All Quiet on the Western Front Two YearsThe book I chose to read was All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque. The story told in All Quiet on the Western Front takes place during the two years before the First World War ended with the armistice in November 1918. In 1916, when the story begins, the First World War had already lasted for two years. From the outset, World War I was fought in two zones, named for their geographic relationships with Germany. The Eastern Front extended into Russia and the Western Front extended through Belgium to northern France. The main character is a young man named Paul Baumer, a 19-year-old soldier in the German army. It follows Paul through the horrors of the First World War. Paul joins the army after a recruiter named Kantorek gives him and his friends plenty of glory and honor. Glory and honor they can obtain by enlisting. Paul is excited about going to war. Once he arrives at the front, he begins to understand “what the terrible thing called war is.” He realizes that war is not all glory, there is death and destruction. Paul learns to cope with the deaths of all his friends and to keep a clear mind without turning into an animal. One of the big problems with the book was Kemmerich's leather boots. When he died, everyone was arguing over who would get them. Note, in my opinion, shows you the pettiness between good friends because of the war. Notice some shifts in these themes, others talk about how terrible war is, friendship is essential to staying alive on the battlefield, and World War I destroyed a generation. During the period of silence on the Western Front, the Russians were rebelling against Tsar Nicholas II. Eventually, he and his entire family were killed, and thus began Communist Russia. Also at this time, European countries were colonizing Asia and Africa, which was one of the causes of the First World War. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the introduction of Henry Ford's Model T. If there's one thing I learned from this book, it's that war isn't pretty. Despite what recruiters and soldiers say, if there is a war, we can die.