It was a time of visions and miracles, while seers and prophetesses were legion.

The people ceased work by hundreds of thousands and fled to the mountains, there to await the imminent coming of God and the rising of the hundred and forty and four thousand to heaven.

But in the meantime God did not come, and they starved to death in great numbers.

In their desperation they ravaged the farms for food, and the consequent tumult and anarchy in the country districts but increased the woes of the poor expropriated farmers.
Also, the farms and warehouses were the property of the Iron Heel.
Armies of troops were put into the field, and the fanatics were herded back at the bayonet point to their tasks in the cities.

There they broke out in ever recurring mobs and riots.