All Quiet On The Western Front Rhetorical Analysis

Many of the countries involved in the Great War had a reason to join, while some were involuntarily pulled into the struggle. For example, Germany wanted to show of their growing military and establish itself as a superpower while the Austro-Hungarian empire wanted to destroy the Serbian empire which they felt was threatening their national integrity. Other countries such as Great Britain were pulled into the fighting because of treaties they had signed which stated that if war broke out that they would come to the support of France and Russia. A first-hand account of the war and all of its travesties was published by a man named Remarque in his book All Quiet on the Western Front, where he recounts a fictional retelling of what the soldiers

had suffered in the war. Although the Great War was fought by many different countries with just as many different reasons, everybody who participated in the war was affected by it both directly and indirectly, with many countries and people changing as a result.
The loss of humanity and the consequences carried by it are constantly mentioned in All Quiet on the Western Front where the soldiers are repeatedly subjected to newer and more terrifying realities of war that chiseled away at their sanity.

This particularly clear when, on the battlefield, “the first bomb, the first explosion, burst in [the soldier’s] hearts. We [were] cut off from activity, from striving, from progress. We [believed] in such things no longer, we [believed] in war”(Remarque 88). The Author’s use of diction in this passage underlines how war leads to consequences, specifically using the words “heart” and “burst”. The word ”heart” is commonly associated with compassion, caring, and love. The word “burst” is used in conjunction with the word “heart” to help demonstrate how the soldier’s first exposure to the war swiftly cut off their emotions and forced them into a state where they were incapable of experiencing said emotion. This separation from reality affects the soldiers, because later on in the quote it says that they were “cut off from activity, from striving”, showing how the lack of humanity caused a cascade of other issues including not being able to strive in life and a lack of passion. The consequences of losing their humanity also resulted in them not being able to relate to anybody, and throughout the story there are many cases where Paul is unable to feel happy or sad even though regularly he would have been overfilled with happiness or joy. As

the book clearly demonstrates numerous times, soldiers at war come back different people, who aren’t who they once were, but rather poor people robbed of their humanity.
Another harmful side effect caused by war can be seen when Paul is given a chance to go back to a normal life for a couple of days, but he can not enjoy himself because he is disconnected from reality. When Paul arrives home, he goes up to his room where he grew up, where he reminisces of his life before the war. However, Paul feels disconnected from his past self. When he enters his room, he wants his books to ”fill [him] again, melt the heavy, dead lump of lead that lies somewhere in [him] and waken again the impatience of the future, the quick joy in the world of thought...bring back again the lost eagerness of [his] youth. [He] [sits] and [waits].”(Remarque 00). The image cast by the phrase “dead lump of lead” is one of something that is heavy and lifeless, which Paul hopes will disappear with his reintroduction to normal life. What is more, he hopes that this will “waken again the impatience of the future”, by which he implies that he wants to feel the same way he felt before the war, when he still had a desire to go out and do something. By juxtaposing the way he was before and after the war, the author creates two different people who have nothing in common except for their name. Although Paul gets to return home, it isn’t he who returned, but someone else who is not in the least bit related to him.
The war’s effect didn’t only resonate in the people, but in the countries as well, with Germany being forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles which left the country economically crippled.

The Allies created the Treaty of Versailles to prevent Germany from ever recovering and returning as a superpower contender. In the treaty the Allies demanded that Germany ”compensate for all damages done, completely restore Belgium, and [pay] a five percent interest on debt”(Treaty of Versailles 232). The treaty never had the intended effect, because in an attempt to repay their debt, Germany printed lots of money that caused rampant inflation and resulted in many people in losing their jobs. The dire situation in Germany led to the rise of the Nazi party, who promised to stop paying reparations and to fix the situation in Ggermany by creating jobs and rebuilding the military. By forcing Germany into paying for the reparations, the Allies stabbed themselves in the back because in desperation the people of Germany turned to extreme right-wing parties, leading to the rise of people like Hitler and other fascist leaders. Although the initial goal of the Treaty of Versailles was to prevent Germany from fighting back, it did more harm than good because it created an atmosphere where extremists like Hitler

emerged.
Not only did the Treaty of Versailles destroy Germany’s economy, the treaty affected Germany socially by making the Germans entirely guilty for the war. Although the Allies included the guilt clause as a reason to make Germany pay for all the reparations, many Germans saw it differently. The so called guilt clause stated that “all the loss and damage the Allies suffered came from the aggression of Germany”(Treaty of Versailles 231). Although originally intended to serve as a reason to extract reparations, the guilt clause angered the German public. Most Germans believed that they were not at fault for starting the war because it was the Austro-Hungarian empire that started the war. Furthermore, many Germans felt that they were being humiliated because they lost the war. The guilt clause caused many tempers to flare, and many Germans were upset by how they were treated by the victorious countries. Because the Germans were eager to show that they weren’t weak, they clamored to the Nazi party, which promised the public to restore Germany’s military, making Germany a force to be reckoned with once more. The guilt clause failed at its original goal, instead making people angry at the Allies.
The overall effect of war affects whole countries, but also resonates in individuals. War brings with it many terrible things, it causes people to lose their emotions and to feel disconnected from themselves. It also damages countries both economically and socially by placing unfair rules on the losers, leading many people to seek extreme solutions. If Iit is possible, more damage occurred after the war than during it because people’s lives were changed forever, and countries had to implement extreme measure to counter the Allies treaty, leading to the rise of Fascism.