all quiet on the western front
TRANSCRIPT
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Tony Davis
English II Honors B
Mrs. Walker
January 26, 2010
All Quiet on the Western Front Essay
Adolf Hitler, the most powerful dictator in the history of the world, had fear of a
single novel he believed could collapse a plan to strengthen Germany and take over the
world. All Quiet on the Western Front describes the experiences of a group of young
men who fought in the German Army during World War One. Of course Germany lost
World War One and had harsh surrender conditions under the Treaty of Versailles,
specifically the 231 Clause. Germany could not build up its military, lost colonies and
territory, had to pay reparations, and worst of all got the entire blame for World War One.
Hitler knew that to achieve his goal of taking over the world, as outlined in Mien Kampf,
he had to enable people to have faith in Germany and have the nationalism they did prior
to World War One. Adolf Hitler banned All Quiet on the Western Front in Germany in
order for his plan of strengthening Germany and taking over the world to succeed; All
Quiet on the Western Front showed weakness of Germany and bad conditions of war that
would make German soldiers less confident and less willing to fight and make German
citizens less supportive of a war.
Although All Quiet on the Western Front shows bravery of a group of young
German soldiers, the novel also shows the horror of trench warfare and the terrible
conditions of war. The conditions of war described in All Quiet on the Western Front
made Hitler afraid that men would be deterred from wanting to fight for Germany or that
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German men would be less confident when they went to war so they would not be useful
soldiers. Hitler had to be a master of propaganda in order to shield the German people
from the memories of the horrific and embarrassing endeavors of World War One, so he
banned novels such as All Quiet on the Western Front and supported newspapers and
novels that showed German nationalism and strength. The descriptive scenes in All Quiet
on the Western Front were graphic enough for Hitler to believe that German men would
be less willing to fight for Germany if they read the novel. Perhaps the most descriptive
scene of trench warfare was the bombardment of the abnormally-sized rats that abducted
and devoured the little food the soldiers had to eat. “We must look out for our bread. The
rats have become much more numerous lately because the trenches are longer in good
condition…The rats here are particularly repulsive, they are so fat---the kind we all call
corpse-rats. They have shocking, evil, naked faces, and it is nauseating to see their long,
nude tails…In the adjoining sector they attacked two large cats and a dog, bit them to
death and devoured them” (Remarque 46). This description of the rats in trenches and the
explicit imagery used by Remarque would easily make a German man pondering the
option of joining the military decide to stay home where there were no dog-eating rats
and would make soldiers who were going to fight have more fear, which is bad because
to be an exemplary soldier fear must not be shown and the sense of nationalism must be
carried to the degree that even if death would result it is honorable and sweet to die for
one’s country. Hitler did not want the German soldiers under his command to see the
weakness of the German soldiers that fought in World War One. “Our lines are falling
back. There are too many fresh English and American regiments over there. There’s too
much corned beef and white wheaten bread. Too many new guns. Too many aeroplanes.
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We are emancipated and starved. Our food is bad and mixed up with so much substitute
stuff that it makes us ill” (Remarque 125). The weakness of the German soldiers shown
in All Quiet on the Western Front was a major contributing factor for Hitler banning the
novel.
Although Hitler’s main concern regarding All Quiet on the Western Front was the
lowering of the moral of the soldiers because of the terrible conditions of war described
in the novel, he also thought it was necessary to ban the novel because he thought it
would decrease the nationalism of German citizens. All Quiet on the Western Front
recalled World War One and although it does not directly mention the Treaty of
Versailles or the 231 Clause, Hitler knew that if citizens were exposed to the novel they
would be reminded of the humiliating defeat Germany suffered in World War One and
the 231 Clause that crippled Germany’s military and economy and blamed the entire war
on Germany. Hitler knew that a feeling of German nationalism by all German people was
vital in order to fulfill his plan of making Germany extremely powerful and taking over
the world. Hitler also knew that he needed the support for the war of all German people
in order to fulfill his plan and that the conditions described in the novel would make the
German people less likely to support a war. Hitler banned All Quiet on the Western Front
because he knew he needed the support of the German people to achieve his goal of
taking over the world.
Even though All Quiet on the Western Front showed bravery of a group of young
German soldiers, the novel also showed the horror of trench warfare and the terrible
conditions of war. Hitler not only knew that he had to ban the novel in order to ensure
that the soldiers and German men would be willing to fight, but knew he had to ban the
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novel in order to get the German people on his side and gain their support. Adolf Hitler
banned All Quiet on the Western Front so he could strengthen Germany and Germany’s
military and achieve his goal of world domination.