All Quiet on the Western Front: A Discussion on the Book’s Continual Revival and Society’s Disillusionment with War
Third Place
HIST A102: Western Civilization 2
Andrew Lockwood
Jessie Wilson has been a Mat-Su College student for one year and is moving on to the University of Alaska Anchorage to continue her Bachelors in History. She also plans to minor but hasn’t quite decided between Political Science, Anthropology, or Language. She has been passionate about history for most of her life and is excited to be following her childhood dreams. Jessie hopes to one day become a high-school teacher or college professor in History and Social Studies, as well as partake in archeological research and eventually write her own books.
Abstract
This essay discusses the international classic All Quiet on the Western Front, focusing on its impact on society’s disillusionment with war and government, particularly in the United States. All Quiet on the Western Front is continually revived over the past 95 years as a reminder that those in power are increasingly moving away from citizens' best interests.All Quiet on the Western Front: A Discussion on the Book’s Continual Revival and Society’s Disillusionment with War
Erich Maria Remarque, a German writer and editor who, like many at the time, wanted to voice their experiences in the most devastating and technologically advanced conflict as of yet: World War I. Remarque did not intend for his most acclaimed work to become a topic of political tension, as he explicitly tells the audience in his preface to All Quiet on the Western Front, "This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession…It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war." (Remarque, 1929). Despite his clarifications, his home country of Germany was his biggest critic as the Nazi party was gaining ground. Copies of his book were publicly burned, showings of the film adaptation released in 1930 were terrorized, and Remarque himself was driven out of Germany along with his book (Franklin, 2011). Regardless of how badly the German Nazi party reacted to it, his book was reaching international acclaim worldwide.All Quiet On The Western Front follows the story of a young man named Paul Baumer, just fresh out of grammar school and enlisted due to the pressure of what he often cites as "the older generations" Paul strongly believes and reflects on throughout the book, that war was a game played by those in power and it was always at the expense of the young. (Murdoch, 2011). His contempt for the people who urged him into enlisting is what most literature reviews consider the only political aspect of the book; contrary to what the Nazis believed about it. While this is not the biggest talking point in All Quiet on the Western Front, it is crucial to understanding the importance of the work to subsequent generations.
Consistently throughout his life in the book, Paul reflects on how he feels no attachment to who he was before he experienced war, and often with his friends they discuss what they will do afterward, yet Baumer doesn't see a future without war in it and frankly doesn't see anything at all beyond it (Remarque, 1929). Paul (and Remarque) is voicing what many soldiers felt during the war, his descriptions of the events are keenly felt by the readers, and intensely moving, which helped to drive the book to become one of the most successful film adaptations. (Henningfield, 2011).
While the film released in 1930 of All Quiet on the Western Front was indirectly Remarque's work, it is still a large piece in the puzzle of the book's overall impact. For one of the first times ever, war was on the big screen in all its violence and glory. Viewers see in real time that contrary to popular belief, war wasn't a moment of glory, but a desperate and constant grab at survival. Despite the graphic and eye-opening film, the many precautions that were put in place after World War I was over, and the book itself among many others of the time becoming fuel in the fire of ever-growing anti-war sentiments, it was only a matter of time before humanity was dragged into further conflict less than 10 years later.
Fast forwarding 25 years from 1930, It is post world war in America, the economy is booming and while All Quiet on the Western Front and the events that took place in it are still in living memory, the newly emerged superpower is extending military force overseas in what is the longest American war in history: Vietnam. The Vietnam war saw the largest amassing of American troops since World War II and took place throughout the most revolutionary time for the American public. Major organizations such as the Students for a Democratic Society launched the famous March on Washington to end the Vietnam War in 1965, the largest peaceful protest to ever happen in American history (Washington March Against Vietnam War, 1965). Along with numerous anti-war protests, Vietnam Veterans occupied the Statue of Liberty twice to show disillusionment with the war, draping the statue's face with banners in opposition of Congress and the President, and at the same time Veterans and activists like John Kerry were besieging the government to end the war. (Wierner, 2015).
So with that in mind, what do the events of the American side of the Vietnam War have to do with All Quiet on the Western Front? The Anti-war sentiments that erupted after World War I across the globe did not simply disappear. It was kept alive by many organizations like the Socialist Party of America (Ceballos, 2014). and fueled by war around every corner during the 20th century. The same anti-war beliefs from 1929 were well alive in 1975. As if on cue, a second film adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front was released in 1979, roughly four years after twenty years of Vietnam war ended with a bitter taste for all involved. The film sparked a new interest in the reality of war and once again was an international success.
If we follow a pattern of devastating wars steeped in strong opposition by the public and ending with little success and a rallying of anti-war sentiment, it would lead us to nearly the present day: the U.S. War on terrorism which also included many other nations such as Britain and France. While successful in the sense that U.S. and United Nations' intent to eliminate Saddam Hussein came to pass in 2006 (Saddam Hussein, 2023). the occupation of the middle east continued for a decade. Eradicating terrorism has been proved to be impossible through the last 20 years of American occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq, and as more and more skirmishes led to American soldiers dying for little to no reason, the American and European public increasingly called for withdrawal, as seen in many opinion pieces and social media outlets across the globe (Parsi et. al., 2022). Like clockwork, a third adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front was released in December of 2022 and has already received awards and international acclaim. The continual reminder of this international classic piece of literature proves that the feelings, experiences, and thoughts of Paul Baumer are not a snapshot of the past, but rather a continuation of what is felt in society today. Veterans of all wars and anyone who has picked up All Quiet on the Western Front did not need to live beside Baumer to understand what he meant.
In the aftermath of a war that seems to be unending to those who live through it, humanity is consistently reminded of the struggle and the very short life of Paul Baumer, of his disillusionment with his teacher Kantorek, who pushed him to enlist, his inability to see a time of peace in the nearby future, and his dissociation with his own emotions. Baumer, and through extension, Remarque's belief that war is a game by those in charge and the lost generation suffered its consequences, is echoed throughout every violent conflict in history and each protest against it. Whether it be the examples presented in this paper or conflicts across the world, All Quiet on the Western Front is a piece of literature that lives in its audiences even today.
References
Encyclopedia Britannica, inc. (2023, January 9). Saddam Hussein. Encyclopedia. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saddam-Hussein
Murdoch, B., Henningfield, D. A., Franklin, R. (2011). All quiet on the western front, by Erich Maria Remarque. Salem Press.
Remarque, E. M., & Wheen, A. W. (1975). All quiet on the western front. Little, Brown and Company.
The New York Times. (1965). Washington march against Vietnam War. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1965/04/24/archives/washington-march-against-vietnam-war.html
Wiener, J. (2015). Vietnam in the Battlefield of Memory. Nation, 300(18), 18–22. https://depts.washington.edu/antiwar/WW1_reds.shtml