Reading All Quiet on the Western Front and other excerpts from books written by WW1 soldiers has drastically changed my perspective about war and life on the front. I had never heard stories about war from the soldier’s perspective, which left me biased against them. How could they have ‘willingly’ enlisted? How were they capable of killing their enemies so cold-bloodedly? Were they truly fighting for their country and willing to die for it? After reading the stories written by soldiers, I understand what war was actually like. What stood out the most to me was the deep relationships and bonds formed between the soldiers. These bonds, formed under the worst possible circumstances, became essential for their survival, both mental and physical. Knowing that the person lying next to you in the trenches could one day save your life, created a sense of incredible trust and dependence.
This feeling of camaraderie really stood out to me in the excerpts from Barthas and Herbert, as well as in All Quiet on the Western Front. Despite the chaos and horror surrounding them, the soldiers looked out for one another. The connection wasn’t just about surviving together but also about the shared trauma and suffering and providing each other support in times of fear and pain.
In the paragraphs from Fear and Diary of a Dead Officer, the bonds formed were a way to find moments of humanity in an inhumane situation. These stories showed me that the soldiers weren’t just fighting for their country, they were also fighting for each other. The friendships and connections gave them the strength to endure the most horrible things a human could possibly endure and this completely changed my understanding of what war meant to those who lived through it. It was so much more then countries and governments fighting against each other, purely for territorial gain, fueled by hate. The soldiers weren’t just figures in a game, they were humans with lives and families that didn’t understand why they had to fight humans just like them.