Go and read what she has to say instead of looking of out of context clips - she goes on to say immediately after that that the reasons for joining were far more complex - shje mentions propaganda, fear, peer pressure and much much more - go read what she has written instead of dishionestly claiming that you have (not not a first for you).
No historian has ever presented a picture of people flocking to join up for 'freedom' - as you have.
If people had have done they would have been gullible idiots because, as you have pointed out, it was an Imperial war for territory - a war to gain and defend countries that none of the protagonists had a right to and all of them were plundering - Britain - Germany and especially "gallant little Belgium - a horrific Colonial master.
Your cut-'n-paste fully accepted that this was what it was about and nobody else has ever challenged that.
As Pennell points out, they did so for a whole host of reasons and 18 months into the war those reasons wore thin and compulsory conscription was introduced.
The War was sold like soap powder, Bottomly depicted it as something to be laughed at and a foregone conclusion - he made a million out of sending young man to their deaths.
Had our great national hero Kitchener, remained in office, conscientious objectors would have been executed for refusing to take part.
Men with shellshock were executed for "walking away from the noise" as Tommy Kenny put it, he described officers beating men up the ladders with their swagger-sticks, into murderous hails of bullets - fair to many accounts of this happening for even you pair to deny.
Some mamy fave gone out of a sense of duty, but many many others were tricked and eventually forced by law to go.
AS the lady said - "complicated" - read her book instead of claiming you have.
Go on - break the habit of a lifetime - read something
Jim Carroll