All Quiet on the Western Front is written by Paul Baumer, a nineteen year old German who fights in the German army on the French front in World War I. Paul and several of his friends from school joined the army voluntarily after listening to the stirring patriotic speeches of their teacher, Kantorek. But after experiencing ten weeks of brutal training from Corporal Himmelstoss. Paul and his friends have realized that the ideals of nationalism …showed first 75 words of 1183 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1183 total…will come. Paul is poisoned in a gas attack and given a short leave. He reflects that, when the war ends, he will be ruined for peacetime; all he knows is the war. In October 1918, on a day with very little fighting, Paul is killed. The army report for that day reads simply: "All quiet on the Western Front." Paul's corpse wears a calm expression, as though relieved that the end has come at last.