BY ERICH MARIA

REMARQUE

All Quiet on the Western

Front

Erich Maria Remarque More than any other

conflict, the Great War inspired writers of all generations and classes, most notably among combatants

AQWF is an anti-war novel depicting the horrors of war from the point of view of the ordinary soldier:

"It is just as much a matter of chance that I am still alive as that I might have been hit.  In a bomb-proof dug-out I may be smashed to atoms and in the open may survive ten hour's bombardment unscratched.  No soldier outlives a thousand chances.  But every soldier believes in Chance and trusts his luck."

Remarque During the War

Erich Maria Remarque studied at the University of Münster but had to enlist in the German army at the age of 18. 

He fought on the Western Front and was wounded several times.

After the war, Remarque worked as a teacher, a stonecutter, and a test-car driver.

He became famous after his first novel, All Quiet on the Western Front touched a nerve of the time sparked off a storm of political controversy

About the Author

A brief discourse on the causes of WWI from someone who is not a history teacher.

Militarism Alliance system Imperialism Nationalism

Because Britain had a great navy, Germany wanted a great navy too. Germany and France competed for larger armies. The more one nation built up its army and navy, the more other nations felt they had to do the same.

Militarism

                For twenty years, the nations of Europe had been making alliances. It was thought the alliances would promote peace. Each country would be protected by others in case of war, making it foolish for one country to wage war on another. The danger of these alliances was that an argument between two countries could draw all the other nations into a fight. This is just what happened when a conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia led to World War I.

                

               In the summer of 1914 there were two alliances: The Triple Alliance composed of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, stood opposed to the Triple Entente composed of Britain, France, and Russia.

                

Alliance System

                                           

Another cause was that European nations ruled smaller countries, called colonies, and competed with each other to amass more colonies. Both France and Britain had many colonies in Africa and Asia. Now Germany and Italy decided they wanted a colonial empire too.

Imperialism

In addition to political conflicts, the causes of the war included such forces as nationalism or patriotism. Nationalism led European nations to compete for the largest army and navy, or the greatest industrial development. It also gave groups of subject peoples the idea of forming independent nations of their own.

Nationalism

The war that would destroy European society had been coming for a long time. The nineteenth century had been an era of great progress and of turmoil and conflict as well. New nations had been created. The balance of power that existed in 1815, at the end of the era of Napoleon, was disturbed. Adding to the danger was a false sense of security. Local wars had flared up in the nineteenth century, but a major war was regarded as unlikely. Looking back at 1914 today, however, we can see that each of the major countries of Europe had interests that would bring it into conflict with at least one of the other great powers.

Escalation

On June 28, 1914, Gacrilo Princip, a nineteen-year-old Serbian revolutionary, fired two pistol shots. One killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the nephew of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary and heir to the Austrian throne. The other killed Sophie, his wife.

Austria-Hungary held Serbia responsible. On July 5 Austria asked for and received from Germany a "blank check" of support for any action Austria-Hungary might take against Serbia.

On July 23 Austria sent a series of demands to the Serbians. The demands were designed to humiliate and virtually destroy the Serbian nation. Still, Serbia agreed to most but not all of the demands.

Spark

Austria reacted on July 28 by declaring war on Serbia. The Russians prepared to defend Serbia. Germany sent a warning to Russia to stop mobilizing its army for war; the Russians ignored the warning, and Germany declared war on Russia on August 1. France came to the aid of its Russian ally by declaring war on Germany. The British hesitated, but when the Germans marched into Belgium, they declared war on Germany as well.

Italy, the third member of the Triple Alliance, refused to back Germany and Austria-Hungary. Italy claimed the Triple Alliance was for defensive purposes only and Austria's declaration of war against Serbia was no defensive.

So in August, 1914, the guns of the war went off. The system of alliances for keeping peace had brought the great nations of Europe into war with one another.

Allied Powers included France, Great Britain, and Russia (and eventually the US).Allied Powers

Central PowersCentral Powers included Germany, Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire.

Most Famous WWI Poem: “In Flanders Fields”

Sung by SHS Concert Choir

In Flanders Fields

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow Between the crosses row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Sift through the poem. What is the tone and theme of this piece? What themes do you think

we will encounter in the book?

Symbol: examine the title and text for symbolism

          

Images: identify imagery and sensory details

          

Figures of Speech:analyze figurative language and other devices (use the terms on the handout).

            

Tone and Theme:discuss how all devices reveal tone and theme

          

Life in the Trenches

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Themes

Loss of Innocence Truths of War Hopes, Dreams, PlansSacrificeDeathPrimitiveness

Loss of InnocenceInnocence is almost an enemy in All

Quiet on the Western Front – a soldier must get rid of it right away if he wants to survive. Our narrator learns to lose his innocence quickly,

mostly by observing that loss in others around him, but also through

his own experiences. And he consciously feels that loss as he

survives in the story, noting how he has become "old folk" and how separate he feels from the new

recruits entering the fray, recruits only a year or so younger than he is,

but far more innocent.

Truths of WarAll Quiet on the Western Front

displays all of the angst central to any story about war, but it also

exposes the horrors of a new kind of war, one that allows for mass death. Machine guns had never been used

before World War 1Our narrator provides a close account of the

atrocities of the war. Even those who physically survive are victims. The soldiers must learn every detail of

warfare in order to survive.

Hopes, Dreams PlansIn the world of All Quiet on the

Western Front, we are exposed to the dreams of men who endure months upon months of trench

warfare. Conditions are abysmal and mass death is a frequent

occurrence. This violent context shapes the soldiers' – and

particularly our narrator's – concept of life and of dreams. The soldiers dream in order to keep sane and in

order to stay alive. Their dreams are not elaborate, but are, rather, tied to

home, family, sex, and food.

SacrificeWhen you break down the word "sacrifice," the first part, "sacr," means sacred or holy. Sacrifice implies a set of beliefs for which one is willing to give something up to achieve. In All Quiet on the Western Front, the men sacrifice everything for nothing. They give up their lives for a set of ideals that are either incomprehensible or false. The fact that they sacrifice for unknown reasons gives rise to great and widespread tension.

DeathThe frailty and value of life is a giant theme in All Quiet on the

Western Front. The author highlights the shallow attitude of observers who think of soldiers as

toys that can be lost and easily replaced. The author spends great

amounts of time describing the process of dying. Eventually, Death becomes the greatest enemy of all.

In the novel, the bravest of the brave men die, while the weakest

of men survive.

PrimitivenessThroughout the course of All

Quiet on the Western Front, we watch as soldiers fight to both preserve their humanity and to suppress their human instincts. Humanness allows them to form strong bonds with one another, but it also compels them to feel like hunted prey. Their ability to

survive is sustained by these bonds, and their ability to kill is fed by their primal fear of being

hunted. Lots of animalistic imagery thread throughout the novel, highlighting the wilder

urges that the men face.

Characters

Protagonist: Paul Baumer Secondary: Stanislaus Katczinsky Background characters: Muller, Tjaden, Albert Kropp, Kimmerich,

Leer, Haie Westhus, Detering Kantorek (their Schoolmaster) Corporal Himmelstoss Baumer, Muller, Leer and Kropp went to school together and were

encouraged to enlist Kantorek. All are age nineteen. Tjaden, Westhus and Detering are lower class workers or farmers. Katczinsky is the oldest and becomes a mentor or father figure to

Paul.

BY ERICH MARIA

REMARQUE

All Quiet on the Western

Front“This book is to be neither an accusation nor a

confession, and least of all an adventure, for

death is not an adventure to those who stand

face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a

generation of men who, even though they

may have escaped its shells, were destroyed

by the war.” (Remarque 6)

Plot Summary

As you saw in the excerpt, the book opens five miles behind the front. Kimmerich has just died.

After the excerpt, we follow Paul with the Second Company to the front line where he experiences a bombardment of French bombs, trench warfare and death on an intimate level.

Juxtaposed with the harsh experiences of war, we also learn of the intimate camaraderie that develops between the group as they work together to find food, and battle against lice and rats.

We learn of Kat’s amazing ability to scavenge and are privy to the debates the boys have on the merits of fighting a war that they did not start.

Half way through the book, Paul is given leave and returns home to find that his mother is very sick and bedridden. He is reunited with his boyhood items but is now so disconnected from the boy he was just a few years ago that he is filled with a profound sadness. He ends his visit with the thought “I ought never to have come on leave” (Remarque 160).

Plot Summary

After his leave and before returning to the front, Paul is stationed on the base for additional training and is assigned to guard the Russian POWs, an experience which makes him question the validity of the German propaganda.

He returns to the front and feels unable to reintegrate into the group. He is rusty and finds himself making mistakes that he wouldn’t have if he had never gone on leave. After a routine patrol into no man’s land, he finds himself paralyzed by fear behind enemy lines and forced to kill a French soldier.

After coming under fire while evacuating a town, Paul and Albert are wounded and bribe their way into a military hospital where a new group of injured soldiers bond. They even conspire to help one of them have sex with his wife who comes to visit after years of being apart.

Paul is discharged and returns to the front. The book ends with the knowledge of the inevitable defeat of the German army and

a montage of each character’s death, culminating with Paul’s death on the last page.

Life in the TrenchesThink Along

WWI Propaganda