All Quiet on the Western Front two years The 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 in the two years immediately preceding the armistice that ended the First World War in November 1918. In 1916, when the story begins, the First World War had already been underway for two years. From the beginning, World War I was fought in two areas, named for their geographic relationship to Germany. The Eastern Front stretched into Russia and the Western Front stretched through Belgium to northern France. The main character is a young man named Paul Baumer, a 19-year-old private in the German army. It follows Paul through the horrors of the First World War. Paul joins the army after a recruiter named Kantorek showers him and his friends with glory and honor. Glory and honor can be achieved by enlisting. Paul is excited to go to war. Once he arrives at the front he begins to understand the "terrible thing called war". He realizes that war isn't all glory, there is death and destruction. Paul learns to deal with the deaths of all his friends and keep a clear head without turning into an animal. One of the big problems with the book was Kemmerich's leather boots. When he died everyone argued about who would get them. Remarque, in my opinion, shows the pettiness between good friends because of the war. Remarque slides into these themes, others are about how terrible war is, friendship is a must to survive on the battlefield and the First World War destroyed a generation. During the All Quiet period on the Western Front the Russians were rebelling against Tsar Nicholas II. Eventually he and his entire family were killed, and thus Communist Russia began. Also, during 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 was one thing I learned from this book it's that war isn't pretty. Despite what recruiters and military personnel say, if there is a war you can die.