p. 11 | WHAT WAR IS

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 25, 1903

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 29, No. 12.

WHAT WAR IS.

[From “The Cruelty of War.”]

In the spring of 1812 Napoleon gathered together on the frontiers of Poland an enormous army of 680,000 men. On June 22d war was proclaimed. The French pressed towards Moscow, spreading destruction on every hand, while the Russians retreated, setting fire to the towns.

By September, Borodino was reached, and here was fought a terrible battle. Before daybreak, on September 7th the two armies were set in array. Think of it! Picture it! 260,000 men—whom God had made brothers—are waiting only for a signal to commence slaughtering each other! At 6 o’clock that signal is given, the roar of artillery is heard and ere long the battle rages everywhere. Two hundred cannon are mowing down whole battalions and enveloping both armies in smoke. The wounded are being crushed by the horses’ hoofs or mangled beneath the wheels of artillery. So the bloodshed continues till darkness closes the scene. Let us view the field on the following day. Here are nine square miles covered with slain; in many places the bodies are in “heaps.” In yonder ravines some of the wounded have crawled, and lie there weltering in blood and uttering groans. Realize all this. Shrink not from the task. ’Tis the “glory” of war! In the next few days the neighboring towns are plundered. The soldiers acted like demons. They sacked the houses, disregarding the piteous appeals of the inmates. Mothers holding little ones in their hands knelt imploringly to be left unhurt, but in vain. The very clothing was stolen from them, as well as the household goods.

Soon the terror-stricken inhabitants were seen coming from the places where they had hidden. Sons carrying sick fathers, mothers with infants and weeping children, fleeing before the flames. Aged people, whose weakness prevented their flight, lay down to die. The hospitals, containing more than 12,000 sick, began to burn, and nearly all the inmates perished. Night came on and the fire still raged. The French, maddened by strong drink which they had discovered, rushed into the very midst of the fire and smoke to procure plunder, literally “wading in blood and trampling o’er corpses.”

As the French moved onward in various places where battles had been fought, the slain lay, as they had lain for weeks, unburied on the plain. Twenty thousand corpses were lying where they had fallen.

Such is the history of one expedition. Do not forget that these terrible details which fill us with such horror are facts which we can not gainsay. In this expedition 450,000 lives were lost in 173 days! And all this wanton bloodshed was to gratify the ambition of one man.