Like non-elites at public hangings.

In defense of the elites (sorry!), few, other than retired officers, could have had any clear idea of what a battle was like. Furthermore, they watched it at a distance from a hillside: no close-ups of blood & gore, no movie images in their minds, no photographs, no realistic novels, few down and dirty historical accounts, lots of idealized paintings and poetry (for the upper classes).

And, of course, not all the enthusiastic spectators were "aristocrats and elites."