Twenty-nine million casualties and eight and a half million deaths were the final tally of the four-year conflict known as the Great War. Nicknamed the First World War, the clash between the Allies and the Central Powers involved almost all regions of the globe. The war was triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary. Since the perpetrators, the terrorist group called Black Hand, were located in neighboring Serbia, the Austro-Hungarian monarchy sent the Serbs a list of uncompromising demands. The Serbs accepted all but one, so Austria-Hungary, with blank check support from Germany, declared war on Serbia. Although each country that subsequently joined was motivated by different causes, the soldiers who fought for each side suffered similarly. The life of a German soldier is told in the fictional novel All Quiet on the Western Front. Paul Baumer, an eighteen-year-old student, is convinced to join the German forces by his teacher, Kantorek, along with the rest of his classmates. While in the trenches, Paul learns that life as a soldier is much more dangerous than the adults had mentioned, as they were constantly in danger of dying, even while in the hands of their doctors. Millions of people suffered as a direct result of the Great War, but there are few reasons why this conflict occurred. Although many countries joined the First World War because of nationalism, alliances and militarism, the sufferings experienced by the soldiers, shown in Erich Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, are not justified by the causes of this war. The millions of victims created during the battles of the First World War were not justified by the population's desire to produce...... middle of paper ......may have caused the outbreak of the Great War, but the enormous losses and suffering of the soldiers, as seen in Erich Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, will never be justified by the reasons for the war. Conflicts between countries are an inevitable thing, as multitudes of differences exist between all cultures and nationalities. Even so, there are few causes for which a country is justified in going to war. If there is a dispute between countries, it is usually not important enough for multiple nations to wage all-out war against each other. War causes enormous loss of life, and no successful cause can fully justify the amount of ambition, memories, knowledge and futures that may be lost in the process. Works Cited Remarque, Erich Maria. All quiet on the Western Front. Trans. Arthur Wesley When. 1958. New York: The Ballantine Publishing Group, 1982. Print.