All Quiet on the Western Front - Essay Example

Name: Tutor: Course: Date: All Quiet on the Western Front Introduction When the First World War began, its effect was heavily felt across Europe, some parts in Africa, Middle East, as well as in the Central and East Asia. The First World War primarily started as the third Balkan warand in Europe with its core root being the battle for land. Stevenson (45) believes that the spread of the war to other continents like Africa and Asia was brought about by the fact that scores of Europeans had established their lives in those particular continents. For this reason, the essay explains and emphasizes the German soldiers’ experience during the war in opposition to French nation, their connection with the commanding officers, other soldiers, as well as with their families back home. History of the First World War Basically, the Ottoman based in Europe felt the desire of combating to defend as well as sustain its associations with the other European authorities. The battle was fought exclusive of borders, it initially begun on ground, afterward employed submarines and later on begun air strikes. Air strikes were considered as the severest as well as affrighting means of fighting. Evidently, the war actually had negative impact to the inhabitants and endangered their lives after the walls were wrecked and boarders intruded. This was a consequence of the conflict turning out to be mobile, soldiers raided food stockpiles. Terror was engrained in the inhabitants and day after day they panicked for their lives. The panic and stories of assails from armed forces and the scarcity of food brought about act of violence. Orlow (67) affirms that industrialization came to a halt as the war advanced since the industries employees was generally comprised of men who were compelled unwillingly to battle in the war, but a number of were prepared to join the military. Undeniably, this heightened the number of casualties at the time of the war with the majority of the men who passed away while in the combat zones were handpicked civilians who were poorly trained. The participation of the community’s men union generated an enormous saddle to the wives who lacked experience of taking care of their families’ singlehandedly. In fact, they had no adequate knowledge of farming and this turned out to be difficult since the food production reduced. Panic overwhelmed with the frightening decrease in food production generated more causality while the war led to major loss of heat, food, as well as clothing. After a while, the war changed its course and took a hasty turn, where they begun making use of technology where aircrafts intended for air strikes were fabricated. Besides that, trenches were constructed as a means of saving the military. The soldiers were being attacked on ground by means of explosives thrown down by the newly developed aircrafts. Basically, the utilization of novel technology led to use of grenades and mortars in the explosions. Novel engineering expertise led to the light machine guns production in large quantities which were moveable as well as uncomplicated to shoot. Mulligan (30) indicates that the debut of novel expertise as well chemical engineering familiarity assisted in developing novel types and forms of phosgene gas as well as explosives. Alternatively, electrical engineering made real-time intelligence attainable and uncomplicated and also brought about new-fangled advancements in communication devices. The data collected was as well incredibly precise and clear-cut. Besides, the goals of achieving data through the military were made uncomplicated, realizable and feasible. These attributes of the technology use were behind the coining of the name-modern war. Germans introduction to the war was politically provoked. All Quiet on the Western Front was amassed rooted in the occurrences of the First World War as well it is founded on German soldiers. The master piece was initially written in German and afterward translated to English. The main characters in the book were soldiers, and it was written based on their lives, their commanding officers, family, and war experiences. The majority of the soldiers were teenage men who were yet to marry and lacked accurate focus or life direction. What’s more, they endured enormous setbacks in the war and a number of them ended up dying in the war whereas others lost some parts of their body such as legs or arms. Moreover, a number of them were left with appalling feelings which undoubtedly made both their lives and that of their families complicated when they returned home. Foot soldiers versus their commanding officers The soldiers and their commanding officers relationship portrayed in these two books were somehow differing. Both groups had varying war concepts as well as the operations occurring. In this regard, the commanding officers seemed too authoritarian and pitiless to the soldiers in nearly all instances. What’s more, their plans for succeeding in the war were sometimes contentious and they never accepted any ideas from the soldiers based on what should be done. Rather, they just saw the soldiers as participants in the battle, but not as individuals who were required to part of decision makers with regards to the war. Resolutions were done from the commanders and opinion from the soldiers was always disregarded. What’s more, the lives of the soldiers was never cared for by the commanding officers did, instead they just cared about triumphing in the war and overpowering their foes. An example based on the rivalry between the commanding officers and the soldiers, is the humiliation Kantorek who was their ex-teacher and trainer endured by his ex-student in front of other soldiers following the change of roles whereby he turned out to be the under the command of his ex-student. Basically, this demonstrates that there never existed an excellent association amongst Kantorek his ex-students as well as soldiers generally (Ramaque 81). Similarly, Himmelstoss who was as well their commander as well endured an embarrassment from nearly all the soldiers. This begun when the soldiers foremost defied his command and when they responded they did it with extreme sluggishness, making him very irritated and disturbed. Consequently, he attempted to become more unsympathetic and authoritarian on the soldiers, but instead td the soldiers harassed him exclusive of eliciting any suspicion and pound on him roughly. In the book, Himmelstoss is described him as dictatorial corporal (Ramarque 25) In this regard, the soldiers became extremely united and they created their own comrade, wherein they worked mutually, ate jointly and used nearly all of their time as one. They as well experienced traumatizing conditions jointly, which evidently gave them the bravery of overcoming their mean and brutal commanding officers, such as Himmelstoss. In this regard, the soldiers called themselves ‘us’ whereas their commanders were addressed as ‘them’. The intimacy as well as closeness that they had amongst themselves is established when Baumer heeds his fellow comrade’s voices searching for him; this makes him happy, which is brought about by the understanding of those voices. Baumer indicates this by confessing that “a rare affection flowed through him unpredictably. According to Baumer those voices, the few softly-uttered words, those footsteps inside the trench to his back unexpectedly pulled him out of the appalling segregation of the explosives panic to which he had surrendered. He further notes that those voices of his comrades meant a lot to him than his own life because they were the most influential and defensive thing that existed (Ramarque 191–192). Still the soldiers could not see the significance of the battle and they attempted to search the origin as well as objectives. Mutually, the concurred that there was no need for branding the war “their war” since they were by no means were they consulted when it was instigated and they believed that state of affairs, whereby one state fighting another state was baloney (Ramarque 92). What’s more, they felt betrayed and fleeced off their past lives as well as the relationships with their families. Based on this perspective, Baumer remarks by claiming that the war ruined them for everything (Ramarque 84). The noteworthy resemblance between the soldiers and commanders is that every one of them knew they will ultimately die, even if it was not at the war since they concluded by affirming that life is short. Thus, they attempt to take pleasure in it the finest way they can, though they were still at the war. Afterward when soldiers and commanders were in trenches, they agreed to collaborate and this is apparent when Himmelstoss (commander) enters the trench carrying a wounded soldier. Ironically, he requests the other soldiers to team up and everybody acts in response apart from Tjaden who was still doubtful of Himmelstoss’s plans (Ramarque 63). Foot soldiers versus the enemies in the trenches Following the use of technology, which was acquired during the First World War, aircrafts were utilized for air strikes. The land-based soldiers were compelled to conceal in unfathomable trenches which were constructed to protect the soldiers from air strikes. According to Ramarque (48) the trenches were initially constructed by Germans with the intention of seizing more land and afterward the French as well begun constructing. Ramarque (48) believes this assisted the two warring nations in aggressing one another at a close range and with bigger troops. However, the utilization of trenches came with numerous setbacks which to a great extent influenced the soldiers. Noticeably, when the comrades moved to the trenches, the scarcity of food begun to bite, given that it was hard to find it; this compelled most of them to hunting for meat. It was when n they were in the trenches that the soldiers understood that their life was no longer secure; this made most of them to even become closer than before. Whereas many soldiers died during the process, quite a number such as Baumer and Tjaden were lucky to survive. However, they were infected with maladies like gangrene, which made a number of their toes or even the entire leg had to be surgically removed. This came as a result of standing for a long time in water devoid of moving. Water in the trenches was caused primarily by heavy flooding brought about by rainfall. Besides that, Ramarque (37-38) points out that he trenches were packed with bad smell, dirt and filth from human waste, decaying corpses of soldiers who had starved to death or killed by enemies’ fire, and bad body odor of soldiers who had not taken shower for days if not weeks. This unhygienic state of affairs came with maladies and the transmission of those maladies and deprived rats which intruded to feast on the dead corpses became the soldiers’ inmates in the trenches (Ramarque, pp 47). Out of aggravation and abhorrence, the soldiers killed them by shooting; however, this never stopped the intruding rats from multiplying. As if not enough, the soldiers’ limited spaces inside the trenches were as well raided by swarms of flies, body lice, mites, and scabies. Besides that, the trenches turned out to be demoralizing home to soldiers and the most awful situations sourced from the explosives targeting them in trenches. These explosives thrown by aircrafts were vociferous and in intense conditions split the ears of the soldiers. Even though, a number of the men remained tranquil in such conditions, majority of the experienced emotional breakdowns. Foot soldiers versus “the enemy” (female version) in the village The comrades were taken back to the field out of the trenches and for redeployment so that the skills could be sharpened further. Whilst at the battle field, the soldiers were offered with time recreation and they were even allowed to go river that borders the French and Germans camps for swimming. When they were swimming, they saw some three adolescent French girls conversing by the river bank. So they decided to go all-out for the girls and thus, arranged for a meeting later in the night. One of the soldiers going by the name Paul believes that in order to stop thinking about the war experience, he must make love to one of the ladies, but this never came to pass. Basically, the French women exemplified the foes given that the German soldiers were in battle with French men; however, the soldiers still were determined to make love to the French women. Even Paul’s mother cautions him on the subject of French women since she perceives that they are the antagonist and are treacherous (Ramarque, pp 83). Foot soldiers versus their families back home Generally, the soldiers were detached with both their families and pasts. Nearly all of the German soldiers were teenagers and did not have children or wives back home apart from Kat. Kat who had a both a wife and child back home and always wished the war to end in order for him to return home to be with his family. Back home, nearly all of the other soldiers such as Tjaden, Baumer, as well as Haie had parents, but they were detached from them they lacked information pertaining to the how their family was doing. From the families’ viewpoint, they respected and honored their sons for taking part in the war, but they never expected their sons to come back home alive. On their part, all soldiers yearned for the day they will return home; however, in their minds they knew it was just a dream that would never come to pass (Ramarque 12-13). Majority of them died in the war, disconnected from their past lives and most never got the chance to realize their true selves. For those who were lucky to survive, majority of them moved to environment where they could not fine-tune themselves suitably because of what they experienced in war. Foot soldiers versus other townsfolk Paul encounters while home on leave Owing to his behavior, Paul was offered two weeks and three day leave and was told by Bertik to go back to the training camp after the leave before reporting to the fore. Upon arriving in his homeland, he stares around in quest of any familiar face to no avail. Moreover, his memory was jam-packed with pre-war time’s memories as he headed home. When he arrived he is embraced with her sister who hugs him with ecstasy and enthusiasm, before calling out for their mother to come and share the exhilaration. While at home, Paul feels lonely and appears he is not comfortable; this is evident when later on in the evening when he goes to the local bar he sits by himself because does not know how to hang around with townsfolk (Ramarque 75). Initially, Paul desired to go home to meet with his family and friends, but upon arriving there, he realizes that the feeling was no longer there. Besides that, his favorite food thno longer tasted pleasing like previously and even the inspiring books he used to read no longer did. He never desired to share his war experiences with his parent; instead he saw them plus his friends boring and unfriendly. Every time, he kept thinking about his comrades back at the battlefield and kept wondering how many were still alive. The last night before returning to the training camp, Paul’s mother came to visit him in his room; Paul promised her that he will return to visit them while training camp. However, deep inside Paul knew he would never return home; he went to bed beleaguered and regretted why he returned 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