Felix Gilbert's "The End of the European Era"

Remarque is writing most domain of a function War I, but he is deliberate in devising his book stand somewhat outside the real invoice of the clip in order to make his point about the folly of all war. World War I is an quick metaphor for his view, however, given the disillusionment that set in later that war.

World War I had a profound offspring on the untried Germans of that era. Such a young individual is the narrator of the narrative, Paul, who is as caught up in the patriotism of the s as any peerless else when he first joins the army. He is 19 years of age and has never been away from home for any maintain or any length of time sooner. The way the twaddle is told emphasizes the degree of change that is to come over these young men, for the story does not take place chronologically but kind of begins on the battlefield as the young men argon reflecting on the real meaning of the war and on what it has do to them. They get a letter from Kantorek and become angry--it was Kantorek, their teacher, who encouraged them to go to war, and now they be suffering from the loss of their friends, from the amputation of the leg of Franz, and from the horrors to which they shake up been subjected since they entered the fight. We therefore meet these young men after they confirm been disillusioned, and thus there is irony as we see them from an precedent time and know that all their patriotic fervor pull up stakes come to naught and that the esteem with which they hold their teacher wil

l evaporate in the warming of battle. We see their reality before we see their illusion which makes photo to that illusion all the more poignant at the time:

Again and again in this film, war is shown as something that destroys, that divide relationships apart, relationships which otherwise would grow into friendships or love. The men who meet in the camp are thrown together by circumstance. near are from the same social class, and some are from contrasting social classes that normally would be kept apart. As they are escaping, the two French fliers are befriended by a mature woman whose husband and brothers have all been killed in the war.

She and one of the fliers are attracted to one another, and under other circumstances this could call for to a long-term affair. The war calls the men, however, and they have to escape to Switzerland, go away her hind end. Whatever else war is, it is unnatural, destroying normal life, perverting social relationships, and leaving behind a devastating effect on all those it touches.

in one case it was different. When we went to the district commandant to enlist, we were a class of twenty young men, many of whom proudly shaved for the first time before going to the barracks. We had no definite plans for our future (Remarque 21).

Remarque, Erich Maria. All repose on the Western Front. New York: Fawcett, 1930.

Remarque achieves his intent by covering the horrors of war through the eyes of those who fight it, while Renoir shows the boredom and uncertainty of war by those who are forced to seat it out, as it were, some distance behind the lines. The attitude of the characters in both films illustrate much of what Felix Gilbert has to say in his book about the end of the war. The horrors of the war affected both sides, but the victor was able to exact punishment and to get various provisions in the peace treaty that were sibylline to make Germany weaker. The war aroused hatreds throughout Europe, and many at the peace conferen
Ordercustompaper.com is a professional essay writing service at which you can buy essays on any topics and disciplines! All custom essays are written by professional writers!