"All Quiet on the Western Front" Chapter 9 Summery and Review

All Quiet on the Western Front Chapter 9 summery

In chapter 9 of All Quiet on the Western Front Paul has returned from leave. Paul returns to the western front to guard Russian prisoners for a short time. This shows him what nationalism is and what war really is. Paul finds that war is just is a medium for the leaders of different countries to get support of the civilians for a war that really means nothing. This really hits home when Paul is forced to kill a French soldier in melee (hand to hand combat) after the French solider tries to kill Paul. Once the attack is over Paul looks over at the solider and realizes this person is not dead. The body of the soldier gurgles and Paul can still see terror on the soldier’s face. This only confirms Paul’s beliefs on nationalism and war. It seems like it would be easier to be further from the front line to just fire shots down range verses hand to hand combat where you can see a person’s eyes and find evidence of their life outside the trench as Paul also finds. These kinds of things would make most people feel compassion for others. If the war, death, weapons and the commands from the higher ranking officers were stripped away anyone would find a past, family, friends, their hobbies and just the instinct to survive. These are traits of most people and something everyone can relate to. This can be shown in several instances throughout WWI and WWII, several times the Allies and German would stop fighting to play games and even to exchange gifts and celebrate holidays together then the next day return to fighting. Some instances war is necessary because of hate and oppression on people and the need to stop the spread of it. WWII sadly was necessary because of Hitler and the attack on Pearl Harbor. But even with these reasons it’s the average person that has to carry out the orders from someone of higher rank who is not involved in combat. This is the same for both sides, Germans and Allies. Sadly, war is just a part of life and there are more common people to fight than leaders. So many men and women have been, are and will be torn from their families to fight in a war they had nothing to do with because the government wanted more or there is a massive amount of hate like a tumor in the earth. The average soldier has to see firsthand the consequences of fighting whether it is by their own hand or someone else’s and it will always be this way as long as war exists.