A terrorist attack has occurred. Rescue groups wander through an empty city with seemingly no damage, but death is all around them. They trek through the barren streets in gas masks and hazard suits, for this terrorist attack was not a bombing or a shooting. It was a chemical and biological weapons attack, sending nerve gas and lethal pathogens throughout a city, wiping out its population, but leaving the city untouched. An eerie scenario such as this has potential to occur in the future unless all CBW (chemical and biological weapons) are eliminated. Because of the atrocities CBW’s caused by WWI, a document known as the Geneva Protocol was created to stop the use of CBW’s in war (Lee and Muhinda 1). While the protocol did state that CBW’s …show more content…
Chemical weapons are gases that can be used to injure people by inhalation or exposure to the skin, and biological weapons are bacteria, viruses, or poisons that are purposefully spread with intent to cause impairing or fatal diseases. The first known use of biological weaponry were poison tipped spears and arrows used by early civilizations, and it slowly advanced over time, having its use in siege warfare of medieval times. Poisonous substances would be burned to create fumes and dead bodies that had been killed by plague would be launched over fortress walls to cause disease inside the city. Other known uses were by the British in the French and Indian War when they gave Native Americans blankets that had been used by smallpox patients in an attempt to spread the disease. Chemical weapons saw their first use in WWI, when the Germans used chlorine gas against French troops at Ypres, France. Other chemical weapons used in the war were tear gas, phosgene, and one of the worst gases, mustard gas, which causes the skin to blister and brought about internal bleeding (Lee and Muhinda 1). After WWI, there was a large drop in the use of CBW’s due to the Geneva Protocol, but it did not completely stop their use. Arsenals of CBW’s still exist today, but it is unlikely they will be used in any major wars because of their military ineffectiveness and inferiority to other …show more content…
CBW are different from typical weaponry because of the fact that they can injure, cause illness, or be fatal to humans without causing harm to the economic infrastructure (George and Bourassa 3). Authors of “Biological and Chemical Weapons Should be Banned,” George and Bourassa, describe how the symptoms from a CBW attack can be “excruciatingly painful” and cause “ a slow, agonizing death,” traits that many CBW’s share, which simply make the process of death for any victim absolutely horrible (3). People who survive chemical weapons attacks have to deal with life long scarred lungs, nerve damage, and other long lasting issues (Karaim 1053-76). The most recent known use of chemical weapons was an attack during the Syrian civil war, where sarin gas was used to kill an estimated 1,400 people, including 426 civilians and children. This attack shows that these weapons have a tendency to bring death to innocent people, even woman and children (George and Bourassa 3). Some of the potential ideas for weapons include the usage a horrible chemical, VX, in which a “miniscule drop can be fatal,” (Karaim 1053-76). It is an oily liquid that evaporates slowly, it lingers on surfaces for days, and can kill within minutes. Early symptoms of this chemical include blurred vision,
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.
The two chemical weapons that were used were: nerve agent and mustard gas. Nerve agent has two main classes that are Class G and Class V. Class V is more new, however less fatal. The specific nerve agent used by the Iraqis is Cyclosarin. Cyclosarin is an extremely toxic substance used as a chemical weapon, which is a member of Class G. Cyclosarin is the most dangerous gas out of both classes. It is known to have a sweet smell and is also flammable unlike other nerve gases. Mustard gas on the other hand is yellow and smells like garlic. Both gases cause death in minutes and have long lasting effects. These can include diseases and other horrible problems. Many of these diseases cannot be cured, for the cells have been damaged and cannot be repaired.
Though chemical warfare was proven effective and easily produced, the world council decided that it was inhumane to use. In 1972, chemical warfare was ban at the Biological Weapons Convention. At this convention, many country’s leaders voted that it was not right to use these weapons as a way to kill people. The leaders felt that a biological weapon was too dangerous to release. (opbw.org)
Mo Tzu was a well-known Chinese writer, philosopher, military strategist, and the founder of Mohism, a school of thought that preached “universal love, or the love of all human beings” (Austin 253). In Against Offensive Warfare, one of three works written by Tzu in opposition to the civil wars taking place in China, he criticized man’s ability to praise offensive warfare and commend it as righteous, while condemning lesser acts of civil crime and violence and denouncing them as unrighteous. He argued that all acts of offensive warfare and aggression against a fellow human being should be considered unrighteous and that no distinction should be made between the two. As a military strategist, Mo Tzu was no stranger to the atrocities of military conflict and adhered to the belief that war should be avoided unless fought in self-defense. Mo Tzu believed that war was sinful and the immeasurable sacrifice both of lives and resources were a waste that would eventually destroy the world (Osborne). War is a horrible and perilous affair that shatters the lives of millions and rips apart the threads that knit our society together. It separates families and divides countries and leaves only death, disease, and destruction in its wake. While war is always terrible and should be avoided at all costs, sometimes war is necessary to restore order and freedom in a lost and broken world.
In the presidency of Thomas Jefferson, continuing through Madison’s term, the United States initiated a policy to retaliate against the seizure of ships by the British and French. These three dominant nations entered a period between 1806-1810, known as Commercial Warfare. The Commercial War was a response by Americans to maintain their right of neutral commerce. The Acts by the United States, the Decrees by the powerful Napoleon I, and the Parliamentary orders, throughout the period of Commercial Warfare directly led to the start of the War of 1812, and helped build the commercial future of the United States.
Fries, A. A., & West, C. J. (1921) The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Chemical warfare. New York [etc.] :. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.. Heller, C. E. (1985).
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...
Chemical warfare has been used in war for thousands of years as a means to lethally fight the battle. Just to give a few examples of the devastation, chlorine and phosgene gases were used during World War I and were dispensed from canisters causing around 90,000 deaths and over one million casualties during war (Mass, 2013). Apparatus for dispensing these weapons developed tremendously during the first half of the twentieth century, increasing these weapons’ alarming ability to kill. The United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War maintained massive stockpiles of chemical weapons enough to eliminate a large amount of the human race and animal life on Earth. In 1980, Iraq used chemical weapons on Iran during war and in 1988; Iraq used mustard gas and nerve agents on the Kurdish civilians in Northern Iraq. Pictures of the horrific attack on the Kurdish civilians were released and the world was stunned by the horrendous devastation.
Mustard gas was not the only example of chemical weaponry used during World War I. The first example of this was the Germans use of a gas called phosgene in mid-1915, which caused drastic damage to the lungs (Mack 2). The Germans began using mustard gas in 1916 and soon both sides began to use poison gas as a weapon. At a lab at American University, which at its peak employed over 1,200 scientists specifically to create chemical weapons for the war, a new gas called Lewisite was developed. Lewisite poisoned its victims through the skin and rendered gas masks useless against it. During the war as many as 50 different gases were used by both sides (Mack 2). When the war e...
Lussier, Frances M. "Chemical-biological-radiological warfare (CBR)." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2014. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
The Strengths and Weaknesses of Joint Warfare Armed with numerous studies, and intensive public hearings, Congress mandated far-reaching changes in DOD organization and responsibilities under the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986. This landmark legislation significantly expanded the authority and responsibility of the chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. Included in this expanded authority and responsibility was the requirement for the chairman to develop a doctrine for the joint employment of armed forces. As operations Urgent Fury, Just Cause, and Desert Storm have vividly demonstrated, the realities of armed conflict in today's world make the integration of individual service capabilities a matter of success or failure, life or death. Furthermore, the operation Desert One demonstrated the need for a strengthened Joint Warfare Doctrine and the consequent change in Joint Warfare Employment.
Cashman, J. (2000). Emergency Response to Chemical and Biological Agents. Boca Raton, FL. Lewis Publishers.
Technology changes every day, sometimes the events in our life shape what new technology we use. You would have to be living in a hole not know that we are in conflict with Iraq, and this event has changed digital warfare.
The tactical game model uses student’s curiosity in a game structure to promote skill development and tactical knowledge needed for knowledgeable game application, when planning a tactical game model, the teacher plans a structure of learning task that have a game like assembly to develop students skills and tactics, leading the up to a modified or full version of the game. These game like assignments and modified games are called game forms. This model stresses the development of tactical awareness that facilitates skill application in smaller forms of games, so that students can apply what they have learned in the full version of a game when the time comes. Students