Nephi sees, in his vision, that many generations pass away “after the manner of wars”; that is, their time on earth was shortened by such conditions as wars necessarily bring about, viz., famine, pestilence, and general anarchy.
About the time when Nephi had this vision, Ezekiel, who was in Babylon, also had a vision concerning war, or rather the nations that made war, Egypt, Elam, Ashur, Meshech, Tubal, and others. He sees their end in the realm of the dead. They shall not lie with the mighty ones, “which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war.” They may have been buried as heroes, with their swords under their heads, but, Ezekiel says, “their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.” (Ez. 32:17-32) The ancient warrior nations cannot find a place of honor—not even in hell; that is, in the realm of the dead!
I beheld many cities. Nephi saw, notwithstanding wars and slaughter, many cities, in fact, so many that he did not number them. The vision cannot have been limited to a small area of the land of promise. It must have included the entire continents.