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Total war marked the beginning of a revolution in thought and ideas, where turmoil, uncertainty, and pessimism replaced the cherished values and beliefs of peace, prosperity, and progress. Men and women in the West felt "increasingly adrift in a strange, uncertain and uncontrollable world.""5 In his essay "The Crisis of the Spirit- written in 1919, Paul Valéry, one of France's most outstanding poets, wrote that Europe "doubted itself profoundly.""6 This is certainly true since the terrible trauma of total war left deep scars in the European "spirit."" 7 The people were so devastated by the war that they lost faith and hope in a brighter future. They did not have the strength or will to believe in themselves anymore. They also doubted that life would ever return to normal, as it had been before the war. The Western society entered an age of darkness and pessimism. Many intellectuals even began to doubt the future of civilization. Increasing numbers of thinkers and writers expressed their somber views about the new reality of life. Paul Valéry argued that "the best of life is behind us, that fullness is behind us, but disarray and doubt are in us and with us.""8 People didn't know what to expect anymore. Great numbers of men and women were anxious about what the future held for them. Many feared that another war would break out. Valéry states that "The storm has just ended, and yet we are as disquieted, as anxious, as if the storm were still to break upon us . We do not know what will come forth: still we can reasonably fear it.""9 The storm in this case was the war which left people in such a shock that they looked upon the future with great apprehension and uneasiness. The soldiers that served in the war were hit especially hard by the horror of war. Erich Maria Remarque, a German soldier vividly portrays the carnage of World War II: "We have become wild beasts .