I wonder if they teach modern schoolchildren exactly what it was like for soldier age men when their sole sources of information were
1) Rumours, in the workplace.
2) Rumours, in the local pub.
3) Newspapers and magazines.
4) Wall posters.
5) Radio / crystal set / pal with same
Cross off #5 for WWI and before.
"The enemy" is up to something. War is looming. Not signing up means betraying your pals, white feather in the post and… no prospect of a sex life, frankly.
No individual could 'order' any other to join the forces but societal mass-willpower, in a way, could - and did. A very curious phenomenon in its own right.
But we are not a 'hive mind'. Opinion formers steered the newspapers and the Government did the wall posters.
These days, social media is in the mix of driving mass opinion and anyone with money to burn can run a poster campaign. A handful of media moguls has control of everything else.
Today's Sun cover has been blasted by social media, since about 1am.
The row will all be over by the time I wake up.