The old men started the war, while young men payed the price. Paul and his entire generation of young men were the victims of the world wide tragedy known as World War 1; Tricked into fighting a war not for the welfare of the people, but an old German's dream of being the strongest in the world. The message of nationalism rang throughout Germany, escorting the youth to their inevitable doom, a betrayal that will never be forgotten.
Kantorek, the schoolmaster and the initial proposer of the boy's enlistment, taught the idea of German nationalism. "Under his shepherding," (pg. 11) the young boys left school to enlist, all but one, Joseph Behm. Even him, after the consistent humiliation of being called a coward, succumbed to the call of valor. Shortly after training, during an attack, "Behm was one of the first to fall." (pg. 12) If not for the old schoolmaster's persistent words of encouragement, Behm would have lived. Paul begins to question the sincerity of their cause and if is worth the losses.
The people back home were oblivious to the horrors taking place on the front. The people the boy's held most dear, their parents, knew nothing. They were huge contributors to the idea of serving one's country out of some kind of false nationalism. Paul's parents were very proud of their son and fully supported the war, but had no idea of the conditions he had been living through at the front and the horrible things he had to witness on a daily basis. They had bought in entirely with the government propaganda. "The wisest were just the poor and simple people." (pg. 11) Paul's parents were not among these simple people.
The poor knew that no matter how glamorous the government made war seem, it was never a good thing. The German government succeeded at convincing the rest of the country that the German nation was strong enough to take on the world. The nationalistic propaganda that they spewed out to their own people made the citizens unaware of the true horror on the battlefield. The government is the cause of all the hardship the soldiers went through. It not only betrayed the soldiers, it made the families and the people closest to the soldiers betray them. When the kaiser visited, the boys were given new uniforms to impress him. As soon as the kaiser left, the uniforms were taken back. Protocol was too important to the Germans. That is what lead to the true failure in the war.
The government of Germany inspired a false nationalism in the people which overall caused a massive betrayal of their own soldiers. They were, towards the end of the war, just left out to die. All their peers either knowing or unknowingly betrayed them.
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