Summary: All Quiet on the Western Front

At the age of 18, Paul Baumer enlists in the German army to fight in World War 1 at the encouragement of his teacher, family, and society as a whole. The novel begins with Paul and his friends relaxing together after a difficult stretch on the front line. He and his other classmates are just begining to question the people that encouraged them to join the war. Paul goes to see his fried who was injured in battle only to watch him die. Paul the gets sent to a special training camp right next to a prison camp for Russian soldiers where he starts to see just how human his enemy really is. When Paul is sent back to the front line where he reflexively kills a french soldier. He with them man as he slowly dies and promises to write to the man's family. He is wounded in battle and sent to a Catholic hospital to recover before being sent right back to the front.When he returns to battle, it looks very grim for Germany and he spends most of his time think about the way that war destroys youth and hope and the corrupting nature of power especially on those who've never had any.