Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front

there are different reason that lead to war. the war could be between different countries such as world war I, World War II, and Vietnam war. Also, the war could happen within one country such as the Civil War; however, the results of these different wars are all almost the same; the war effects the people of the countries on war and the soldiers who fight for these wars. however, many people wonder if these effects disappear by the end of the war or if there are other effect on these people after the end of the war. many people believe that the war has impact the lives of the soldiers who were at this war and their lives are no longer the same as the one before they were soldiers fighting for their countries.

the wars turn the soldiers from innocent people to beasts to be able to survive. if they did not kill, they will be killed. According to Erich Maria Remarque's novel, "All Quiet on the Western Front", he stated, " We have become wild beasts. We do not fight, we defend ourselves against annihilation. It is not against men that we fling our bombs, what do we know of men in this moment when Death is hunting us down"( Remarque, 113). this shows how the war influenced

these soldiers and turned them into monsters killing and destroying to survive their lives. Remarque has also supported idea of how awful the war turns the soldiers when he said in his novel "All Quiet on the Western Front" :
This wave that bears us along, that fills us with ferocity, turns us into thugs, into murderers, into God only knows what devils; this wave that multiplies our strength with fear and madness and greed of life, seeking and fighting for nothing but our deliverance. If your own father came over with them you would not hesitate to fling a bomb at him. (Remarque, 114)
These soldier are now welling to kill anyone who is ally with their enemy even if this person is really close to their heart.
moreover, when the war is over and the soldier return homes, they feel that their homes does not feel home anymore.

a lot of thing have changed since they have left their homes to go to war. in "All Quiet on the Western Front", Remarque explain how many of the soldiers feel when they return home when he said, " Indeed, it was different a year ago. It is I of course that have changed in the interval. There lies a gulf between that time and today. At that time I still knew nothing about the war, we had been only in quiet sectors." He continued, "But now I see that I have been crushed without knowing it. I find I do not belong here anymore, it is a foreign world" (Remarque, 168). the lives of these soldiers have changed and it will never go back the same way that they have before they go to

war.
in addition, when the soldier return to their homes, everyone around them keep asking them about the war and how they survived it; however, the only thing that these soldiers want to do when they return home is forgetting everything happened in this war. Remarque gave details about this in his novel, "All Quiet on the Western Front", when he stated:
I prefer to be alone, so that no one troubles me. For they all come back to the same thing, how badly it goes and how well it goes; one thinks it is this way, another that; and yet they are always absorbed in the things that go to make up their own existence. Formerly I lived in just the same way myself, but now I feel no contact here any longer (Remarque, 168).
when the soldiers return homes, they cannot forget the lives that they have during the war. for example, they cannot forget the sound of the bomb, the people dying in front of them, and the thing that they used to do to make them feel that they are safe. According to Nicholas D. Kristof's article, "A Veteran's Death, the Nation's Shame" he talked about two brothers that were soldier for the American Army in Iraq. in the article, Cheryl DeBow, the mother of the two brothers was giving examples about how the war has affected her sons and how they cannot get over this time of their lives. one of these example was how her biggest son bought a gun that it is the same kind of gun which he used to carry and sleep with it the whole time (Kristof). this example shows how horrific the war has affected the life of these soldiers and this is only one example of the many awful experiences that soldiers face after they return home. some soldiers when they return home, they will have hard time going to sleep because they would have nightmares every time they go to sleep.
Also, after doing a study on many of the veterans, the study has shown that many veterans experience post- traumatic stress disorder. According to Gregg Zoroya in his article, "Study Suggests Feelings of Guilt May be a Top Factor in PTSD", he explained the causes of post- traumatic stress disorder when he said:
A leading cause of post-traumatic stress disorder is the guilt that troops experience because of the moral dilemmas faced in combat....... The conflicts that service members feel may include "survivor's guilt," from living through an attack in which other service members died, and witnessing or participating in the unintentional killing of women or children (Zoroya).
most of the soldiers when they return home, they might feel guilty for the people that they have killed during the war. they might never forgive themselves for doing such a thing, and they end up killing themselves. According the some statistic done in the article, "A Veteran's Death, the Nation's Shame" by Nicholas D. Kristof, "An American soldier dies every day and a half, on average, in Iraq or Afghanistan. Veterans kill themselves at a rate of one every 80 minutes. More than 6,500 veteran suicides are logged every year", he continue, "more than the total number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq combined since those war began" (Kristof). these numbers shows the negative impact that war left on these soldiers, and how they give up on their lives so easily.