One of the outstanding features of the war was the ruthlessness which
marked German methods throughout. In the invasion of Belgium and
Northern France no measure was too base to adopt in order that the
spirit of the invaded countries might be broken. Looting on the part of
officers and men was officially recognised, as also was the wholesale
destruction of property, machinery and valuable works of art.
Later, the barbarity of the Hun method was demonstrated by the
submarine campaign, in the course of which defenceless merchant and
passenger vessels, and even hospital ships were “sunk at sight” and the
survivors either shot or left to drown. German warships also bombarded
such “fortified” places as Scarborough, Whitby, Lowestoft and Margate;
while their Zeppelins, and subsequently their aeroplanes, visited
England again and again, causing many casualties--a large proportion of
them women and children--in a vain endeavour to create panic in this
country.
Other methods by which the Germans revealed their inhumanity in warfare
included the abominable treatment of prisoners of war; the deportation
of thousands of the civilian population of France and Belgium to serve
as slaves behind the German lines; and the execution of Nurse Cavell
and Capt. Fryatt.