“The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labour. War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent.”
― George Orwell, 1984
This is where Orwell was diametrically wrong.
The elites see the masses as irredeemably unintelligent, and hence DO want them to die in war, and for those that survive to NOT have nice things, to be uncomfortable, and to die an early death.