Suddenly a shot was heard, then two. Panic gripped the crowd, they retreated down the side-streets, screaming and shouting; the police took advantage of the moment to ride after them, trampling people down and slashing out with their sabres.
At that moment it felt as though one were involved in a war. ("Revolution in the Streets", Brushwood, 1903)
Hamsun experienced two wars.
Like a number of other culturally prominent people, Hamsun supported the Germans during the First World War. He advertised his views in a number of newspaper articles, including "The Debt to Germany" (1914) and "Letter to Klassekampen" (1916), in which he defended Germany’s warfare in Europe.
At the start of the Second World War Hamsun quickly gave notice of his support for Germany As early as April 14th 1940, five days after the invasion of Norway, he wrote the article "A Word to Us ", in which he claimed that Germany was defending Norway against further encroachments by the English.
In none of his novels does Hamsun refer directly to war, although he does write in Growth of the Soil (1917) that Isak "sows in blood-stained earth ".
