All Quiet on the Western Front" is one of the most significant literary works of the 20th century. Its characters, like the author himself, belong to the "lost generation" - a generation whose youth was lost in the trenches of World War I. Eighteen and nineteen-year-olds arrive at the front almost directly from school, encouraged by their teachers to fulfill their duty to the fatherland. Yet they question what this duty means, aware they're shooting at young enemies just like themselves, who similarly long for home and peace and question the war's purpose. The cruelty of the war machine, in which they are mere cogs, first strips them of their humanity and eventually their lives - making them quite literally a "lost generation."
