Clarifying the quoted phrase with a few lines in this post won't do justice. There is a plethora of written material on the subject.
Basically, the nations' young manhood was gripped by a wild enthusiasm to enlist and participate in this war. One only needs to take a look at photos of the throngs in the capital cities of the belligerents and read the reports in the papers when general mobilisation was declared. Hindsight shows that much frenzy, jubilation, xenophobia, patriotism, etc was whipped up as propaganda, but at the time this was all enthusiastically welcomed. From what I have read the period surrounding the outbreak of war wasn't a subdued experience, but a wild eagerness of the nation's youth to enlist. Disillusionment came later, as did the loss of innocence by those who believed that this would be a typical, short adventurous war.
GTB
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