Did Tolkien find the idea of war honourable?

[Angry Brandybuck]

I like what quite a lot of you are saying. Of course, Tolkien doesn't translate very easily over to the real world because in Middle Earth, there is more or less a good definition of evil. which doesn't often happen in the real world (unless you believe only one country's propaganda).

A few points:
I personally think it is great that we no longer live ine the romantic world of sword and shield, bloody, horrific days that they were. Days when you joined an army, got given a sword and told to fight, and if you didn't you died. Days when hundreds of men would be sent to their deaths just because one Lord insulted another's dog.

It is also a popular misconception that generals/Kings rode at the front. What would be the use of riding out, when you then couldn't see the battlefield and give orders.

I know this isn't relevant but I don't really think World War I was 'pointless' but what do I know, I only have a GCSE and an A Level in 20th Century History. Also World War II could have been avoided easily if only the Allied leaders had had a bit of diplomatic backbone about them,(Remilitarisation of the Rhineland and the Sudetenland spring to mind).

It is interesting to note that the evil 'side' in LoTR attacks innocent civilians in raids with fire etc. but the more honourable 'good guy' approach is the pitched battle, right down to the parley at the beginning. A comment on the way modern wars are fought?