All Quiet on the Western Front: Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Between the years of 1914 and 1918, the whole of Europe was locked in arms, not only for pride but also for survival. The years of war brought devastation upon all European societies. Men were massacred in droves, food stuff dwindled, and at times an end seemed non-existent. The foundation of the first Great War began when the Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serbian Nationalist, in Sarajevo. In battle, unlike previous wars, new weaponry caused drastic alterations in strategy. Armies will no longer stand face-to-face against their rivals to fight a Napoleonic style war, where one battle could turn the tide of an entire army. Now the war will be fought in trenches, hidden underground from the improved and long ranged artillery.

In many respects, World War I was a war of artillery, gas, and mechanization. Although as new weapons were becoming essential for battle, the leaders, on all sides, appeared too inept to fight this new style of warfare. Generals would send their troops in massive, front assaults, where whole divisions would be wiped out. Regardless of their losses there were no major deviations from the main tactic of artillery bombardments, followed with large frontal assaults. On an individual level, the scene of repeated assaults and mayhem of the front line did little to foster hope for their superiors or even for the naiveté of their fellow countrymen who were not fighting. For the lowly foot soldier, the war would have been extremely bleak and devastating for their psyches. Therefore, I submit that in times of sheer madness and destitution, as during World War I, men banded together to form make-shift families for support and companionship when all seemed lost; as exemplified in the novel All Quiet on the We...

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...break. The lapse in sanity in some became so severe resulting in a life fraught fear and depression. This enduring pain in soldiers became colloquially as shell shock, today known as post-traumatic stress disorder. While those who lived through the war their relationships, spurred from the horrors of war, with fellow soldiers developed into a profound love. The love caused by war formed out of the distressing agony of war to find support and empathy with those closest to you. When all society appeared to care less of a soldier’s existence or hardships, the best possible option would to turn to those who have suffered alongside you. Therefore, the birth of camaraderie would have found its development in the naïveté of society and the hardships, horror of war.

Works Cited

Remarque, Erich Maria. All Quiet on the Western Front. New York: Ballantine, 1982. Print.