It seems to me that the First World War produced a lot of very famous songs all about the war but I hear very little of the same about wars before the Great War, such as the Boer etc. Why is this? Was it just because the need for morale at home was far greater than in previous conflicts?
There were plenty of songs about prior wars. The American civil war produced a long list of famous songs about it. "Dixie", "Marching Through Georgia", "All Quiet Along the Potomac Tonight", and many other songs were written. Marching through Georgia would be adapted in the Boer Wars to "Marching On Pretoria". "Yankee Doodle" was by British Soldiers in the American Revolution. The Star Spangled Banner was written by Francis Scott Key during the battle of Fort McHenry in the war of 1812. There has been lots of famous music during war time prior to the first world war. Just maybe not recorded music.