World War I was commonly referred to as “The Great War” because of all the death that has happened but also the generation we lost in the process. World War I happened between the years 1914 through 1918; this involved all of the countries of the world even though some were neutral. Inside of the fight of the war the soldiers suffered greatly through the trenches. All Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque gives us an account of the war from a soldier's perspective of World War I. The narrator of All Quiet on the Western Front is Paul Baumer. Paul Baumer is a young World War I German soldier who decided to join the army with some of classmates when Germany needed soldiers. His father is indeed proud of his son’s war efforts …show more content…
When the war started volunteers like Paul, Albert Kropp, Muller, Franz Kemmerich, Joseph Behm, Leer, and Mittelstaedt decided to sign up to fight in the war. The reason they signed up for the war because of their school teacher, Kantorek who said it was their “patriotic duty” to enlist in the army; just like Paul said about his teacher, “While they (the pontificating teachers and politicos) continued to write and talk, we saw the wounded and dying. While they taught that duty to one's country is the greatest thing, we already knew that death-throes are stronger” (Remarque 13). Even during the war time it tough for everyone especially when you are a soldier fighting for your country’s freedom. During World War I, narrated by soldier Paul Baumer, times were tough. In Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, describes and tells the account of a soldier through the ups and downs of a soldier fighting in the war. ““He fell in October 1918, on a day that was so quiet and still on the whole front, that the army report confined itself to the single sentence: All quiet on the Western Front” (Remarque