If we pass by the ancient epoch when it was the custom of the conqueror
to "take the city, and slay the people therein, and beat down the city,
and sow it with salt," and come to more modern times, we shall find
cause to question whether any people has been actually exterminated by
war.
Probably the worst devastation in modern Europe was that caused by the
Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) when the Germans were fighting among
themselves. Season by season, says the historian, armies of ruthless
freebooters harried the land with fire and sword. The peasant, who found
that he toiled only to feed robbers and to draw them to outrage and
torture his family, ceased to labor and became himself robber and camp
follower. Half the population and two-thirds of the movable property of
Germany were swept away. In many large districts the facts were worse
than this average. The Duchy of Württemberg had 50,000 people left out
of 500,000. Populous cities had become hamlets; and for miles upon
miles, former hamlets were the lairs of wolf packs. Not until 1850 did
some sections of Germany again contain as many homesteads and cattle as
in 1618. So there is justification for the belief that Montenegro,
Serbia, and Armenia will come back again to health and strength.
* * * * *
On March 21 an order was issued, applying to all of Great Britain,
requiring all entertainments, including theatres, to close at 10:30 P.
M., and forbidding any shop window lighting. No public meals were
allowed after 9:30 P. M. at hotels, restaurants, clubs, and boarding
houses, and the tube and train services were reduced; also, by
one-sixth, the amount of gas or electricity allowance.