Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front

Life seems difficult right now, how about living through the first ever World War? It was the first immense scale war, starting from a conflict between two countries and escalating to many countries becoming involved. World War I has tons of facts and events, so it’s important to get the basics of the war; the start of the war, the battles and propaganda used, post war effects, and Erich Maria Remarque’s(a soldier during WWI) book, All Quiet on the Western Front. World War I, later known as the Great War, was the first ever global war that was costly and grand. The effects of the war led to changes in political powers in Europe, Asia and Africa. The war “fundamentally weakened the Western European powers, thus encouraging the growth of nationalism …show more content…
As the war escalated, battles were important, as they were turning points for the two powers. These powers also need the use of propaganda to be able to support the battles through weapons and the need of soldiers. As the war escalated, battles between the Allies and Central Power began. This war was the first war that had newer technology, such as machine guns, while still using old tactics. Many of the battles, mostly on the Western Front (the border between France and Germany), used trench warfare. Nationalism also grew as propaganda was used to manipulate the other side into being worse and to get more soldiers to join the fight. With France and Russia being on either side of Germany, they created the Schlieffen Plan that meant they would defeat France as quickly as possible and then head over to the mobilizing Russia, but it ended up in a stalemate between France and Germany. Some of the battles were the First Battle of the Marne, Battle of the Somme, and Battle of Verdun, leading to deaths. In the First Battle of the Marne (September 6-9, 1914), Germany's army was invading northeastern France, about 30 miles from …show more content…
The use of treaties such as the Treaty of Versailles led to Germany and the other Central Powers being responsible for paying the effects of the war, and the Washington Treaty was used to try to keep the peace, but it didn’t stay peaceful for very long. “Most notably, Germany had to pay billions of dollars in reparations for damage caused by the war, give up all of its colonies, and restrict the size of its armed forces” (AMSCO 475). Germany took the blame for the whole war. The treaty to difficulties and hyperinflation from the reparations. Around fifteen years later, the Nazi party would rise and try to take over Europe, as a way to get back at the loss of the first World War. Once they became in power in Germany, Hitler started to go against the Treaty of Versailles. Great Britain and France didn’t want another world war, they appeased Germany into allowing them to take over land without a problem. In the Washington Treaty, “The United States of America, the British Empire, France, Italy and Japan, hereinafter referred to as the Signatory Powers, [...] prevent the use in war of noxious gases and chemicals” (Washington Treaty). The following decades contained rebellion in Russia and “revolutionaries unseated ruling governments in each country, challenging the existing political and social order and instituting their own political philosophies and practices” (AMSCO 453).

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Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front