And whether they're right or whether they're wrong, our duty is to fight at their bidding--to bleed for them, to die for them, that they may grow more sleek and prosperous." He sank back on his pillow with another laugh.
Sometimes they agreed it was the newspapers that made war--that fanned every trivial difference into a vital question of national honour--that, whenever there was any fear of peace, re-stoked the fires of hatred with their never-failing stories of atrocities.

At other times they decided it was the capitalists, the traders, scenting profit for themselves.

Some held it was the politicians, dreaming of going down to history as Richelieus or as Bismarcks.

A popular theory was that cause for war was always discovered by the ruling classes whenever there seemed danger that the workers were getting out of hand.

In war, you put the common people back in their place, revived in them the habits of submission and obedience.