Remarque's Opposition To War

All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, is considered an anti-war novel. Remarque states in the preface, “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 will simply tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped the sells, were destroyed by the war” (preface). Erich makes it clear in the preface that war is not to be taken lightly, for it is something that will stay with a soldier for forever, and that death in any war is inevitable. However, more specifically in this novel nearly all men were as good as dead by means of the war. Erich Remarque showed his opposition to war in this novel by having
the horrors of war being a main theme prominent throughout the chapters. The horrors of war portray how awful World War I truly was. The war was romanticized by those who did not take part in the fight. “While they continued to write and talk, we saw the wounded and dying. While they taught that duty to one’s country is the greatest thing, we already knew that death-throes are stronger” (pg. 13). People often associated war with the glory, honor and patriotic duty of joining the army, rather than the sickening truths the bloodshed lead to. The idea of nationalism during these times was acted upon by fear of being called a coward, without consideration of the true aspects of warfare.
The hostility between Germany and France led to many horrors of war.
The most important issue was the effects on the soldiers during and after World War I. The constant site of death and fighting makes the soldiers become numb to the world around them. They lose a grasp on the world that they were once a part of and become consumed by the war. “We have become wild beast. We do not fight, we defend ourselves against annihilation. It is not against men that we fling bombs, what do we know of men in this moment when Death is haunting us down...” (pg. 113). This quote demonstrates how the soldiers would often tell themselves that killing is just another side effect of being on the front lines. They are forced to push out any humanity in order to survive; they had two options, kill or be killed. After the years of war, if they survived, most of the men felt as if they were alone and haunted by their past. “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 into ruin” (pg. 294). The quote states that no matter how much time will pass, the war will always be a part of them. Only few will learn how to truly live with the burden of war, while trying to get back into the way that life was beforehand. No matter what happens in the war, a soldier’s life is always
impacted.
To conclude, the anti-war novel, All Quite on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, reveals the true colors of war through a soldier’s perspective. Unlike the glamorized versions of war, the soldiers’ experiences show how horrific war is. The horrors mentioned in the novel, stay with the soldiers for forever. Remarque writes in a way, which gives readers an opposing view point of how actions in war affect the people serving in a negative way.