Many themes, in World War I literature, hinge on the distinction between the soldiers and the elite.  Soldiers in World War I were, metaphorically, the swords with which elites of opposing countries would strike each other: the swords were continually bloodied while the hands of the elite remained immaculate.  Since the soldiers were doing the grunt work for the elites, they were able to witness, first-hand, the atrociousness of war.  This atrociousness was, however, in contrast to what the soldiers had been told about war; concepts such as glory were mysteriously absent from the trenches on the Western front.  War, rather than being portrayed as the dehumanizing tragedy that it is, was portrayed as a glorious adventure.  Not too long after a soldier experienced their first bombardment did they realise that glory...