all quiet on the western front

I have recently started reading All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Mariaremarque. In my history classes I have learned about World War I on multiple occasions in the last several years. I always hear that history is written by its victors and this is exactly what makes this story interesting. It is written in the perspective of a soldier on the losing side of the war. Typically you only hear about the war through the eyes of the allied forces. However, or at least in my case, I have never heard what the war was like for the German forces in the Great War. Even though I am not very far into this novel I think the differences on the German side of the war is very different. The main character is not much older than me and I think it’s amazing how different his life is from my own. But I like how I can compare my own life to the life of a soldier. Paul Baumer enlists into the German army with his classmates and with youthful enthusiasm. However, the book also graphically displays all the tragedies which took place in the trenches. Paul faces lots of hardships as he watches his friends die in front of him or he faces hunger and discomfort in the trenches. Lots of poor health conditions because many of the medical workers in the war were ill-equipped or had so many injured patients to deal with that many of the soldiers were neglected and did not receive all of the help they may have desperately needed. So far, this book is filled with intense situations because the war was very intense in general. Seeing these events take place through a soldier’s eyes is much more interesting because I have friends and I can compare my life to his and even think about what my life would be like if I were to enlist in the military with my friends. Although things were very different in the 1910’s, some of the circumstances would be the same and I like how this book makes me compare the modern military with the military during the Great War because so much has changed since World War I such as weapons, vehicles, and medical practices. War itself is fought very differently than it was nearly 100 years ago. I hope as I continue to read this novel I will learn more about the war and what it was like to be a soldier during this time period.