All Quiet on the Western Front
Ah, fighting for one’s country! The glory! The praise! The excitement! Oh, that is the romantic view of war. That is how the government and many others paint it. That is what a young man thinks when he first signs up for the military. But is that how war really is? Honorable? Glorious? Many would believe so, since they have been indoctrinated in this way at an early age. Through what is internationally recognized to be the greatest of all war books, All Quiet on the Western Front, we see that this is actually not the case. The book does not at all advance the painted view of war which declares it to be a glorious thing, but shows what war actually is: horrific, vile, and ...
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image of war and patriotism in it. Let’s analyze some of these works.
Herodotus wrote The Histories, a book describing how the few Greeks defeated the hordes of Persians. There are a lot of examples of how glorious the Greeks were in fighting and dying, but the most famous of them all is probably the story of Leonidas and his 300 Spartans. The story goes roughly as follows. Xerxes and his multitude of Persians had started their land attack, and had come to this narrow pass(of Thermopylae) guarded by only a few thousand Greeks. Xerxes expected those Greeks to abandon their post upon seeing them, but the courageous Greeks showed no sign of fear and awaited the coming battle. The Persian lord expected to annihilate them in very little time, but even his strongest soldiers couldn’t withstand the skill of the Greeks. Finally, a Greek traitor showed the Persians a way to attack their enemies from behind. They did so, but most of the Greeks, having heard of the attack ...
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and Light Brigadiers not deserve such honor? Yes, they do, but there is a flip side to the coin.
Modern warfare is quite different from ancient warfare. The horridness of it is quite different. There is very little glory in it, as fighting in those situations requires humbling yourself to live in dirt, with rats, disease, and water all surrounding you. In earlier times, fighting probably did not require such humiliation. It also isn’t just the humiliation that is degrading about warfare these days. Imagine waking up in the morning to start the battles. First, one would see their friends being blown to bits, cut from the waist down, having their stomachs be ripped open, and be ...
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All Quiet on the Western Front. (2011, April 5). Retrieved November 22, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/All-Quiet-on-the-Western-Front/97617
"All Quiet on the Western Front." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 5 Apr. 2011. Web. 22 Nov. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/All-Quiet-on-the-Western-Front/97617>
"All Quiet on the Western Front." Essayworld.com. April 5, 2011. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/All-Quiet-on-the-Western-Front/97617.
"All Quiet on the Western Front." Essayworld.com. April 5, 2011. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/All-Quiet-on-the-Western-Front/97617.
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