I read the book as a teenager but seeing it in live-action was brutal. You forget that soldiers used gas and fucking flamethrowers on people, and they did it so their ruling class can get even wealthier.
Remembering that the causes of that war were about European empires trying to carve up Germany because capital had reached its zenith under the pre-war status quo unless it acquired new markets and territories to expand into was just eye-opening.
:eu-cool: :germany-cool: :france-cool:
:ukkk:
Honestly it's because we all know (or somewhat know) that capital and capitalists are monsters and would put dissidents in gas chambers if able, the rest of the working classes also know this to a subconscious degree and will even express this via perceptions of how evil elites can be (whether conspiracy theory territory or not and just being credible claims). Once the glass does break though and gloves come off is when both sides understand that only one will come out of the conflict alive.