The various common soldiers, enthralled by a lot of sonorous oratory (8)
I believe the answer is:
rhetoric
'sonorous oratory' is the definition.
'rhetoric' can be an answer for 'oratory' (rhetoric is a kind of oratory). I am not certain of the 'sonorous' bit.
'the various common soldiers enthralled by a lot' is the wordplay.
'various' indicates an anagram.
'common soldiers' becomes 'or' (military abbreviation for 'other ranks').
'enthralled' indicates putting letters inside.
'by a' becomes 'ri' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'lot' becomes 'c'.
'the' is an anagram of 'het'.
'het'+'or'='hetor'
'hetor' inserted within 'ri' is 'rhetori'.
'rhetori'+'c'='RHETORIC'
'of' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rhetoric that I've seen before include "pomposity" , "Grandiose (insincere) discourse" , "Eloquent and persuasive language" , "The art of using words impressively" , "insincere stuff" .)