We now get a description of the trumpets. There is a 4-3, or 4-2-1 pattern. The first four involve forces of nature, the last three the work of men. There is also an interlude between the sixth and seventh. The church is not directly involved in these ones. These are not final judgements on mankind as a whole, but more of a warning.
So the first angel sounds his trumpet and hail and fire, mixed with blood, fell upon the earth. This wrought massive destruction on nature. The one third indicates that it is massive in scale, but is not total destruction. I don't think we need to take the third as a precise fraction, just an indicative figure.
After the land the sea was affected by the second trumpet. This affected many marine life forms and shipping.
The third trumpet involved the skies and the rivers being affected. This polluted much of the water and many people died.
With the fourth trumpet the sun, moon and stars were affected.
The people would have thought that things were bad enough, with man's lack of control of nature becoming apparent. But much worse was to come.
We see these visions one after another, but I don't think we necessarily need to interpret them that way, they could be things that happen over a long period of time.
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