The trenches brought with it many devastating situations to soldiers of all the nations. The most terrible situations were brought by the explosives that were thrown in the trenches. The explosives were deafening and in extreme situations the soldiers ears splitting. Some of the men remained calm in these situations, while others suffered emotional breakdowns. Foot soldiers versus “the enemy” (female version) in the village The comrades are taken out of the trenches and back to the field for reorganization so that they can be brought back to strength and ability. While at the field, the soldiers get some relaxation time and they are even able to go for swimming in a river that borders the camps of the Germans and French. While swimming, they notice some three young French women who were walking by the banks of the river. They decide to go after the girls and they make arrangements of meeting afterwards in the night. Paul decides to make love to one of the ladies and he thinks by doing this he will be able to forget about the experiences of the war but this does not happen. The French women represent the enemy because the soldiers were fighting with the French men and they were French women but the soldiers still decided to lie with them. Paul’s mother also warns him about French women because she believes that they are the enemy and are dangerous (Ramarque, pp 83). Foot soldiers versus their families back home The soldiers are disconnected with their pasts and their families in general. Most of the soldiers are young and had no wives or children back home except for Kat. Kat had a wife and a child back home and he only wished for the war to be over so that he can go back and take care of his family. Most of the other soldiers like Baumer, Tjaden and Haie had parents back home but they were disconnected from them and most of them did not know how their families were faring. From the families’ perspective, they treated their sons with honor for fighting in the war but most of them hoped for their returns from the war to no avail. The fact of the high chances of their sons not returning was so clear to them and so they did not keep high expectations. The soldiers long for the day when they will go back home but they know that that is a dream and that it will not come true for many of them (Ramarque 12-13). Most of them will either die in the war, cut off from their past lives and even from the reality and their true selves. For those who will survive, most of them will in an environment where they will be unable to adjust properly and this is because after an individual lives in a situation where he sees death as normal and usual, a return to his normal self becomes a challenge and in extreme cases it is deemed impossible. Foot soldiers versus other townsfolk Paul encounters while home on leave Paul is given a seventeen day leave and he is informed by Bertik that after his leave he should go back to training camp before reporting to the front. When he arrives in his hometown, he looks around to see any familiar face but he sees none. He is flooded with memories of his pre-war times as he walks home. At home, he is met with her sister who hugs him with joy and excitement. She calls out for their mother to come and share the excitement. With all the familiarity around, Paul still feels distant and cannot seem to feel at home.When he goes to a local beer-garden later in the evening; he sits alone because he cannot seem to get along with the townsfolk (Ramarque 75).When he goes into tow the next time, he meets his German-master who takes him out for a few drinks. In the pub, his master drags him to sit in a table with a bunch of other men. They are curious about the experiences in the front and they envy him for being part of it. He informs that all the soldiers at war will not complain if they are allowed to come home once in a while (Ramarque 75-76) Paul was looking forward to being at home with his family and friends but after reaching there, he realizes that he does not have the same sentiments as the ones he had before the war. He does not like the food that used to be his favorite and even the books that used to inspire him no longer do. He cannot bring himself to talk about the experiences of the war with his father or mother. He no longer feels close to his parents or friends. Each time, he keeps thinking of his comrades back at the front and wonders how many will be alive when he gets back. During his last night back home, his mother comes to his room and they just sat in silent without uttering any words. Paul tells his mother that he will come back to visit while in training camp but deep inside he knows that that will never happen. He goes to bed tormented and wishes that he had never come home (Ramarque 82). Works Cited Stevenson, D, (2012).1914-1918: The History of the First World War London: Publisher Penguin Books Limited Mulligan,W, (2010). The Origins of the First World War,Volume 43 of New Approaches to European History, New York: Cambridge University Press Orlow, D, (2008). History of Modern Germany 1871-Present, 7th edition, London: Pearson Prentice Hall Remarque, M, E, ()All Quiet on the Western Front, New York: Ballantine Books Read More