In this four-year period four specific battles are mentioned after the Nephites had retreated towards the north countries. Mormon, the new military leader, was victorious in only the last battle. Three cities or lands are named from which the Nephites were driven (vv. 4–6). These three places are not mentioned elsewhere in the Book of Mormon. These places apparently were in the north where many had migrated in the days of Shiblon, son of Alma (see Alma 63:4–9). How far north they were we do not know, but there were probably no events that far north that had been recorded before. These migration places were well beyond the land of Desolation, since the Nephites went by shipping to get there. The fourth battle apparently did not take place around a city, but where the Nephites had gathered (Mormon 2:9). Mormon was almost twenty years of age before he gained this victory. He had been fighting for four years. The Lamanites were generally in the south, and thus were gaining new ground as they drove the Nephites north.
“One complete revolution” (v. 8) suggests that the blood and carnage was happening everywhere and in every aspect of life. It was in their economics, in their social life, in their families, and in every type of interaction that took place among them. Certainly destruction did hang over their heads (v. 8).