All Quiet on the Western Front completes the story of World War I in the utmost entirety. Having this novel capture the life of a German soldier, rather than an American soldier is what makes this story unique. Remarque, being a German American, faces the challenge of writing this WWI reenactment historically accurate. He conquers this challenge with ease, letting history tell its own story.
             The historical context of this book is detailed from the first limb severed to the last word spoken by the deceased. The allusions let us imply major historical themes that which we may perhaps utilize in future events of war. The allusion of poison gas is introduced after the Second Company, including Paul Bäumer, is assigned to place barbed wire near the western front --- situated near Germany and France's regional divisions. "The gas still creeps over the ground and sinks into all hollows. Like a big soft jellyfish it floats into our shell-hole and lolls there obscenely." Just as picturesque as the description narrates, Remarque incorporates a graveyard setting as well to conjure the terrifying affects of this striking weapon. In addition to the gas, bombshells raise coffins and their contents from the ground. This overall atmosphere suggests the theme that even the dead cannot hide from such agonizing warfare. In other words, there are far worse things than death.
             In detail, Remarque includes the surplus of rats and inflection plaguing the earth's undulations of combat. After passing a shelled school house near the front, Paul, Detering, Müller, Tjaden, and others are forced to stay in the rat-infested dugouts. "The rats here are particularly repulsive, they are so fat --- the kind we all call corpse-rats. They have shocking evil, naked faces, and it is nauseating to see their long, nude tails." Such creatures steal and contaminate the shortage of food. This allusion truly lets the reader underst...