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The cause, course and consequences of WWII
The effect of World War 2
The effect of World War 2
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Paul Bäumer
Paul told the story of the war as it happened to him. The reader is taken from the front line, to a catholic hospital, to his home while he is away on leave. His story tells of the sacrifice the soldiers gave defending their country. It also tells of the difficulties of losing friends, killing another man, and going day after day without much, if any, sleep. He died in October of 1918, just before the war ended. His death was described as this, "...his face had an expression of calm, as though almost glad the end had come."
Stanislaus Katczinsky
Katczinsky, or "Kat" as he is referred to, is the leader of this group of men. He is the oldest at the age of forty, and also the wisest. His opinion was always taken and his orders were followed. Paul also believe Kat to have a sixth sense. He was able to find anything that was needed in places where no one else could. Once he went out to "explore," then came back over an hour later with bread and meat for dinner.
Albert Kropp
Albert was one of the students that enlisted at the same time as Paul. He was also a close friend of Paul's. So close that after both had been wounded and were on a train home, when Albert became sick and was scheduled to be taken off at the next stop, Paul went off with him. After this stop they were sent to a hospital to be treated for their wounds. Paul after a few weeks ended up healing fine, the opposite was true for Albert. An infection spread through his leg leading for the need for it to be amputated at the thigh. When Paul returned to the war these two friends parted, never to see each other again.
Josef Behm
Josef Behm was described as a plump fellow who, at first, did not want to join the war efforts. Later, after being called a coward, he was convinced by his schoolmaster and fellow students to join the army. He was the first of his schoolmates to be killed in action.
Detering
Detering was a man who mainly kept to himself. He is described as a peasant who thinks of no more than his farmland and his wife. On the way back from the front line he saw a cherry tree with white blossoms.
All Quiet on the Western Front is a book written by Erich Maria Remarque. It was a book written to reflect the human cost of war. It shows us how war has a hidden face that most people do not see until it is too late. In the novel, he describes a group of young men who at first think war is glorious. But as the war drags on, the group discovers how war is not all it is set out to be. As the war went on, they saw their friends either die or be permanently wounded. Then the end comes when there was only one person left.
War in the end does kill Paul, but not before his closest friends are killed. Katczinsky is hit by shrapnel and is horrifically described by the author here "Kat got a splinter of shrapnel in his head on the way. The war has ripped apart Paul's life and now his closest friend is dead. The final chapter describes Paul's last days and how he is resigned to dying. The novel goes from first person narrative to third person when Paul passes away. "He fell in October1918 on a day that was so still and quiet along the entire front." This line is important as it refers to the title of the book and how it is still and quiet on this day because it is the end of the war. The death of Paul stresses to me that war is pointless and is only a destructive force which rips apart family, friends and lives.
... While the corpse represents each of these concepts, in the end it is Paul’s faith – his own luck – that saves his life once again. What, upon first glance, appears to be a hectic and confused account of a destructive shelling becomes a wonderfully connected verse of one soldier’s struggle to preserve himself against all odds. What more can be said about Paul?
use nature as the judge to condemn war, along with shocking imagery, so that his
Paul believed the older generation "...ought to be mediators and guides to the world... to the future. / The idea of authority, which they represented, was associated in [their] minds with greater insight and a more humane wisdom." Paul, his classmates, and a majority of their vulnerable generation completely trusted their role models and because of that trust were influenced and pressured into joining the war. They believed the older generation understood the truth behind war and would never send them to a dangerous or inhumane situation, "...but the first death [they] saw shattered this belief." The death caused the soldiers to realize that the experiences of their generation were more in line with reality than those of the older generation and that created a gap between the two. "While [the older generation] continued to write and talk, [Paul's generation] saw the wounded and dying. / While [the older generation] taught that duty to one's country is the greatest thing, [Paul's] already knew that death-throes are stronger."
Paul and his friends move back and forth between their camp and the front lines and for Paul almost nothing else exists but the game of war and the ground it is played on. life is extremely horrible for the men due to constant bombing lasting for days and rations of mouldy bread, these conditions show the literal effects on the soldiers. There are also rats living with them in the trenches that crawl over them in the night and the soldiers are forced to kill them like they are the enemy. Living in the trenches at the front surrounded by constant shelling and bombing means that the men live with a lot of anxiety and fear, causing some recruits to become mentally unstable. In the book some of the newer soldiers attempt suicide, showing that the war has damaged them to the point of them not caring for their lives
how children live in a world of their own. Adults try to get into this
There was a drastic change in Paul’s mindset when he came home for his break. For example, he lied to Franz’s mother about his death. He said he had a quick death, but in reality, Franz had a slow and painful death. As a result of the war, many soldiers also gave up on their beliefs as well.
The French also made a secret agreement with Italy, as well as with the Americans. Germany also made alliances with Austria-Hungary, and Italy. (Ross 18). This alliance system, divided the continent into “armed camps,” and thereby made it more likely that such an incident could not be prevented from spreading. (Ross 52). After a lot of problems in the Balkans, caused by the newly formed states, France and Russia both felt that war was destined to come, although both Germany and Britain had shown willingness to cooperate, trying to prevent war, and to make peace. This definitely showed hope as two hostile countries tried to reach an agreement. Forced into trouble in the Balkans, the nations desperately tried to keep peace, unsuccessfully. These countries also had a lot of colonies, mostly in Africa. As they were also competing to get the greatest amount of territory there, they often crossed each other, causing several problems.
Alliances were the reason that so many countries were involved in the war, and why it escalated into a global event. For instance, one of the key events that sparked the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Gavrilo Princip, a member of the group called The Black Hand, killed Ferdinand and his wife in hopes to make Serbia independent from Austria-Hungary. Basically, Austria-Hungary wanted Serbia to punish the people responsible for the assassination and Serbia refused, so Austria-Hungary declared war on them. Since Serbia was an ally to Allied powers and Austria-Hungary was an ally to the Central Powers, this single event set off a chain reaction that resulted in all the countries associated with these major powers being involved in the conflict. A single country going into battle can drag the rest of its allies with it, and with so many alliances a small event can spread into a full scale fight, such as the World Wars.
At the beginning of chapter seven, the Second Company is taken further back to a depot for reinforcements, and the men rest. Himmelstoss wants to get on good terms with the boys and shows them kindness. Paul starts to respect him after seeing how he carried Haie Westhus when he was hit in the back. Tjaden is won over too after he learns that Himmelstoss will provide extra rations from his job as sergeant cook.
When Paul is about to go on his leave, he visits with his fellow soldiers and thinks to himself, “I will be away for six weeks - that is lucky, of course, but what may happen before I get back? Shall I meet all these fellows again?” (Remarque 152). Paul is fearing that his comrades will die in the war as he is on leave. Remarque utilizes this fear to show Paul’s true comradery with his friends and to show that a soldier has far more to worry about than himself in the war; a soldier always has friends to worry about. On top of that, Paul is worried about his mother and even says, “...how can it be that I must part from you...we have so much to say, and we shall never say it” (Remarque 184). Paul understands that he will most likely die in the war, and therefore, he dreads leaving his mother. Remarque adds this detail in to express how war often causes far more grief than ever thought of before. He uses it to show that war takes away much more than a man’s body, that it also takes away a man’s mind, and destroys his family with grief. With only a few ties to reality, Paul must fight through the cloudedness in his mind as well as the war.
Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel that takes you through the life of a soldier in World War I. Remarque is accurately able to portray the episodes soldiers go through. All Quiet on the Western Front shows the change in attitudes of the men before and during the war. This novel is able to show the great change war has evolved to be. From lining your men up and charging in the eighteenth century, to digging and “living” in the trenches with rapid-fire machine guns, bombs, and flame-throwers being exposed in your trench a short five meters away. Remarque makes one actually feel the fun and then the tragedy of warfare. At the beginning of the novel Remarque gives you nationalist feelings through pride of Paul and the rest of the boys. However at the end of the war Remarque shows how pointless war really is. This is felt when everyone starts to die as the war progresses.
People who have actually been through war know how horrible it is. Society on the other hand, while it believes it knows the horrors of war, can never understand or sympathize with a soldier’s situation. The only people who can understand war is those who have been through it so they can often feel alone if they are out of the military. Paul cannot even give a straight answer to his own father about his dad’s inquiries about war. Paul’s dad does not understand that people who have been in the war can in no way truly express the horrible things that that have seen and experienced. Nor can Paul fit in with the society who does not understand him. Paul and so many others were brought into the war so young that they know of nothing else other than war. Paul held these views on society as he said, “We will be superfluous even to ourselves, we will grow older, a few will adapt themselves, some others will merely submit, and most will be bewildered;-the years will pass by and in the end we shall fall in to ruin.
result it has on people. In all three poems the last line of the poems