Chemical warfare is the most terrifying and debilitating way to gain the advantage on your enemy or adversary. The use of chemical warfare dates back to World War I; although it is believed that Spartan and Greek armies used a type of chemical warfare dated back to 82-72 BC. Chemicals were used in combat during World War I. Some of the chemicals being used were chlorine, phosgene, and mustard gas. The Chemical Warfare in World War I began as the Germans used chlorine gas, and threw it into the trenches where the troops and most of the defensive positions were located. Nearly 33% of casualties during World War I resulted from chemical warfare. Only 25% percent were fatalities. At the end of World War I, the casualties resulting from chemical attacks multiplied to a devastating 1,240,853. A total of 91,198 died from injuries sustained from the chemical attacks (Service, 1953). Doctors had no cure or remedy this early in time. Throughout this informative research paper, in this history of I will be breaking down the history and origins of chemical warfare. The history of chemical warfare has changed the world. Our fears of chemical attacks in the future have increased and will continue to get worse.
Chemical warfare has been used as early as B.C. and A.D. Mostly used as smoke screens, incendiary devices, and some that may have been disguised as sleeping agents. “During the sieges of Plataea and Delium, the Spartan army used arsenic smoke. The pitch and sulfur were ignited and the consequence was a fire greater than anyone had ever yet seen produced by human agency’, the Greek historian wrote” (Coleman, 2005). The Romans used toxic smoke against the Charakitanes in Spain. The Charakitanes were defeated in two da...
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...d not get used. This would have caused losses on
Either side much of the agents used was blister agents which are a persistent agent. Napalm was
Introduced during World war II. Napalm would be used on the soldiers in entrenched positions.
This greatly reduced the morale and causing extreme mayhem. Phosphorous grenades were also
Used, causing major skin burns after explosion. The use of chemical weapons has become
Harder to guard against, causing more casualties, and becoming harder to detect and defend
Against.
The history of chemical warfare has ever so changed the world our fears of chemical
Attacks in the future has all, but been diminished. The fear that any country could launch a
Chemical attacks in many forms will always be a threat in our country for years to come.
Chemical warfare will never be history the threat is real and will never go away.
3Brophy, L. (1959). The Chemical Warfare Service (1st ed.). Washington: Office of the Chief of
As we move into the Twentieth Century the similarities are almost identical. The First World War has shaped not only modern warfare but even produced global attention to the brutal and inhumane death toll of the war. As stated in the Geneva Protocol, which prohibited the use of chemical weapons in warfare, which was signed in 1925? While this was a welcomed step, the Protocol had a number of significant short comings, including the fact that it did not prohibit the development, production or stockpiling of chemical weapons.
Wright III, B. (1998, November). The Chemical Warfare Service Prepares for World War II. Retrieved from http://www.almc.army.mil/alog/issues/NovDec98/MS274.htm
There have been many wars and battles fought with different weapons, but chemical weapons used in these wars are the worst kind. These weapons cause mutations and horrible deceases to a state in which some deceases even exist many years after the incident. These chemical weapons were unfortunately used by Iraq during the 8-year war between Iran and Iraq: 1980–1988. Iraq started using these chemical weapons excessively after 1984, until the end of the war even though countries are not allowed to use chemical weapons in any cases. However, Iraq got confirmation from The United States.
Napalm and Agent Orange, two of the most morally terrifying weapons used in the mid to late 1900’s. These destructive weapons were most famous in the Vietnam War for inflicting fatal wounds and even deformities. In World War Two, napalm was mostly used in tanks and incendiary bombs to destroy enemy ground troops. These were extremely effective and later used in planes like bombers. The word napalm comes from the combination of naphthene and palmitate, which are powdered aluminum soap.
Before the CDTF was built Soldiers had live toxic training, but it had to be conducted outdoors as it represented the most effective training. Since 1973 the use of training with live chemical agents stops due to environmental concerns and low safety regulations (Unknown, 2011). In 1981the US Army Chemical School (USACMLS) plan and develop a training facility to be used indoors and safer for the environment and the Soldiers. The construction of the new training facility was 14.9 million dollars and it was finished in 1986 at Fort McClellan, Alabama. (Unknown, Transition Force, United States Army Garrison-FT McClellan, Alabama) The first chemical class to utilize the new CDTF was on March 1987. Thus started the age of Chemical (Unknown, 2011) Soldier’s being able to have assurance that their equipment is more than capable of protecting them in a chemical attack. Many allied nations have used and received training from our CDTF but no other like Germany. In 1988, Germany’s decontamination trai...
The purpose of this essay is to deal with the fact that chemical warfare should be brought back to modern warfare strategies. As Warren Rudman said, “And they will tell you unequivocally that if we have a chemical or biological attack or a nuclear attack anywhere in this country, they are unprepared to deal with it today, and that is of high urgency.” Rudman’s words are true in what they say and that we should do everything to counter-act his statement. Biological weapons are a key to outstanding success in war and therefore, I strongly suggest that chemical warfare is an effective and producible weapon tactic that can be used on today’s battlefield.
...d was mustard gas and it is still produced this day in third world countries. There are more lethal chemical weapons today and every country in the world continues to produce, secretly, a more powerful chemical or biological weapon for their own purpose. At the same time, we are continuously trying to improve our protective posture and equipment to handle any situation or mission that is given to us for the greater good of our nation.
Poison gas was perhaps the most feared weapon out of all. Created to overcome the long stalemate style of trench warfare, its purpose was to draw out soldiers hiding in the trenches. One side would throw the poison gas into the enemy trenches and they would either wait for their enemy to come out into open fire or perish in the trenches. The first poison gas used in battle was chlorine at the start of the Second Battle of Ypres on April 22, 1915 by the Germans. Shortly after, followed the phosgene. The effects of these gases were ghastly. Chlorine was the most deadly as "within seconds of inhaling its vapor, it destroys the victim's respiratory organs, bringing on choking attacks" (Duffy). Phosgene had similar effects, except the fact that the effects started kicking in after 48 hours of inhalation. In September 1917, the Germans introduced the mustard gas or Yperite which was contained in artillery shells against the Russians at Riga. Those exposed t...
Sandra Steingraber’s father was a war veteran who fought in world war 2. She mentions that he was saved from war by his excellent typing skills because he was much better in the office, so he did not have to go into the frontlines. World war 2 is mentioned frequently with statistics and references about synthetic production from then as compared to today. The production of synthetic organic chemicals has skyrocketed since the 1960’s, as well as the use of them. These chemicals are extremely unhealthy which cause unwanted health problems and cancers. Many of the synthetic chemicals created were used in wars such as WW2 and the Vietnam War. A huge problem that has been occurring is the enormous contamination we release into the water, land, and
This tactic significantly protected troops from small arms fire and artillery. Weapons, such as mustard gas, were soon invented in order to damage the troops
This paper is about what chemical agent being employed during the attack of Yichang during the Sin-Japanese war in 1940 and which side of the conflict or both would employ it. What type of agent that was used if any? Employment methods used to disperse the chemical agent in wartime. Finally, I examined situations in which the agent would be employed by military forces to gain maximum effectiveness. A brief description of Unit 731, its commander, and a bit about what the kinds has been explained. Next key point is a brief summary of the actual war previous to the incident usage, and the attack itself. The war is followed by research on the chemical actually used during the course of the paper a slight background of the war and. Next explained is the main battle where the chemical was found to be employed. Afterwards the chemical mustard gas is detailed in prosperities and symptoms.
However, for what the North lacked in firepower, they more than adequately countered with ingenuity and creativity.2 One of the militants fighting for the North Vietnamese cause, the Viet Cong, engaged in guerrilla warfare against it’s Southern enemies.3 Specifically, the Viet Cong skillfully and successfully employed hundreds of thousands of booby traps to weaken the attacking American Forces.4 The production of both explosive and non-explosive booby traps coupled with the efficacy of the techniques employed by the Viet Con Vietnam.5 Furthermore, for all the success that the booby traps had in wounding and killing, these found success in inflicting psychological trauma on the enemies of the Viet Cong and of the North Vietnamese. Ultimately, these practices allowed the Communist forces to succeed against the Anti Communists in the Vietnam War.6 The guerrilla Vietnamese forces first utilized booby traps in the First Indochinese War against French colonial forces between 1946 and 1954.7 A land mine or booby trap is “a hidden [explosive or non explosive] charge having its firing mechanism so placed that it is detonated when an apparently harmless object is disturbed by an unsuspecting person”.8 By using improvised explosive and non explosive devices, the Viet Minh were able to weaken and demoralize, enemy soldiers, in addition to inflicting heavy casualties.
Seidenstat argues that security is a relative thing and that no set of policies or measures can eliminate all terrorist acts (Seidenstat 2009 ,4). Terrorists will stop at nothing to foil our defenses. They are very patient and creative in planning their attacks. Terrorists will continue to invent ways to defeat our security measures while we are busy with our lives and forgetting about the last attack. Sometimes they don’t need to do nothing but wait for us to let our guard down so they can easily slip passed security measures.