The new film version of the German classic All Quiet on the Western Front has reopened the debate around the futility of war once more.

The film is based on the German writer Erich Maria Remarque’s book, which draws on his experiences of serving in the German forces during the First World War. Published in 1928, it told a universal story of the hopelessness that many experienced fighting in the trenches of the Western Front and was popular outside of Germany as well as to German audiences. Its anti-war message was so powerful that the book was banned by the Nazi regime but its popularity returned following the Second World War.

This new version of the film doesn’t shy away from some of the brutal realities of conflict. One of the fundamental questions that a film such as this raises is, how can wars continue if young people know they may be killed? To address this question we have delved into the archives to find you an article that examines how the British authorities continued to get their recruits for the same conflict even when the war dead and wounded were quashing the idea that war was glorious: