Jim, Hastings maintains, based on research, that our soldiers knew exactly what they were fighting for.
He gives this example.
"Most veterans rejected the 'poets' view'. One old soldier, named Henry Mellersh, declared in 1978 that he wholeheartedly rejected the notion that the war was 'one vast, useless, futile tragedy, worthy to be remembered only as a pitiable mistake'.
Instead, wrote Mellersh: 'I and my like entered the war expecting an heroic adventure and believing implicitly in the rightness of our cause; we ended greatly disillusioned as to the nature of the adventure, but still believing that our cause was right and we had not fought in vain.'"

Another.
Dr.Dan Todman

"Notwithstanding the enormous casualty lists, in 1918 many Britons thought they had achieved a miraculous deliverance from an evil enemy. They celebrated a remarkable military victory and national survival. For those who had served in the trenches, and for those left at home, the war experience encompassed not only horror, frustration and sorrow, but also triumph, pride, camaraderie and even enjoyment, as well as boredom and apathy."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/perceptions_01.shtml

The "brutal repression' of Belgium was, from the beginning, a red herring.
No. The atrocities against civilians are well documented and caused much anger here.

Even Hastings, who is "less good on the causes" does not attempt to deny the Empire motive for the war.

He places the blame firmly on Germany.