All Quiet On The Western front is set in a wartime battlefield and therefore one of the book's main focuses is the damaging effect that war has on the soldiers themselves. These men face the terrifying fact that anyone of them could die in a split second. This intense threat forces soldiers to act throughout this fear during every instant.

The soldiers are forced to live in horrendous conditions. They take cover in filthy, waterlogged ditches full of rats and decaying corpses and infested with lice. They frequently go without food and sleep, decent clothing, or proper medical precision. The men are made to deal with the violent deaths of their friends without the time to mourn. Not only must the soldiers deal with the deaths of their friends, but the deaths that they themselves have caused on the opposing side. The only way for soldiers to survive...