Two Sides to Every Story

     There are multiple sides to every story, and this principle applies to World War 1 just as it applies to smaller-scale conflicts. Both sides believe that they are right and the other is wrong and they have been convinced of this by propaganda. Paul says how in Germany, the French are made out to be evil while in France, the Germans are made out to be evil. It is this lack of understanding of the men you are fighting that leads you to take their lives. Paul seems to come to the realization that his enemies are real people with real families, friends, and aspirations while he is the in shell-hole with the French-man he had just stabbed. Before that moment, he had not come that close to his enemy. Before, they were just an idea, a lurking evil that wanted him to die, and therefore Paul had to kill them before they killed him. As Paul spent several days with the French man, Paul put a face to his enemy, and he saw that these were fellow human beings. He learned his name, and saw pictures of his family. This was a real person that he had just killed, and this person was fed the same lies and that had made millions of men from all different countries believe that it was right to kill other men, just because they wore a different uniform and spoke a different language.