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In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, the author portrays the true horrors and fragility of war through the experiences of young soldiers. The boys are all fighting for one country, and the novel completely shows the differences between the perceived image of war versus the true image of war. In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, the novel critiques nationalism by demonstrating it to be an empty, two-faced philosophy device used to paint war as a glorious event and thus distracting the population from the true experience of war the unromantic vision of fear, meaninglessness, and butchery.
Nationalist propaganda is filled with hollow ideals that completely mislead the boys into the war. When Paul and the boys learn that a war is going to start, they all enroll quickly because of the nationalist fervor around them. Around them was a fever of nationalism that romanticized war. Nationalism made war look like an event where soldiers could go and come back as heroes. But soon after the real military life started, Pauls opinion about war quickly changed. Paul thinks, It’s all rot that they put in the war news about the good humor of the troops, how they are arranging dances almost before they are out of the front line. We don’t act like that because we are in good humor: we are in good humor because otherwise, we should go to pieces.’ To everyone who is not directly in the war,, the life of soldiers during the war is like a party, where every day they would be dancing before the frontline. The media even more romanticizes war by making it seem like the soldiers are happy to be there. A key word here is rot: – rot here means that everything is spoiled indicating how the news about war and soldiers is false and spoiled, or rot. Everything is falsified and war is shown as cheerful which is far from the truth. The publics separation from the reality of war makes the nationalist lie of the glorification of war possible and the leaders of nations use that as an advantage. The newspapers make it seem like the soldiers are in good humor, meaning cheerful, but the only reason the soldiers at least act like they are in good humor is that without at least trying to put a smile on their faces, they would be broken and to pieces because of the horrors of war. The boys were sure that their lives would never be the same. With our young awakened eyes, we saw that the classical conception of the Fatherland held by our teachers resolved itself here into a renunciation of personality such as one would not ask of the meanest servants…We had fancied our task would be different, only to find we were to be trained for heroism as though we were circus ponies. The classical conception of the Fatherland was the romanticized version of war and the true experience of war was something completely contrary to what everyone thought of it to be. When entering the war, everyone thought the soldiers were to be trained for heroism , and thus come back as trained heroes. But when reality set in, all the soldiers had to realize that each one of them was just as much as a circus-pony, merely a toy. Paul finds that the very nature of war is disrespectful to soldiers because it requires them to debase themselves completely. He feels that he and his comrades are not gloried defenders of their birthplace, but rather slaves to the political whims of their superiors, thus being circus ponies
Nationalism masks the only truth underlying war enemies and allies are all the same people, not unknown animals and the glorified idea of war and respect are demonstrated to be false – alongside the idea of a foe itself. In a war, foes are created because of nationalism, not because of true conflicts. A word of command has made these silent figures our enemies; a word of command might transform them into our friends. When Paul comes face-to-face with captured enemy prisoners, he fully realizes the arbitrary nature of war. These people are silent figures who have done nothing to him. When no one fighting has been wronged, then whether someone is your enemy depends on nothing more than a technicality. This is the lie of nationalism: two strangers killing each other over a plot of land is an expression of pride. In reality, their imminent deaths could be prevented with the shake of a stroke of a pen, or a word of command might switch around the whole situation and instead make the former enemies into our friends. Paul says, A mountain in Germany cannot offend a mountain in France. Or a river, or a wood, or a field of wheat. Here, Tjaden ridicules the idea that countries going to war with each other. When Tjaden questions how a war is started, Kropp explains that it is usually by one country offending the other. Tjaden retorts: Then I havent any business here at all& I dont feel myself offended. The only people who have been offended are one or two politicians. The citizens werent involved in the dispute. A country is not a single entity with a single mind, but rather a collection of people doing their best to coexist, a fact which blind nationalism ignores. Due to the simple disputes of 2 politicians, an entire population goes against one another, and makes themselves enemies due to nationalism, when in reality, they have no reason to be mad at one another.
In conclusion, the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, the novel criticizes nationalism by demonstrating it to be an empty, two-faced philosophy device used to paint war as a glorious event and distract the population from the true experience of war. Though nationalism fuels an individual countryman’s pride and will to fight, it can falsify the harsh realities of war and romanticize a soldier’s gruel lifestyle.
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