War Motivation of German Soldiers in the First World War. References and a Comparative Characterization of Paul Baumer and Ernst Junger

Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject History Europe - Other Countries - Ages of World Wars, grade: 1,0, University of Missouri - Columbia (History), course: American History since 1877, language: English, abstract: In the following source paper, the war motivation of two fictional characters will be clarified and compared. The comparison criteria are external features, their attitude and the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of both persons. This will deal with the fictional, though strongly based on the author, character of Paul Baumer from the work All Quiet on the Western Front from Erich Maria Remarque and the autobiographical character Ernst Junger, taken from the personal diary novel Storm of Steel. Both characters are in written compositions of the first World War on the Western Front. There they carry out their service for the German fatherland. After a brief summary of the two works and discussion of the characters there will be direct comparisons between the two. Therein the similarities and differences will be identified and assessed. A brief review of the characters from today’s perspective and their importance to society, then and now, round out this scientific-based investigation.