Katczinsky's All Quiet On The Western Front

Superior Essays
World War I was one of the most gruesome wars in history, with a death toll of 8.5 million and 20 million were left injured as a result of the war. Why so many innocent people joined to fight in the war? It was because of the glorification of war and people romanticized about experiences in war. The government told half-truths to the people in order to boost their nationalism which would benefit them when fighting the war. As a result, most of the civilian population believed that war was glamourous and fighting in the war would be easy, drawing many young men to enlist in the military. But as time passed, those who enlisted in the military started realizing that they have made a mistake. Some of them do not even know what or why they are fighting …show more content…
At the beginning of the war, the government tries to boost the nationalism of the civilians by glorifying the war, making everyone believe that fighting for one’s country is a heroic deed. Since war is so romanticized in war, not many people know what the actuality of war is. Living and fighting in the trenches is a terrible place to be because of their poor living conditions. In the book All Quiet On the Western Front, a character called Katczinsky complains about how the soldiers fighting in the war are not getting enough sleep because they must be alert at all times. Some of the soldiers fighting in the war have endured fourteen days without sleeping. But the people who are not fighting in the war do not understand the hardships like this they must face, so they are very pro war. “‘We 'll be home at Christmas,’ the recruits shouted laughingly to their mothers”(Zweig). The soldiers are only confident about winning the war because they have just been convinced by the recruiters that war is a glorious place added onto the fact that none of them have had wartime experience. In order …show more content…
The Treaty of Versailles was created because the costs of war were too high, 8.5 million were dead and 20 million were wounded. If the war continued the results would be the same, no progress, just increased amounts of casualties on all sides. Not only were the casualty numbers high, there were also other problems in the nations like famine. Countries started losing their control over their citizens because of financial burdens that rose the people’s taxes which made countries like the Ottoman Empire disappear and new leaders like Vladimir Lenin rise. Since the war was very destructive, many homes, farms, and churches had to be rebuilt, but at this point most of the countries were already in great debt because of the war, so they rose taxes, making the life of the working class even harder. People started changing the views on war and felt that the Central Powers were responsible for causing all the damage. But the Central Powers were surprised because they believed the war was not their fault and that the war was stopped because neither side thought it was necessary to keep fighting. Governments were also falling apart because of the financial crisis which resulted in political radicals rising, wanting to create a new government. Eventually when the Treaty of Versailles was signed, the Germans had to take full blame for the war, pay the costs of damage caused in war, limit

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