I find the WW1 parallel stronger. Imperial Germany, a nation of good people corrupted by colonial ambitions, draining the youth of Oxfordshire into the wastela

I find the WW1 parallel stronger. Imperial Germany, a nation of good people corrupted by colonial ambitions, draining the youth of Oxfordshire into the wasteland of the trenches. It also better fits Tolkien’s personal experience and the pre Cold War publication of the Hobbit. I suppose Ukraine’s also the modern conflict most similar to WW1 as well.