The protagonist, Paul Baumer is a young man who enlists in the German Army of World War One. He joins the war with youthful enthusiasm, but once he is sent to the front, his motivations expire. Throughout the story, Baumer and his comrades are referred to as a number of things, for example, "Iron Youth," "Old Folk" or "Veterans." They earn these names because they have spent equal time in the war as everybody else, yet they are much younger. As Baumer struggles to survive the war, he is transformed from the young man he once was, into a ruthless killing machine. The war has stolen Baumer's innocents, as well as his youth.

Regardless of their age, these twenty year-olds prove their experience to themselves, to each other and to everybody around them. In chapter four, there is a short bombardment. For many of the new recruits it...