Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front Essay World War I is one of the most influential and bloody wars in history. Soldiers did not always receive fair treatment, and often encountered harsh conditions, especially those men who were fighting on the front line. World War I took place between 1914-1919 (pbs), during which millions of lives were lost, and nearly everyone’s life was touched by the war in some way. It was a time of loss and pain for people all over the world. Various countries turned to the draft in order to maintain the numbers necessary for the war, forcing people to fight for a cause they may no support or believe in. Among these countries was Germany, who drafted the author of All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque.

Despite Erich Remarque being near the front lines during World War One, he did not pen the novel based off of first hand accounts, nor did he write the novel off of completely accurate, historical events. There are overlaps between Remarque’s life and friends with the characters in the novel; however, there are also discrepancies. Upon being drafted, Remarque went through Prussian training drills that were conducted by Corporal Himmelreich, who evolves into Corporal Himmelstoss in the novel. (BBB 15). But unlike the main character Paul, who volunteer to join the military in the novel, Erich Remarque did not volunteer, but was drafted in to the war. Another discrepancy that proves the text to be a secondary source is that the people some characters from the book are based off of did not serve in the war at all, but were in Remarque’s life prior to being drafted, “By the time he was twelve, his best friend was Kristen Kranzbuehler, who would later become a feature character of Kemmerich in All Quiet on the Western Front.”(BBBb8). This demonstrates how Remarque did not simply change the name of men that he served with, but rather created war characters based off of prior relationships who did not fight in the war at all. In an interview, Remarque said that although he did experience many things spoken about in the book, he also hear many stories from other men in the hospitals and from letters his friends had sent him. ( red