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.