Kantorek and his ilk will never know what the soldiers deal with on the field and this fact becomes cruel in its own way. They are not iron youth; they are fearful youth with everything in their futures to lose. The brutality of war goes beyond what a soldier sees and experiences. Eventually, it begins to affect his mind and his heart. Soldiers too long on the battlefield grow hardened toward the war and death. This emerges in the trenches when Baumer says, "Chance makes us indifferent" (101). Life or death hangs in the balance every day for these soldiers and they can only face the unpredictable ways of war with apathy. The destruction of life is no longer shocking in the trenches. While the still, small human voice in Baumer's head tells him he cannot kill another human being, his animal instinct takes over in a "mad moment" (113) and he tosses a grenade at a solider, killing him. Baumer admits, "We have become wild beasts. We do not fight, we defend ourselves against annihilation" (113). Baumer experiences a change in himself while he guards the Russian prisoners. All he knows about these men is they are prisoners. He realizes any other information about these men might make him feel sorry for them. The war controls all aspects of Baumer's mind as he says, "But as it is I perceive behind them only the suffering of the creature, the awful melancholy of life and the pitilessness of men" (193). He sees empty faces when he looks at them. He does not see his fellow man and this causes him to understand the depth of how inhumane the war is....

Powerful men like Kantorek decided these groups of men would be enemies, Baumer thinks. He also realizes, "A word of command has made these silent figures our enemies; a word of command might transform them into our friends" (193). Baumer is full aware that nothing is in his control as far as the war goes. He must take care of defending his life in the immediacy of the moment while others decide further aspects of the war. The sense of loss is within and without and there is no place to escape from it.
All Quiet on the Western Front looks at the brutal aspects of war without being preachy or coming across as overemotional. This combination is compelling as we learn about war through Baumer's eyes. Remarque's voice is still yet convincing as different aspects of the war unfold. Baumer's change is radical but it is gradual. His innocence is lost very early in the novel but it takes a series of atrocious events to harden him to war and death. As he grows more apathetic, he understands small, compassionate pieces of himself are gone. He knows it when he realizes Kantorek sells him and others on the war. He knows it the first time he feels cut off from the rest of the world. When he sees a fellow human being die, he becomes even more disengaged. The scenes of death and the unforgettable images of war are no doubt one aspect of brutality associated with the war. Leaders deceiving young men to fight on the front lines is another. However, the real brutality of war emerges in the destruction of the human psyche for those soldiers that…