"Why, of course, the people don’t want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece etc etc etc"

Or something like that anyway. That was Goering, or Goebels. Don't really remember which, but the point is war and societal upheaval are not tools to solve problems that the common man has with élites. War and societal upheaval are tools to solve the problems that one group of élites has with some other group of élites. The only thing a common guy would get out of it is to "come back to his farm in one piece", so to speak. (And a lot of us might not even get that.)

I mean, frankly, we can live on our farms in one piece without going to war at all. Sure, there are some rare exceptions, usually involving being a minority, where you truly are fighting for your life. In those instances the enemy's stated purpose is not to allow you to live on your farm. But even then, you don't gain equality with the élites if you win, you just get to stay alive.