J�nger's Storm Of Steel: The Glorification Of War

Ernst Jünger’s Storm of Steel:
The Glorification of War

Ernst Jünger’s Storm of Steel is an immensely fascinating and surprisingly illuminating chronicle of a German soldier’s experience on the battlefields and in the trenches of The Great War. Despite the grim nature of the book, there is an overriding sense of humanity that prevails even in the gravest of circumstances – a humanity which I believe will be the solution to the ideological wars of the future. I find myself extremely conflicted in my opinion of this book as a whole, primarily because I feel compelled to object to its very existence as a text that, in one capacity or another, serves to glorify the idea of war; yet I am equally touched by how many of the author’s experiences
While it is almost impossible that the author intended Storm of Steel to be received as a sort of pacifist manifesto, I believe the book’s primary function should be to accurately depict the realities and consequences of total war, which in turn would dissuade future populations from subscribing to the ideologies that necessitate total warfare. In the book’s first few pages, Jünger suggests a shared yearning for danger between him and his fellow soldiers. While not condemnable on its own, this yearning serves to enrapture the young German men and is ultimately responsible for the alacrity with which Jünger and his fellow soldiers approach the ideas of war and killing. This cheerful readiness to injure and maim is what I find so objectionable about the book. By viewing the War as a means of obtaining glory through the performance of “manly” duties (such as violence and killing), the young men of the 73rd Fusiliers are able to rationalize their actions and perpetuate an ideology that yields an unimaginably high amount of unnecessary death and