Reflective Question 1

Given that this is a work of historical fiction, is there any piece of it that can be considered factual? Can it be used in any way to study history?

Although the book All Quiet on the Western Front can be seen as a historical work of fiction, there are still aspects of the book which can be seen as factual. Despite the absence of hard cold facts, as in the when or where, the actual emotional feelings and technical aspects of war are greatly depicted within the book. As stated in the Rites of Spring, “To demonstrate the significance of the Great War, one must of course deal with the interests and emotions involved in it.” (Eksteins xiv)

History, as far as I have learned it and seen it through my father’s eyes, lays great value in facts and dates. However I believe that is not the point of history. “Most history of warfare has been written with a narrow focus on strategy, weaponry, and organization, on generals, tanks, and politicians.” (Eksteins xv) But what about the people of the time, the for a lifetime scarred soldiers? Are they not often forgotten after the glory filled victory?

That is why I believe this book focuses its facts on the emotions and customs of the time. Sometimes one can even find a typical fact, such as, “…the whole length of the front from the Vosges to Flanders.” (Remarque 281) But mostly this book focuses on that that tends to be forgotten. Still there is no reason why this book cannot be used to teach and study history.

For example within the book we get a clear insight on the different levels of military discipline and how much the common soldier hates the war. Paul Bäumer, the protagonist in our book, makes the unpleasant mistake of not saluting a Major. “You think you can bring your front-line manners here, what? Well, we don’t stand for that sort of thing. Thank God, we have discipline here! Twenty paces backwards, double march!”(Remarque 163)

Thus the book may not serf as a factual resource for dates and names, however it can be used to study the moral and feelings of a war, to know just how exactly it was back then. Even if it includes a bit of the writers fiction, it still catches the historical morale of the time. And as we can know that Erich Maria Remarque himself served during World War I, we can be quite sure that he knew how exactly how it was back then (Remarque 297).

To be quiet honest I think the best way to study is history is through these kinds of books. In a textbook about history, one gathers the reason, the facts, and the weapons. But when does one actual meet the horror of the whole war? For me, a history textbook seems like an opening to loads of knowledge, especially about ourselves, however the main part always seems to be lost behind a front of facts. Whatever happened to the people back then? How about the children, the mothers?

While All Quiet on the Western Front might not tell us of the main battles or the military strategies, it gives us an insight into how the men themselves experienced the war and how the people thought back then. And that certainly is very important when one is studying history.

Bibliography:

Brainy Quote. 2011. 22 July 2011<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/ history.html>.

Eksteins, Modris. Rites of Spring. New Tork: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1989.

Remarque, Erich M. All Quiet on the Western Front. Trans. A.W. Wheen. New York:

Ballantine Books, 1928.

Reflective Question 2

History is generally taught through the eyes and experiences of “Great Men” and “Leaders” as opposed to considering the average citizen’s experiences. What are the possible impacts and implications of this process of teaching and studying history?

Since we mostly see history through the eyes of “Great Leaders”, the resulting effect can be quite disastrous. It is not the common soldiers who plans and hopes for war, but the leader of a country and thus we learn history through the calculated eyes of men who move wooden armies on maps, never once themselves on the actual battle field. While in the older days, leaders such as Napoleon, where at the actual front, nowadays, and during World War I, most leaders sit safely in their commanding posts. Thus the whole horror of such a war is greatly buffered.

In this way we actually see history through the eyes of the minority, since only few actual documents from the common folk reach or survive the different centuries. What does this make history? It seems thus that many of the facts we have gathered with such revere are actually only scratching the surface. What the great leader deemed as fit, his folk may have seen quite differently. A great way this is displayed is in All Quiet on the Western Front. “A word of command has made these silent figures our enemies; a word of command might transform them into our friends. At some table a document is signed by some persons whom none of us know, and then for years together that very crime on which formerly the world’s condemnation and severest penalty fall, become our highest aim.” (Remarque 193)

And it is quite true that the world still works this way to this day forward. However what do we learn through history this way? Nothing. A war seems like a simple declaration, a seal upon a paper and nothing more. Within dusty old textbooks, the war seems like a clean, sterile, and perfectly organized field, with glorified battles, and perfect victories. But through the eyes of the common folk it was not so.

If we look at the wars today, in Afghanistan or more recently in Libya, when do the news reporters interview the mothers, the children? What about the wounded soldiers? We can imagine the horrors but it does not reach us because all we get is the final report from the NATO in a very clean conference room. What happens is that when we learn history through the men who started it all, it is quiet clear we will never hear from the victims.

“But what I would like to know is whether there would not have been a war if the Kaiser had said no.” (Remarque 203) That is probably the question we all ask when we read a history textbook.

Bibliography:

Brainy Quote. 2011. 22 July 2011<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/ history.html>.

Eksteins, Modris. Rites of Spring. New Tork: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1989.

Remarque, Erich M. All Quiet on the Western Front. Trans. A.W. Wheen. New York:

Ballantine Books, 1928.

Reflective Question 3

History is generally taught through the consideration of two opposing forces; black and white sides. What are the possible impacts and implications of this process of teaching and study history?

“History is written by the Victors,” is how Winston Churchill best described history and it is true (Brainy Quote). For how different would our world history look now if World War I had never happened? Or best yet if the Germans and Japanese had won World War II? However this did come about, for just as Winston said, it was England who was victorious and thus wrote the history. But this of course has a downside to it. For in history it will seem as if the “white” side, the “good” side won. But that is definitely not how the Germans saw it in either World War I or II. From the standpoint of the soldiers and the citizens, from us students nowadays, so far away from the actual events, how should we know which side was good and bad? Ideologies of the victorious side become the good side while the rest are seen as the black side.

But those fighting the war are the same people. When Paul gets stuck in the no man’s land with the dying French soldier, we can see the resemblance. “But now, for the first time, I see you are a man like me. I thought of your hand-grenades, of your bayonet, of your rifle; now I see your wife and your face and our fellowship. Forgive me, comrade.”(Remarque 223)

By splitting two armies into two opposing forces, already we are forgetting the many different reasons, the personal gains and wants which have led this far. To be quite true to history, it is never black and white. As Kropp, a friend of Paul, states, “We are here to protect our fatherland. And the French are over there to protect their fatherland. Now who’s in the right?”(Remarque 203)

That is a perfect reason as to why one cannot see the armies as black and white. Both are acting at the best interests for their land. The French think their in the right just like the Germans. So who can you call black and white here? By making armies black and white it seems as if the victors are trying to justify their wars to the later generations. The effect is that we, studying from our history textbooks learn that what the winning side wants us to see. But what does that tell about us? In a way history can never be seen just from one side. It seems as if Napoleon was right when he said, “What is history but a fable agreed upon?” (Brainy Quote)

Bibliography:

Brainy Quote. 2011. 22 July 2011<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/ history.html>.

Eksteins, Modris. Rites of Spring. New Tork: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1989.

Remarque, Erich M. All Quiet on the Western Front. Trans. A.W. Wheen. New York:

Ballantine Books, 1928.

Reflective Question 4

Now that you have completed the book, I would like you to tell me in specific detail what you have actually learned (or not learned) about World War One as a result. Could any of this information be scrutinized for its accuracy or validity? Explain your responses.

When finishing the book, to be quite honest, one is shocked and horrified by all those deaths yet at the same time one has learned a lot. At first it is the usual facts which come through, ones which we have often heard beforehand. How the men fought in trenches filled with rats, how the no man’s land was littered with dead bodies. We also learned that the men carried bayonets but also already had hand-grenades. The rise of importance of the artillery and the machine gun became evident as well and how they actually used flame throwers and the first planes (Remarque 104).

What I found very interesting was the fact that each of the bombing shells or grenades or any other military equipment had different sounds and that the hard trained soldiers with experience could tell the difference. (Remarque 105) I am not quite sure if that is factual but in a way it makes sense.

When I think about it most of the thing I learned from All Quiet on the Western Front is a lot about the actual way the men fought. Especially going back to the sound of the bombardments, the storming of the different trenches little by little, how important the gas masks were.Another fact I found very interesting was the scene with the Russian War Prisoners. I did know about them vaguely, but it becomes so much clearer in the book how much they suffered and hungered (Remarque 192).

I also learned how the western front stretched all the way from Vosges to Flanders and that the Germans loved their discipline -big surprise there (Remarque 281). One also understands why the Germans took it so hard when they lost since the whole community of Germans was so behind the war and believed in it. This can be especially seen when Paul is on leave for a couple of days and everybody wants to know how the front is going and isn’t the mood great?

Sadly what I didn’t learn is exactly that what the history books teach us. Dates of when and where the men are fighting and the actual reasons for the fighting, the historical background. However since the Kaiser is only mentioned once fleetingly, questioning why he agreed to the war, one almost gets the feeling as if the book does not wish to focus on the reasons but instead on how the soldiers thought and felt.

All Quiet on the Western Front does not deliver many of the usual facts but more of the actual survival and physical aspects of World War I. I still believe they can be evaluated and seen as very useful. As I’ve said in my other responses, the book gives us an actual insight right smack into the middle of the war, with all its soldiers, its harsh conditions and its ways. In a way the book is a fresh breeze, since it still has many areas correct about World War I. It is nice to know theirs someone out there telling how the majority felt and not just the minority. Thus I fully support this book in its historical importance. For not only does it tell us about the War itself but also the post antiwar and antimilitary opinions of Remarque and his comrades.

Bibliography:

Brainy Quote. 2011. 22 July 2011<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/ history.html>.

Eksteins, Modris. Rites of Spring. New Tork: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1989.

Remarque, Erich M. All Quiet on the Western Front. Trans. A.W. Wheen. New York: Ballantine Books, 1928.