The war machines in combatant countries spewed the usual pseudospeciating propaganda. But in studying soldiers’ diaries and letters, Ashworth observed minimal hostility toward the enemy expressed by trench soldiers; the further from the front, the more hostility. In the words of one frontline soldier, quoted by Ashworth, “At home one abuses the enemy, and draws insulting caricatures. How tired I am of grotesque Kaisers. Out here, one can respect a brave, skillful, and resourceful enemy. They have people they love at home, they too have to endure mud, rain and steel.”
