[Jaruzel]

The hubris of the British at the time, where they fully believed that the war would only last a few weeks and they'd be 'Home for Christmas', is mainly what led to many sons of the Upper Class willingly signing up to fight in droves.

Alas, as we all know, the war lasted a lot longer than 'a few weeks'.

WW1 directly impacted the ability of many large estates across the UK to survive beyond the 1940s. It changed the cultural and class landscape of the UK significantly.

[darkerside]

This has probably been thought, at least publicly, about almost every offensive war waged by a democratic nation. Few civilizations (there are exceptions) would stomach a war that they knew from the outset would last for years.