Patriotism In All Quiet On The Western Front

In the early twentieth century, an infamous war broke out in Europe between Germany and Austria-Hungary. As a consequence, more countries became involved in the war, such as Russia, France, and Italy; and the war was deemed to be the First World War. The experience of the war was often romanticized with the ideals of patriotism and honor , however the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, written by Erin Maria Remarque during a time of anti-war sentiment in Europe, shows an alternative perspective. In Remarque’s novel, a soldier named Paul Bäumer, who volunteered to join the army along with his classmates, shares his contrasting horrific experiences of war with the perceived illusion of greatness and honor that civilians had about the war. The novel was seen as an anti-war argument because of the physical and psychological consequences that were observed and experienced by Bäumer was the complete opposite of the glorified nationalism and honor that was relied to them by their teacher . The most prominent and compelling anti-war arguments in the book include the realization of soldiers having to disconnect from their emotions in order to survive, the brutality of war from the multiple casualties throughout the novel, and the advances in technology that were made with the intention of increasing bloodshed. As the duration of Paul Bäumer’s and his comrade’s experience in army escalates, they realized that in order to survive the anguish of war, they would have to emotional detach themselves from their feelings . In other words, it was a coping method for them when dealing with the deaths of their teammates or the dangers of their living conditions. Additionally, Bäumer mentions how they “…want to live at any price; so [they] cannot burden ourselves with feelings which…would be out of place here. Kemmerich is dead…it is a damnable business, but what has it to do with us now—we live…” To elaborate, Bäumer is stating that having empathy or expressing emotions is not necessary in their environment. This example illustrates the disappearance of empathy and the realization that feelings possess no significance in their situation . That being the case, the emotional detachment Bäumer and his comrades go through, allowed for the reliance and expansion of “…the animal instinct that is weekend in us we are led and protected…” The increase in their dependency on animalistic instinct was their coping method for surviving during the war. The dehumanization of war and their opponent, exhibits a negative quality of war; Bäumer and his comrades are compelled to disregard emotions in order for them to kill easier and they become desensitized from the death that is occurring all around them. They became more like machines. Furthermore, another persuasive example from the novel would be the number of casualties throughout the story and the lessons they learned from it. To begin with, there was a man named Joseph Behm who was one of the first soldiers to die . They could not retrieve him when he was shot the first time and he suffered in agony before he was shot down. This was the first encounter that Bäumer’s class had with war and death. As a result, Bäumer and his comrades had the realization that the authoritative figures in charge of talking about how war would be beneficial to the country did not understand the chaos of it. This example depicts the reality about those who argue about the positive attributes of war; they do not …show more content…
Those who advocated for war and convinced others were ignorant about the actual horrors of war because they were never on the battlefield. The reality was that, soldiers had to detach their emotions so they wouldn’t dwell on fear and death that was apparent all around them, the savagery of the war due to the casualties and the manner in which they died, and technological advances that aided in increasing the number of fatalities. Ultimately, those who physically participated in the war and in combat, knew the true repugnance of war. And, the disillusioned that advocated for war, did not comprehend the reality that the war was not for honor or nationalism because they did not physically participate on the war