Why is there a war?

In chapter nine, the ambulance drivers try to explain why there is a war.

Your task: Using evidence from the text give us two or more possible explanation for the war, according to the ambulance drivers. Additionally, considering that no one we encounter seems to believe in the war, what causes the war to continue?

According to the given texts in chapter nine, the dialogue between the ambulance driver and his peers reveals some pieces of evidence deciphering the reasons of the war. First, in page 48, it is said that "There is a class that controls a country that is stupid and does not realize anything and never can. That is why we have this war." Here, the speaker directly attributes the war to the contemporary rulers. The stupidity of the government drives the war by making continuous wrong decisions to a nationally significant degree. Second, in page 46, one of the person in the ambulance says "when they wouldn't attack and they shot every tenth man?", and in page 47, it is mentioned that if soldiers refuse to fight the war, they will be the "outsiders" of the country, and therefore any people can take away one's all property without being punished. This kind of brutal discipline is just so overwhelming that most of soldiers don't dare to escape from the war. Thus, for the soldiers, it's an extreme obligation to fight the war.
In addition, for all human beings, whether believing in the war or not, are born with the nature of fear. After being conquerd by other countries, as mentioned in page 47, all of the things that they once owned will turn into a ruin. And their dearest brothers and sisters will be relentlessly devastated and maltreated by the enemies. This is the extreme form of fear that I want to name it a state of "nil", which is witnessing everything comfortable and fine things around you disappear. This kind of fear makes the people want to fight for preventing their own beautiful stuff from being a ruin, even though it may jeopardize their life.

There were two reasons which are interconnected. The first one was "There is a class that controls a country that is stupid and does not realize anything and never can. That is why we have this war". The second one was that the bersaglieri would attack no matter they recognized their rival or not. These two factors contributed to the war and can start the war only with the presense of one the other. There were decision makers who decide to start the war out of "stupidity", and there were executors who obeyed the order out of bravery and good decipline. The class that controled the country were not neccessarily stupid, perhaps from the view of historians they were, but they might have a pretty good reason for it at that time. But the soldiers didn't know what their reasons were, they only knew they were commanded to fight, that was their obligation as a soldier, don't question, just obey. But the ones that made the choice of war were not the one that actually have to suffer on the front, they didn't have to experience the bombardment later on in Chapter 9. they desire the greater good, also the soldiers have to suffer from the instant pain. Perhap that's why no one we met believed in the war, the believers wouldn't be here! As for the reason why the war continued, perhaps it had something to do with the Hobbesian Trap. Both side were tired of fighting, and both sides see each other as a threat. Even though I don't want to fight, but I don't know what my rival is thinking, just in case they have bad intensions, I might as well stay dominant and aggressive. If one side ceased, the other side would continue to conquer, at least that's what they assumed, so they both sides didn't dare to stop.

According to the ambulance driver, I think there are three reasons that are related.
The first reason is the fear of people to the defeat. On page 47, Passini said “ There is nothing worse than the war” While the man replied: “ Defeat is worse.” He said: “ They came after you. They take your home. They take your sisters.” It is worth thinking that perhaps the war happened because people are afraid of being defeated. If they don’t fight back, they would live in chaos and despair, being harmed by the strong. A war is not only a war, it is a chance for many people not being attacked by others and to be the one to attack others. It is a way to change the current circumstances, to prevent being harmed in the future and to gain something alluring as the golds.The second reason comes from this sentence, “There is a class that controls a country that is stupid and does not realize anything and never can. That is why we have this war”. The man attributed the war to the stupidity of the governor, they didn’t know anything about the war except the victory of the war. That’s how they made the decisions to start the war. The war is controlled by the governors, they are the most influential person who could make this decision but also are the most ignorant person when talking about the war. But there is no way, as long as they are the rulers and are making the wrong orders, the war won’t stop. The third reason is the obligation of the soldiers to fight this war. According to the novel, the soldiers are those who fight the war. However, they knew nothing about the war. What they know is just the orders of their commanders. On page 47, the men mentioned that if the soldiers not to obey the orders and not to fight, they would be the “outsiders”. Taking their responsibility as a solider, they could do nothing but to follow the orders and keep their obligation as a soldier to fight this war.
In addition, no one seems to believe in the war while everyone believes in the victory of the war. People are not only in the fear of the defeat of the war, they are also eager for the victory of the war. This enables them to continue the war. On the other hand, people who believes in the victory and also have the power to order the soldiers keep them fighting, which also contribute to the continuation of the war.

There are three reasons to explain why this war happened. Firstly, this war happened, because of their fear to the governors. “There are some people who never realize. There are people who are afraid of their officers. It is with them the war is made.” According to these sentences, we can know the war is made by some stupid and weak people who are afraid of the governors. Secondly, this war happened, because there is no concession. “If they come down into Italy they will get tired and go away. They have their own country. But no, instead there is a war.” According to these sentences, the war is mainly occurred by the both sides’ no concession. Both of them did not stop doing the wrong things. Finally, the war happened because of one powerful class. “There is a class that controls a country that is stupid and does not realize anything and never can. That is why we have this war.” According to these sentences, there is a class have the power to control a country and even relay on the war to make money. Their governing is one of the most important reasons to occur this war.

According to chapter nine, from the dialogues of the ambulance drivers, there were a few reasons for the continue of the war. First of all, in the dialogues in page 47, “I believe we should get the war over……Defeat is worse.” Since none of the countries wanted to be defeated, so they must continue the war until one of them is defeated. Many of the people didn’t want to be conquered and lose their homes, families and last but not least, their lives. Meanwhile, on the frontier, even thought some of the soldiers didn’t want to fight at all, but the government wanted to continue the fight until they have defeat the other side. As it was said in page 46, “ A sergeant she two officers who would not get out…..Those that went out were not lined up when they took the tenth men.” This indicates that many of the soldiers were forced to join the army and go on to the front line. This war cannot be stopped just with the soldiers unwillingness to fight, the government is key to stop the war. in page 48, “ There is a class that controls a country that is stupid and does not realize anything and never can. That’s why this war.” Maybe this was talking about the government or someone in the upper state, they tried to use this war for their own benefits, regardless of the people and the ones fighting for them. They only wanted advantages of the war for themselves, so they made the war to continue.
On the other hand, as said in page 48 “ War is not won by victory… Only if the Austrians stop fighting. One side must stop fighting.” Although, one of the countries might had a victory, but the war would continue until one of the countries quit and stopped fighting. It seemed having nothing with victory and lost among the countries, the end of the war just depends on when one side stopped fighting and quit the war. If all the countries continue fighting, the war would continue. The reason for the war to continue is significantly related to the willingness to fight of the countries and the sides.

Those one in ten soldiers who refuse to involve into war will were killed by order. And their families also suffered from their disobedient actions, soldiers walking around their home, not allowed for others’ visit and even the men in the house are deprived of the citizens’ right. They are ruled out of law. This kind of severe actions to prevent soldiers from escaping from the war makes it harder for those who are not willing to fight to take actions. They are only individuals, and do not have such strong power to be rebels. Without interventions, the war goes on. Further the scale is made to a greater extent, which made the war less possible to end. Also the dominators claimed by the ambulance drivers are foolish. They seek for war so that they can gain money, or just for no reason. Their strong will makes the war to take place. Those ones who are not willing are intrigued by their opponents’ actions, thus they also join in the war.
According to game theory, actions of one side depends on the other side. But neither of them know what their opponent may do. So what they consider is how to maximum their interests. If they choose to do nothing, they shall gain the normal profit of their domestic inherent one and it will it shall even be smaller if the other side attacks them. But once they invade the other, they will have the potential to gain interest due to the exotic resources they can get and also the slaves will also benefit them. So under this situation, choosing to attack the other seems a wiser choice. For the sake of interest, neither side will end up fighting.

According to the dialogue among the ambulance drivers, there were mainly two reasons which helped to explain the outbreak of the war. On one hand, the government of the war was very silly. In the book, it said that "There is a class that controls a country that is stupid and does not realize anything and never can." This sentence truly reflected the incompetence of the government, As a government, they actually knew little about the war. Most people who worked in the government had never been to the war in person, and people would never understand the war if they hadn't experienced it in person. As a result, the government made a lot of wrong and silly decisions because they never knew the real condition of the war. On the other hand, not only the government, soldiers also had a big influence on the war. The Bersaglieri only knew that they should obey the command given by the superior. They never had their own thoughts. They would do exactly as what they told by the government. Because if they did not follow the government order or escaped from the war, it meant that they put themselves into the "outsiders" which was not accepted by their countries. As a result, the fighting become the obligation of the soldiers.
Besides, albeit no one we encountered seemed to believe in the war, the war still continued. It seemed very strange, but if we scrutinized it carefully, we would find it reasonable. First, we need to know that all the nations are very proud and they would never permit a failure happen on them easily. As a result, if several countries took part in a war, none of them would like to be the first one who quitted the war because it meant that they were the weakest country. Instead, all of them wanted to stay to be the last one in the war to show their power to other countries. All above, it was the dignity of the country which made the war continue.

In this chapter, the ambulance driver tries to explain the reason for the war. One of the reasons is the persecution on the soldiers and even their families if the soldiers want to escape from the war.In the book, there is a paragraph about a soldier who was shot by the carabinieri beacause he wanted to run away. His family is monitored and his father loses his civil rights. Basically, his family loses their human rights like the right to vote and protect their own property. Although the war is stupid and bloody, the soldiers have to fight for the safety of themselves and their whole family. Military court is sometimes even crueler thanthe battlefield.
Another reason is the stupid upper class wanted the war. They controlled the whole country and they don't totally realize the harm brought by this war on the country and its citizens. It seems that most of them don't have a pursuit for fortune and the only reasonable explanation for their willing to fight is that they were too stupid to realize the real situations and have a passion on the stupid war.
What's more, there is a fear for being defeated. On page 47, Henery expressed the fear that their home and family would be destroyed by their enemies if they lost the war. For the security of their home and family, they had to fight for victory.

First reason to cause the war to continue is the class that controls a country. In the dialogues, the soldiers described their rulers as stupid. They started a war for nothing, for unreasonable reasons. Since the soldiers had to be obedient to their rulers, they had no choice but to continue the war their rulers had started. Second is that the enforcement exerted by their superiors. According to the characters, they said that “They lined up afterward and took every tenth man. Carabinieri shot them.”,”A sergeant shot two officers who would not get out”. It can be told that if someone refused to attend the war or step into the battle field, someone would kill them. In other words, their superiors forced them to continue the war.
And the reason why those who didn’t believe in war existed but the war still went on is their fear. They feared that if they violated their superiors for being unwilling to attend the war, they would die. They feared that if they lost the war, their enemies would intrude into their homes and torture and humiliate they themselves and their families. In conclusion, from my perspective, it is their fear that causes the war to continue.

In the text it is mentioned that there was a favored class that might earn from the war, they would never know how terrible a war is, but they benefit from it. There were also people who share opinion with Henry, thought that the worst thing is not war, but being defeated. They thought their homeland would been capture and they would lost their family. There were people who had to fight to protect their own property, they were forced to join the army. And also there were people who were afraid of the officers and were every courageous in the battlefield. From the text we saw no one that favored the war, because they were mere mechanics, the war would bring no benefit to them. There were people who wanted to provoke the war, they were from the upper classes, and they were people who didn’t want their own nation to be defeated, who had to fight reluctantly .Nationalism was quiet prevail at that time, like what Henry said, war was not worse than defeat. Their countries call them to fight, and their would do so, because they had faith in their nation, not the war, they fight because their country told them to. If one side stopped, the war shall end. But with people holding that patriotic opinions, there would never be the end of the war. No, people hated the war, but most of them hated to be defeated more than the war, it was why the war continued. The war was terrifying, but the pith, the most horrible thing, was the tortous belief.

During the conversation between the ambulance drivers and Tenente, the drivers mentioned several times that the soldiers were not willing to attend the war, only the "fools" who don't care why fighting but just obey the orders would willing to fight. And the leaders made the orders just because of their "stupidity". In my opinion, the leaders did make the orders to fight which seemed stupid and unreasoning, but there must be some reasons for that. Often the soldiers who suffered from the cruel of the war cannot understand the decision that the commender made in the back, just like the commender may not realize how ruthless it would be to fight in the front. But at last most of the soldiers obeyed the orders and fought with the risk of death, mainly because of their fear. The soldiers, the ordinary troops are afraid of being punished if they escape from the war because they would lose everything including the fames and properties, it won't make much difference from being killed. What's more, they are afraid of failure for their countries would be conquered and their families and friends will be in danger. So the reason why the soldiers kept fighting is that they have to win, they cannot accept failure in a war for the unbearable consequences.
Additionally, the obedience is the first rule in the army, all a soldier have to do is to obey the orders, whether he could agree them or not, and so does the war. The country need the troops to fight, so they fight, though they didn't even believe in it. That's the power of obedience whether you believe or not, it was not only a reason for the continuous of the war but also a useful weapon in the army.

On page 47 and 48, there is a major discussion on war in Chapter 9. In the book, from the words of Passini, we are able to know author’s opinion towards the continuation of wars.
“ When people realize how bad it is they cannot do anything to stop it because they go crazy. ”
“ There are people who are afraid of their officers. It is with them the war is made. ”
“ If it wasn’t that that happens to their families nobody would go to the attack. ”
“ There is a class that controls a country that is stupid and does not realize anything and never can. That is why we have this war. ”
“ Most of them don’t (make money out of the war). They are too stupid. They do it for nothing. For stupidity. ”
“ War is not won by victory, what if we take San Gabriele? What if we take the Cars and Monfalcone and Trieste. Where are we then. Do you see all the far mountains to-day? ”
“ One side must stop fighting. Why don’t we stop fighting? If they come down into Italy they will get tired and go away. They have their own country. But no, instead there is a war. ”

From the above sentences, we can know that war is started for unknown reason and it will still continued. the reasons are: 1) there are different classes and the upper classes decided to start and continue the war ; 2) the monarchy or the above class are too stupid to stop a war ; 3) the desire of human kind is unlimited, if the army conquered one mountain, they will conquer another mountain, and then another, another, and infinitely the other mountains until they conquered a country. However, who can ensure the general won’t want to conquer another country? That’s why a war is not won by victory, it is won by another country’s tiredness of a war that their power and economics are drained by the war. 5) the officers threat the soldiers that if they don’t attend the battle, they will be shoot and their family will lose their civil rights and under no government protect. 6) the soldiers are driven crazy by the war and probably lose their ability to think.

The evidence that the soldiers don’t believe the war in the book is obvious:
“ I do not believe it. ” Passini said still respectfully, “ What is defeat? You go home.”
“ I don’t believe it. ” Passini said. “ they can’t do that to everybody. Let everybody defend his home. Let them keep their sisters in the house. ”

1. The contemporary government in Italy should be blamed for abusing power and making wrong prediction on the advantage of war. At that time in Italy, there was a class that "controls a country that is stupid and does not realize anything and never can". They made the decision to participate in this war and using their power to force those "who are afraid of their officers" to throw their lives in for money that actually did not exist, for "stupidity".
2. There were some soldiers going to the frontline with initiative though they might not believe that the war was the solution to rebuild their families. "Yes. Alpim would. These V.E. soldiers would. Some bersaglieri". With these soldiers and Austrians, who was not going to end the war, the war could last for more time than people like Passini had thought. These soldiers fighting in the frontline might be those who "realize how bad it is" but "cannot do anything to stop it because they go crazy", causing there to be a long-lasting war.

In most cases wars are initiated by governments, not by populations. And, most of the time, they are the result of disputes over resources and land, or of a government’s desire to increase its influence and power. As described in the book, "There is a class that controls a country that is stupid and does not realize anything and never can. That is why we have this war.“
However, looking back over the history of warfare, what is most striking is how willing most people have been to fight in wars, or at least to support them. At first people did not see joining the army as so dangerous a profession, even with novelty, particularly because they believed the war was not common and would be over quickly.
The war was prevalent because of its psychological effects. It creates a sense of unity in the face of a collective threat. It binds people together – not just the army engaged in battle, but the whole community. It brings a sense of cohesion, with communal goals, and inspires individual soldiers to behave honorably and unselfishly, in the service of a greater good. On the other side, soldiers participated in this war also because of fear of officers (“ There are people who are afraid of their officers. It is with them the war is made. ”), and the fear that “Defeat is worse. They came after you. They take your home. They take your sisters.”
That’s why there’s war.

according to the dialogue between the ambulance drivers, one reason of the outbreak of the war is that officers want a war and the soldiers know nothing, which means that soldiers follow blindly. there is a dialogue goes,"do the men know that who attack?""I don't think so.""of course they don't, they wouldn't attack if they did." it is quite a sympathetic status both for the whole event and the people involved in the war. Manera says,"if everybody would not attack the war would be over." so what thing triggered the war? the desire. The desire which has been rooted into the deep deep bottom of humanity, people longed for wider territory, stronger military strength, better economy. this desire is actually endless.

The first reason is the stupidity and failure of the rulers of this country. “"There is a class that controls a country that is stupid and does not realize anything and never can. That is why we have this war". Very much often, a war would be contributed to the stupidity of the emperors for they thought that they would have benefit from it, but in most cases, a country would lost. Secondly, people dared not to do anything to stop this war. “When people realize how bad it is they cannot do anything to stop it because they go crazy. There are some people who never realize. There are people who are afraid of their officers. It is with them the war is made.” The war may starts because the ignorance of the ruler, however it does not stop because of the fear of the people of its nation, not only the fear towards the cruelty of the war itself , but afraid of the stupid officers would hurt their family for their defeat.Some of the soldiers on the front line have the same idea that fighting this war is the only way to save his family.

The most explicit reason is "There is a class that controls a country that is stupid and does not realize anything and never can". Another reason is that "There are people who are afraid of their officers." Henry criticizes the Italian government for making irrational decisions, causing the war to go on for much longer than expected and leading to the death of millions. Because of the existence of such people that are "afraid of their officers", they obey their commands, no matter how irrational. With the commanders ordering people to fight, they are left with no option. Like said earlier in the paragraph, "they shoot one in every tenth man" Soldiers, no matter how unwillingly, are forced by the government, by their direct superiors to fight and kill. That's what keeps the war raging.
I believe that the reason for way the war continues is simple. Both sides won't concede. War is a mutual activity, it can only occur if both sides are devoted to it. And in this case, they are. Both sides show no wish of a cease fire. The constant threat of the other side is enough to keep everyone on their toes and prevent the war form stopping. After all, you'll keep gambling if everything you've ever known is at stake.

We often consider the war wicked, however, starting a war is the most direct and the most efficient way to fullfill the desire of the people, their tremendous appetite for wealth or status or wider and wider territory. If the fake polite diplomacy fails, then why not have a fight and let the result judge who deserves the better one. Without war, there will aways be unbalance between the ambitions and no absolute fair court can perfectly divide the limited property with everybody satisfies.
"There is a class that controls a country that is stupid and does not realize anything and never can" is a very weak reason for the disastrous condition of the war. Since we are not in that time ourselves and we don't have the right to criticize the command of the officers at that time if we are standing ahead of history and has already learnt about the result of the war. But one thing can be said that the officers executed the commands in an inappropriate way. Soldiers should not execute the orders for the fear towards their officers. They should have understood the final purpose of the long nasty war and try their best to execute the commands to let the war not so durable.
The essential core of the 'patriotism' will easily fade away if peace lasts for so long. Only when the people suffered and fought hard ,the peace will seem more precious and will last longer. There is a super conflict here that people want peace but they cannot live safe and sound for too long.Otherwise, they can no longer unify the country and the whole world will be like a hand of sand.

This question can be considered in two perspectives. The first is that, what caused the war, or who? On page 47 :" There is a class that controls a country that is stupid does not realize anything and never can." and also "Also they make money out of it." Some of the soldier seems to believe that the governor are doing this for money. Actually I don't fully agree, for the governors, they start the war for some kinds of profit, which can't be learnt from the book but from other materiel. Human beings is a kind of very greedy creature. And GREEDY can be a reason to the question why the war started.
Another perspective is that why the war didn't stop since so many people hated it. The governor controls the society. No matter what they do, there are always people with authority that is in favor of them, including some soldiers, generals, and carabinieri. These people are doing this for their own living, as well as to keep their family from being hurt. On page 46 to 47, if the soldiers escape or refuse to join the army, they will either hill you or hurt your family members. Passini said "They can't hang every one." However for human beings even if only one of them was hung, other would pick up their weapon and fight, cause they do want to live. Another reason would be fear to the authority and power to decide whether you are going to DIE or not.
To my perspective, the war is continued Because those threat as I mentioned before make you to fight, you can hardly defeat a country's power with your own. Also there is a kind of interesting theory that on the battlefield, if you died when fighting enemies, you would be regarded as a hero, but if are executed, you were a shame to the country. So when you are put on a battlefield , the best way seems to be continue fighting. That's how and why the war continued.

From the ambulance drivers' dialogue, there are 3 sentences that directly pointed out the trigger of the war majorly from Passini's perspective. He argued "There is nothing as bad as war. We in the auto-ambulance cannot even realize at all how bad it is. When people realize how bad it is they cannot do anything to stop it because they go crazy. There are some people who never realize. There are people who are afraid of their officers. It is with them the war is made." and he also claimed "One side must stop fighting"; rather drastically, he said "There is a class that controls a country that is stupid and does not realize anything and never can. That is why we have this war."
Overall, both extrinsic and internal thrust propelled the war. Fears from the enemies in the war that mentioned in the text after defeat, "They come after you. They take your home. They take your sisters." and "They hang you. They come and make you be a soldier again. Not in the auto-ambulance, in the infantry.", forced the soldiers to go to the frontier in order to protect their family and property and themselves from being devastated by enemies. In another aspect, threats of the ruler that would punish the "cowards" also pushed them to fight. Example as mentioned, "It is true. They lined them up afterward and took every tenth man. Carabinieri shot them.", those who would not fight would be killed 1 in 10, and also, their family would be ruined according to "Now they have a guard outside his house with a bayonet and nobody can come to see his mother and father and sisters and his father loses his civil rights and cannot even vote. They are all without law to protect them. Anybody can take their property."

According to the conversations among the ambulance drivers, I would sum up the reasons caused the war in two parts, the fear from the soldiers and the stupidity from the upper class.
First, about the fear from the soldiers, it could be divided into two sections, one is the fear to be punished from sergeants or other higher officers, which could be shown clearly from the description of those escaping soldiers’ condition, “they lined them up afterward and took every tenth man, carabinieri shot them”. The other is the fear towards what would happen after the war is over and they fail, “defeat is worse, they come after you, they take your home, they take your sisters, they hang you, they come and make you be a soldier again, not in the auto-ambulance, in the infantry”. Consequences after being conquered must be horrible and they must be one of those extreme nightmares that the soldiers worried and feared so that the war would not end.
Second, on the basis of the narrations from Passini, “there is a class that controls a country that is stupid and does not realize anything and never can, that is why we have this war, they are too stupid, they do it for nothing, for stupidity”. In conclusion, the soldiers are forced to attend the war by the superiors of their own country and after their participation, they could not stop until one side failed.

Reasons why the war was fought:
Firstly, if was the administration's decision to continue on with this war. On page 48, "There is a class that controls a country that is stupid and does not realize anything and never can. That is why we have this war." the writer directly blamed the 'stupid' administration for making the stupid decision that is to have this war, and in the following quotes, we can see that, there was not much people could actually do about it.
Secondly, on page 46, one of the person in the ambulance says "when they wouldn't attack and they shot every tenth man?" here, it was clearly indicated that the governments had gruesome schemes in place to make sure soldiers do not fleet from the war.

Reasons why the war could go on:
Firstly, as mentioned, before, the administration had made sure that the fleeting soldiers would end up dying after they lose their dignity and identity, so the soldiers simply chose a 'better' way to survive----they bet on their chances of not being killed as the war dragged on, rather than standing out and say 'I quit'.
Secondly, they were left with no options in the sense that if they didn't fight, their homes would not be restored, their families could not reunite, but if they had stuck out their head and fought, maybe there is a chance that everything they have longed for-----peace, love could come back to him, but the only way to get to that was to keep moving.

War would not continue if only one side take part in and I have found two reasons that might cause the war.
1. On page 47, Passini said, “There is nothing worse than the war… Defeat is worse.” Every people has the fear to be defeated. They were also afraid of being invaded by someone or some countries superior to them, for they would die. If they don’t fight back, they would still in chaos or even a worse situation.
2. “There is a class that controls a country that is stupid and does not realize anything and never can. That is why we have this war…… There is a class that controls a country that is stupid and does not realize anything and never can.” Those sentences expresses the outbreak of the war was simply controlled by the will of the governors, who were the only people had the power to decide. However, they know little about the war and they did not even know how people suffered from the war, for they had never been to the war. The governors just forced some people to go to the front line and fight for the war, achieving the outcome and the prosperity they want for the country. Thus, the author described those people as “stupid”

The first reason that caused the war was the control of the stupid government. "There is a class that controls a country that is stupid and does not realize anything and never can." which mentioned in the passaged denotes that the governments are naive and ignorant. They hadn't involve in the war and didn't understand damages caused from it. They just started the war with no reason, just to satisfied their willing to fight. But it was soldiers and people who were hurt by the cruel war.
The second reason is the cruel and frightening policy of the war. “They lined up afterward and took every tenth man. Carabinieri shot them.”,”A sergeant shot two officers who would not get out”. The people who refused to involve in the war would be punished cruelly and their family would also be ruined. The soldier didn't want these happened so they helped the government in the war, which they are not willing to do.
The third reason is the fear of war. Their willing to win the war pulsed they continued involving the war. They didn't stop it because of their rights and homes.