David f.,

Regarding the Great War, I have a book titled "The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy" - and it seems there was an enormous and exceptional fervour from this section of the British population in favour of war.
The author, David Cannadine, explains:

"To some degree, this patrician response was part of the general enthusiasm for war at this time, but there were also specific reasons why so many rushed so fervently to the colours in the Autumn of 1914. For more than thirty years, they had been the object of radical (and sometimes not so radical) attack: for their unjustifiable monopoly of the land, for their unearned means and their unearned increments, for their reactionary attitudes to social reform, for their anachronistic possession of hereditary political power, and for their leisured lifestyle and parasitic idleness....there were many grandees and gentry who genuinely believed that the best years for their kind and class were emphatically over.. But then came the war, which gave them supreme opportunity to prove themselves and to justify their existence. By tradition, by training, and by temperament, the aristocracy was the warrior class...They knew how to command....Here then, was their chance - to demonstrate conclusively that they were not the redundant reactionaries of propaganda, but the patriotic class of knightly crusaders and chivalrous heroes, who would defend national honour and national interest in the hour of its greatest trial."

The aristocracy lost one-fifth of its young men during this war - a proportion far greater than any other social class. "Not since the Wars of the Roses had so many patricians died so suddenly and so violently."

Dear Poirot,

The origins of that aristocracy is of interest. There were nobles of the robe and the sword. Many nobles had ancestors who had become rich during the industrial revolution and had purchased titles. The ancestors could have been of common stock. Nobility was ranked with those of the sword who had earned their titles on the field of battle superior to those who had purchased their titles and those with older titles superior to those with younger titles. Spilling of blood was an equaliser. Nobles of the robe could prove themselves.

its all good and well for the elites
to claim a high casualty rate

but lets face it they are rather useless
without their maids and butlers..[groomsmen..and their cooks]

lets not go past the fact that their yes men[and nannies]
raise them thinking they are god...

others were only too dumb to keep their heads down

in other words they swallowed the coolaid
[but i would like to see the casualty numbers]

proporuinatly..they are a percentage of one [percent]
we out-number..them 99 to one...so for their higher ratio
dont beat...our sheer numbers

where they need only loose 10
we need loose....990

of course if i have a good publicyst
he can make anything look right

but then others get that gut feling
how do they know

a rich person can go awol...
and chose to buy a new life...with his trust funds

the poor got no option..

when dah masta say go...
[to die over there]

we go

OUG,

I don't think Cannadine was trying to make the toffs look "good". He was offering an explanation as to why this social class reacted so enthusiastically to this war - and not only the men, but also the women, many of whom remembered the day of call-up with long-cherished pride.
Cannadine on the excitement:

"And so it was - for the women no less than for the men. When Lord Tullibardine was told by the War Office that he must mobilise and command the Scottish Horse, his wife "nearly burst with pride."And twenty years later, Viscountess Barrington could still recall "the pride and exaltation of fond parents and wives, their willing offering of their sons and husbands, to fight in so great a cause in the early days of the war.....At the same time, the older generation of grandees did all they could to encourage recruiting in their localities."

David f.,
Cannadine comments on the fact that many of those killed were not necessarily from aristocratic families, although those of note were counted among them.

"But this haunting image of doomed genteel youth, of an aristocratic holocaust, needs to be set in proper perspective. Many of those who were posthumously recruited into the so-called "lost generation" were in fact from the middle-classes."

Dear Poirot,

There is a deeply moving story. I think it was by Bruce Chatwin. During WW1 local families are all requested to come to church for a meeting - especially the young men. The minister, local army officers and local gentry speak about the struggle going on in France and the duty of all to join in the struggle. The trucks are waiting outside to take them to the camp. All of them go.

Dear Squeers,

Thank you for the empathy :) and certainly value your opinion. I am sorry for the disjointed postings but reception is at the best haphazard where I am. Back to a computer soon for a fuller response when I can do your posts justice.

To all,

I have just come off the Mount Difficult walk in the northern Grampians. Absolutely spectacular views but a tip for the young, do not leave it till after lunch to attempt it. Doing it in the dark is not recommended.

Having to really push the pace up to the summit over some difficult terrain certainly had the legs trembling.

Part the way through the descent on a very short break with not a hell of a lot left in the tank and feeling a little sorry for my self the thought crossed my mind about what the Diggers had to endure over the Owen-Stanley ranges.

It served as a bit of a 'kick up the pants' and we made it back just on dusk. I am now enjoying the soothing qualities of a youngish Cab-merlot from a vineyard near here, hardly something they were afforded.

My reason for relating this is because it begs the question, am I a Zealot reveling the acts of war beaten up by our media or am I just an Australian taking inspiration from the heroics of past deeds done by our soldiers?

Acknowledging heroism does not have to mean we buy the whole package.

Please note that however unrealistic it might be the primary force of the comparison is 'guilt'.