All Quiet on the Western Front (1929) By Erich Maria Remarque

Twenty-five years from now history books will note that at the end of 2015, we (the World) were embroiled in what will then be called World War III.  Syria, Iraq, Sudan, Ukraine, Mali, Lebanon, North & South Korea, China-Taiwan, the Congo, a Japan that is re-militarizing, a Germany that has re-militarized, an egomaniac in Russia who thinks he should be respected, and another egomaniac leading his party’s race for President in the United States.  Sorry if I left out some trouble spot somewhere. Oh did I mention genocide? Throw a dart at a globe and you’ve found it. 

Although we don’t officially call it WW III, be there no doubt that is what it is. 

With that to set the stage, I picked up a “classic” that I had never read: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque.  Published in 1929 and set during World War I (ironically the “War to End War), the book is marketed as “The Greatest War Novel of All Time.”  I must agree, though a more accurate tag might be the “The Greatest Anti-War Novel of All Time.” 

For those of you who have not read it, the book is about a group of recruits serving on the frontline during WW I, which is generally conceded to be one of if not the deadliest war in history, with an estimated 11 million military deaths, and another 7 million civilian ones; double those figures to get an estimate of the number of wounded. The seven recruits are German; though it is precisely the point of the book that which side the soldiers fought on is not important – the life of a soldier is same whether their gun is pointing east or west, north or south.

Link to the 1930 film of All Quiet on the Western Front.

One can pull a profound quote from almost any page in this book, but two exchanges led me to dog ear pages.  The first is as a wounded soldier in a hospital looks across the dead and wounded surrounding him in the infirmary.

 

“And this is only one hospital, one single station; there are hundreds of thousands in Germany, hundreds of thousands in France, hundreds of thousands in Russia.  How senseless is everything that can ever be written, done, or thought, when such things are possible.  It must be all lies and of no account when the culture of a thousand years could not prevent this stream of blood being poured out, these torture-chambers in their hundreds of thousands.  A hospital alone shows what war is.”

In their trenches the soldiers talk about the fate of soldiers. 

“True, but just you consider, almost all of us are simple folks.  And in France, too, the majority of men are laborers, workmen, or poor clerks.  Now just why would a French blacksmith or a French shoemaker want to attack us?  No, it is merely the rulers.  I had never seen a Frenchman before I came here, and it will be just the same with the majority of Frenchmen as regards to us.  They weren’t asked about it anymore than we were.

“Then what exactly is the war for?  There must be some people to whom the war is useful”

Fast forward to 2015 and to the United States and the answer to that question becomes less theoretical. In recent days, the military industrial complex-owned Department of Defense has argued forcefully that they’ve used up 20,000 bombs on ISIS already and need more [Pause, think about that, because no one in the press corps has, they’ve used 20,000 bombs already and somehow have managed to not kill every man woman and child in Syria?  And at what number does “precision” bombing become “carpet” bombing?].  And then yesterday, December 18, 2015, the compliant bi-partisan Congress voted to appropriate $607 billion that they don’t have, for “defense.” I’ve got no problem with defense spending mind you, but I have lots of problems with being ripped off in the name of Homeland Security.  

I believe in all countries politicians must cite some type of Oath of Office when they win elections and take charge.  My sincere wish would be that they also be required to read All Quiet on the Western Front.