Did we have much clearer reasons and aims 100 years ago?
Yes, pretty much so. A 100 years ago the aim was to protect and defend the Empire. And the reason for the Empire was very clear – to bring Britain huge wealth and power. Today we’re not so sure why we are in places such Afghanistan, well at least the general population isn’t sure. The reasons/excuses given appear to change according to the situation and the current political agenda.
.
I’d argue that whilst the enemies are sustaining higher losses than our side, neither compare to anything like the butchery of the past.
Well the combined deaths directly and indirectly caused as a result of military action in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, probably exceeds 1 million. A study published in the Lancet estimates between 654,965 and 942,636 civilian deaths in Iraq alone.
http://www.brussellstribunal.org/pdf/lancet111006.pdf
Considering these countries have relatively small populations and the wars were low intensity wars, these are staggeringly high casualties.
The Vietnam war cost between 1 million and 3 million lives. Although only 58,000 Americans died throughout the entire Vietnam war, which incidentally is about the same as British who died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
Fighting unequal adversaries does keep casualty figures low whilst theirs high. But the final tally is still quite horrendous.