Belgians had not given up the keys of the gate to France.

The extent of the ruins in Belgium east of the Yser has been
exaggerated. They were the first ruins, most photographed, most
advertised; bad enough, inexcusable enough, and warrantedly
causing a spell of horror throughout the civilized world. We have
heard all about them, mind, while hearing nothing about those in
Lorraine, where the Bavarians exceeded Prussian ruthlessness in
reprisals. I mean, that to have read the newspapers in early
September, 1914, one would have thought that half the towns of
Belgium were debris while the truth is that only a small percentage
are--those in the path of the German army's advance. Two-thirds of
Louvain itself is unharmed; though the fact alone of its venerable
library being in ashes is sufficient outrage, if not another building had
been harmed.

The German army planned destruction with all the regularity that it
billeted troops, or requisitioned supplies, or laid war indemnities. It did
not destroy by shells exclusively. It deliberately burned homes. No
matter whether the owners were innocent or not, the homes were
burned as an example. The principle applied was that of punishing
half a dozen or all the boys in the class in the hope of getting the real
culprit.

Cold ruins mark blocks where sniping was thought to have occurred.
The Germans insist that theirs was the merciful way. Krieg ist Krieg.
When a hundred citizens of Louvain were gathered and shot
because they were the first citizens of Louvain to hand, the purpose
was the security of the mass at the expense of the individual,
according to the war-is-war machine reasoning. No doubt there was