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All Quiet on the Western Front (German: Im Westen nichts Neues) is an anti-war novel written by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I, about the horrors of that war and also the deep detachment from German civilian life felt by many men returning from the front. The book was first published in German as Im Westen nichts Neues in January 1929. It sold 2.5 million copies in twenty-five languages in its first eighteen months in print.^[1] In 1930 the book was turned into an Oscar-winning movie of the same name, directed by Lewis Milestone. All Quiet on the Western Front is an Academy Award-winning film based on the Erich Maria Remarque novel All Quiet on the Western Front. ... All Quiet on the Western Front is a 150 minute television movie in full color that was released on November 14, 1979, starring actors Richard Thomas from The Waltons fame, and Ernest Borgnine. ... Image File history File links Emblem-important. ... Image File history File links Western_front_cover. ... Erich Maria Remarque (June 22, 1898 – September 25, 1970) was the pseudonym of Erich Paul Remark, a German author. ... For other uses, see Country (disambiguation). ... A war novel is a novel in which the primary action takes place in a field of armed combat, or in a domestic setting (or home front) where the characters are preoccupied with the preparations for, or recovery from, war. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... Ballantine Books, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine, is a major book publisher and is currently owned by Random House. ... Year 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Hardcover books A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth, heavy paper, or sometimes leather). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... ISBN redirects here. ... The Road Back ( Der Weg zurück ) is a novel by German author Erich Maria Remarque, written in 1931. ... Anti war protest in Melbourne, Australia, 2003 Anti_war is a name that is widely adopted by any social movement or person that seeks to end or oppose a future or current war. ... For other uses, see Novel (disambiguation). ... Erich Maria Remarque (June 22, 1898 – September 25, 1970) was the pseudonym of Erich Paul Remark, a German author. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... For other uses, see War (disambiguation). ... All Quiet on the Western Front is an Academy Award-winning film based on the Erich Maria Remarque novel All Quiet on the Western Front. ... Lewis Milestone (born Lev Milstein) (September 30, 1895 - September 25, 1980) was an accomplished, and award-winning motion picture director. ...

Title and translation

The 1929 English translation by Arthur Wesley Wheen gives the title as All Quiet on the Western Front. The literal translation is "Nothing New in the West" (Im Westen nichts Neues), with "West" being the war front; this was a routine dispatch used by the German Army. Arthur Wheen (1896 – 1971) was an Australian who chose to live his adult life in England. ...

Brian Murdoch's 1994 translation would render the phrase as "there was nothing new to report on the western front" within the narrative. Explaining his retention of the original book-title, he says: Brian O Murdoch is Emeritus professor of German at the University of Stirling, Scotland. ...

Although it does not match the German exactly (there is a different kind of irony in the literal version...), Wheen's title has justly become part of the English language and is retained here with gratitude.

Separately, the phrase "all quiet on the western front" later became popular slang for a lack of action (in reference to the Phoney War in World War II's Western Front). British Ministry of Home Security Poster of a type that was common during the Phony War The Phony War or the Bore War, also called Sitzkrieg, was a phase in early World War II from September 1939 until May 1940 marked by few military operations in Continental Europe, in the... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... During World War II, the Western Front was the theater of fighting west of Germany, encompassing France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemberg, and Denmark. ...

Major Characters

Paul Bäumer

Paul Bäumer is the narrator, and the main character of the novel, whom Remarque uses to represent his own experience in World War I. Aged only 19, Bäumer, who is an amateur writer of several poems and a play, is persuaded by his schoolmaster, Kantorek, to enlist in the German Army for World War I. He is deployed to the western front, where he experiences the devastating physical and psychological effects of intense combat, including the horrific wounding or death of his comrades and close friends. Bäumer reflects on the war as he witnesses the dehumanizing conditions of combat and the robbing of soldiers of their individuality and love of life. Remarque named this character probably after the German flying ace, Paul Bäumer. Paul Bäumer (11 May 1896-15 July 1927) was a German fighter ace in the First World War. ...

Bäumer dies at the end of the novel, in October 1918. At the time of his death the western front was so quiet that the army dispatches for the day read that there was nothing new to report from the western front, and the book's German title refers to this. In the novel's adaptations for films, Bäumer was killed either while reaching for a butterfly (film) or drawing a bird (television movie).

Albert Kropp

Perhaps Paul's closest friend, Kropp was in his class at school and is described as the clearest thinker of the group. Kropp is wounded towards the end of the novel and undergoes an amputation. Both he and Bäumer end up spending time in a Roman Catholic hospital together, Bäumer suffering a shrapnel wound to the leg and arm. Though Kropp initially plans to commit suicide if he requires an amputation, the book suggests he eventually decides against it. Kropp and Bäumer part ways when Bäumer is recalled to his regiment after recovering. The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... For other uses, see Suicide (disambiguation). ... Partial hand amputation Amputation is the removal of a body extremity by trauma or surgery. ...

Haie Westhus

Haie is described as being tall and strong, slightly older than Bäumer, and a peat-digger by profession. Haie also has a good sense of humor. During combat, he is injured in his back, fatally (see ch10) — the resulting wound is large enough for Paul to see Haie's breathing lung.

Stanislaus Katczinsky

Also known as Kat, he has the most positive influence on Paul and his comrades on the battlefield. Katczinsky was a cobbler in civilian life; he is older than Paul Bäumer and his comrades, and serves as their leadership figure. He also represents a literary model highlighting the differences between the younger and older soldiers. While the older men have already had a life of professional and personal experience before the war, Bäumer and the men of his age have had little life experience or time for personal growth. When Katczinsky is killed it is as though a great hero has died.

Kat is also well known for his ability to source nearly any item needed, above all, food. At one point he secures four boxes of lobsters. Bäumer describes Kat as possessing a sixth sense. One night, Bäumer along with a group of other soldiers are holed up in a factory with neither rations nor comfortable bedding. Katczinsky leaves for a short while, returning with straw to put over the bare wires of the beds. Later, to feed the hungry men, Kat brings bread, a bag of horse meat, a lump of fat, a pinch of salt and a pan in which to cook the food. Sixth sense could refer to: How to attain the sixth sense Extra-sensory perception (ESP) The Sixth Sense – a 1999 movie by M. Night Shyamalan This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ...

Kat is shot in the leg at the end of the story, just before Bäumer himself is killed. Bäumer carries him back to camp on his back, only to discover upon their arrival that a shell fragment had hit Kat in the head and killed him on the way. He is thus the last of Paul's close friends to die in battle. It is Kat's death that eventually makes Bäumer careless whether he survives the war or not, but that he can face the rest of his life without fear. "Let the months and the years come, they can take nothing from me, they can take nothing more."

Tjaden

Before the war Tjaden was a locksmith. A big eater with a grudge against Himmelstoss, he is one of Paul's friends. He is one of only two characters that survives the war.

Minor characters

Kantorek

Kantorek was the schoolmaster of Paul and his friends, including Kropp, Leer, and Müller. Behaving "in a way that cost [him] nothing," Kantorek is a strong supporter of the war and cajoles Bäumer and other students in his class to join the war effort. Among twenty enlistees was Joseph Behm, the first of the class to die in battle. In an example of tragic irony, Behm was the only one who did not want to sacrifice his life in the line of duty. Remarque uses the figure of Kantorek to make a point about the usefulness of a person's education in the real world. In a twist of fate, Kantorek is later called up as a soldier as well. He very reluctantly joins the ranks of his former students, only to be grilled and taunted by Mittelstädt, one of the students he had earlier persuaded to enlist. A schoolmaster or simply master once referred to a male school teacher. ...

Leer

Leer is a soldier in Bäumer's company. He is very popular with women; when he and his comrades meet three French girls, he is the first to seduce one of the girls. Bäumer describes Leer's ability to attract girls by saying "Leer is an old hand at the game". In chapter 11, Leer is hit by a fragment, which also hits Bertink. The shrapnel tears open Leer's hip, causing him to bleed to death quickly. His death causes Paul to ask himself, "What use is it to him now that he was such a good mathematician in school?"

Bertink

Lieutenant Bertink, often referred to as the company commander, is the leader of Bäumer's company. His men have a great respect for him, and Bertink has great fondness for his men. He permits them to eat the rations of the men that had been killed in action, standing up to the chef who would only allow them their allotted share. Bertink is genuinely despondent when he learns that few of his men had survived an engagement. Bertink kills an enemy team of flamethrowers intent on killing all of his men. He is however shot in the chest while doing so, and soon after is also hit in the chin by a shell fragment that kills him and Leer. A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 100-200 soldiers. ...

Müller

Müller is about 19 years of age, and one of Bäumer's classmates, when he also joins the German army as a volunteer to go to the war. Carrying his old school books with him to the battlefield, he constantly reminds himself of the importance of learning and education. Even while under enemy fire, he "mutters propositions in physics." He became interested in Kemmerich's boots and inherits them when Kemmerich dies early in the novel. He is killed later in the book after being shot in the stomach. As he was dying "quite conscious, and in terrible pain," he gave his pocket-book and the boots he inherited from Kemmerich to Bäumer.

Himmelstoss

Remarque's portrayal of Himmelstoss easily raises the ire of the reader. He is a power-hungry corporal with special contempt for Paul and his friends, taking sadistic pleasure in punishing the minor infractions of his trainees during their basic training in preparation for their deployment. However, Bäumer and his comrades have a chance to get back at Himmelstoss, mercilessly whipping him on the night before they board trains to go to the front. Himmelstoss later joins them at the front, revealing himself as a coward who shirks his duties for fear to get hurt or killed, and pretends to be wounded because of a scratch on his face. Bäumer beats him and when a lieutenant comes along looking for men for a trench charge, Himmelstoss joins and leads the charge. He carries Haie Westhus' body to Bäumer after he is fatally wounded. Matured and repentant through his experiences Himmelstoss later asks for forgiveness from his previous charges. As he becomes the new staff cook, to prove his friendship he secures two pounds of sugar for Bäumer and half a pound of butter for Tjaden.

Detering

He was a farmer who loved his farms. He went mad when he saw a cherry blossom, which reminded him of home too much and inspired him to leave. He was found and court-martialled for deserting, and is never heard of again. He was especially fond of horses and was angered at those who used horses in the war. "It is of the vilest baseness to use horses in the war," he says.

Josef Hamacher

Hamacher is a patient at the Catholic hospital where Paul and Albert Kropp are temporarily stationed. He has an intimate knowledge of the workings of the hospital. He also has a "shooting license," certifying him as sporadically not responsible for his actions due to a head wound, though all evidence points to his being quite sane.

Franz Kemmerich

Kemmerich had enlisted in the army for WWI along with his best friend and classmate, Bäumer. Kemmerich is shot in the leg early in the story; his injured leg had to be amputated, and he dies shortly thereafter. In anticipation of Kemmerich's imminent death, Müller was eager to get his boots. While in hospital, the doctors took Kemmerich's watch from him, causing him great distress, prompting him to ask about his watch every time his friends came to visit him in the hospital.

Film, TV, and theatrical adaptations

Film

Main article: All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film)

In 1930, an American film of the novel was made, directed by Lewis Milestone. The screenplay was by Maxwell Anderson, George Abbott, Del Andrews, C. Gardner Sullivan, with uncredited work by Walter Anthony and Milestone. It stars Louis Wolheim, Lew Ayres, John Wray, Arnold Lucy and Ben Alexander. All Quiet on the Western Front is an Academy Award-winning film based on the Erich Maria Remarque novel All Quiet on the Western Front. ... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Lewis Milestone (born Lev Milstein) (September 30, 1895 - September 25, 1980) was an accomplished, and award-winning motion picture director. ... James Maxwell Anderson (15 December 1888 – 28 February 1959), better known as Maxwell Anderson was a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, author, poet, reporter and lyricist, and a founding member of The Playwrights Company (which included, at various times, Maxwell Anderson, S. N. Behrman, Elmer Rice, Robert E. Sherwood, Sidney Howard... George Abbott (June 25, 1887 - January 31, 1995) was a theatre producer and director, playwright, screenwriter, and film director and producer whose career spanned more than seven decades. ... A prolific writer/director of low-budget Westerns in the 1920s, Del Andrews (born Udell Endrows) (1894 - 1942) began his screen career as a film cutter and laboratory assistant for producer Thomas H. Ince. ... Walter Anthony (b. ... Louis Wolheim and Lew Ayres in All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). ... Lew Ayres (December 28, 1908 – December 30, 1996) was an American actor. ... Ben Alexander (Nicholas Benton Alexander IV) alias Bennie Alexander, (May 26, 1911 – July 5, 1969) was an American motion picture actor, who started out as a child actor in 1915. ...

The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1930 for its producer Carl Laemmle Jr., and an Academy Award for Directing for Lewis Milestone. It was the first all-talking non-musical film to win the Best Picture Oscar. It also received two further nominations: Best Cinematography, for Arthur Edeson, and Best Writing Achievement for Abbott, Anderson and Andrews. ©A.M.P.A.S.® The Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is one of the Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to artists working in the motion picture industry. ... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Carl Laemmle Jr. ... The Academy Award for Directing is one of the awards given to directors working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. ... Lewis Milestone (born Lev Milstein) (September 30, 1895 - September 25, 1980) was an accomplished, and award-winning motion picture director. ... Charles Rosher the first recipient in 1928 The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is awarded each year to a cinematographer for his work in one particular motion picture. ... Arthur Edeson (October 24, 1891 - February 14, 1970) was a film cinematographer. ... The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. ...

TV film

Main article: All Quiet on the Western Front (1979 film)

In 1979, the film was remade for television by Delbert Mann, starring Richard Thomas of The Waltons as Paul Bäumer. All Quiet on the Western Front is a 150 minute television movie in full color that was released on November 14, 1979, starring actors Richard Thomas from The Waltons fame, and Ernest Borgnine. ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ... Delbert Martin Mann, Jr. ... Richard Thomas (born June 13, 1951) is an American actor, best known as John-Boy on the TV series, The Waltons. ... For other uses, see The Waltons (disambiguation). ...

Music

Elton John's 1982 album, Jump Up! features the song, "All Quiet On The Western Front" (written by Bernie Taupin). The song is a sorrowful rendition of the novel's story, with lyrics pertaining to the loss after the war ("It's gone all quiet on the Western Front / Male Angels sigh / ghosts in a flooded trench / As Germany dies"). Sir Elton Hercules[1] John CBE[2] (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947) is a five-time Grammy and one-time Academy Award-winning English pop/rock singer, composer and pianist. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... Jump Up! 1982 was the second album recorded by British singer Elton John for Geffen Records. ... Bernie Taupin (born May 22, 1950) is an English lyricist most famous for his collaboration with Elton John. ... For other uses of the word, see Trench (disambiguation). ... Front page of the New York Times on Armistice Day, 11 November 1918 The armistice treaty between the Allies and Germany was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on November 11, 1918, and marked the end of the First World War on the Western Front. ...

The Road Back

Main article: The Road Back

The Road Back (1931) another book written by Erich Maria Remarque, is about a different group of soldiers trying to cope with postwar Germany: dealing with the defeated German society after the war, trying to go to school, and trying to live a normal life. The Road Back ( Der Weg zurück ) is a novel by German author Erich Maria Remarque, written in 1931. ... The Road Back ( Der Weg zurück ) is a novel by German author Erich Maria Remarque, written in 1931. ...

The book was banned during Nazi rule, the content of the 1937 Hollywood film directed by James Whale and released by Universal Pictures was watered down to avoid a German boycott, and Remarque was stripped of his German citizenship in 1938. Nazism in history Nazi ideology Nazism and race Outside Germany Related subjects Lists Politics Portal         Nazism or National Socialism (German: Nationalsozialismus), refers primarily to the ideology and practices of the Nazi Party (National Socialist German Workers Party, German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP) under Adolf Hitler. ... James Whale (July 22, 1889 – May 29, 1957) was a ground-breaking British Hollywood film director, best known for his work in the horror movie genre, making such pictures as Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, and The Invisible Man. ... Universal Pictures is the main motion picture production/distribution arm of Universal Studios, a subsidiary of NBC Universal. ...

See also

• Paths of Glory

Paths of Glory (1957) is a debatedly anti-war black and white film by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel of the same name by Humphrey Cobb. ...

References

1. ^ Eksteins, Modris (April 1980). "All Quiet on the Western Front and the Fate of a War". Journal of Contemporary History 15 (2): 353. SAGE Publications. doi:10.1177/002200948001500207. 

SAGE Publications is an independent academic publisher of books, journals and databases in the humanities, social sciences and scientific, technical and medical fields. ... A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ...

External links

• Teacher's Guide at Random House
• CliffsNotes
• Spark Notes
• All Quiet on the Western Front at the Internet Movie Database
• 2 Speeches from the Movie in Text, Audio, Video from AmericanRhetoric.com
• All Quiet on the Western Front Excerpts (German, English, Russian)
• All Quiet on the Western Front Information Page A student's summary and notes.

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ...

Quote sources

Quotes in "Effect on Soldiers" are taken from the Ballantine Books 1982 paperback edition of All Quiet on the Western Front as translated from the German by A. W. Wheen.