(Spoilers ahead)
If I recall correctly there was no actual war in the universe of Nineteen Eighty-Four, Oceania just pretented wars were going on to keep citizens in a constant state of fear.
If I recall correctly there was no actual war in the universe of Nineteen Eighty-Four, Oceania just pretented wars were going on to keep citizens in a constant state of fear.
There was the implication that the wars are not truly being fought, such as in the quote above.
That was my interpretation anyway. War is never actually witnessed by the protagonist, it's just used as a rationalisation of various actions by the state.