All Quiet on

the Western
Front
An Anti war Plea from German
culture
Themes
German Patriotism
• Young starry eyed boys
• Teachers spreading propaganda
German Patriotism
• Can be seen within various poems about the fatherland
• (OH father land my father land
• Look for german propaganda songs and poems
• Use Erika (song) for romanticized version of poetry)
• https://youtu.be/Xi_vwyPRxOI (and this)
• Patriostism is not evil
• Taken too far and applied to the context of war it created false
expectation
• First modern war. Men expected muskets and canonsn
Horrors of war
• The deaths of each character one by one
throughout the novel
Many soldiers watched their friends die

• Unprepared reaction to the extent of graphic

violence
This could be attributed to weapons used in the first
modern war.
oNo German had ever seen a tank (right image)

Overall: Physical and phycological trauma

Message
War is hell on earth
• No romanticization of the war in the novel
•
Aftermath
• Novel insighted controversy within german culture
• Open the door for realism
Lasting effects of ww1 on german culture
• Frontline didn’t move
• Would have become a world power but didn’t economy didn’t
recover
• Then world war 2 hit
• Phycological trauma on many german soldiers