Chemical warfare evolved from the study of poisons of the ancient Greeks, Egyptian and Indian civilizations1. It was mainly used only in small scales probably due to practicality and technical ability. It wasn’t until the 20th century that warfare used chemical weapons on a massive scale.
The early Indian dynasties around 2000 BC were the first recorded to have used incendiary devices, sleep inducing fumes, and smoke screens on a large scale.
The Chinese later developed around 1000 BC their own toxic vapors, notably one based on arsenic. They also created noxious bombs of poison smoke and shrapnel, along with a version for mortars.
First used by the Greeks besieged in Constantinople (673–78 BC), Greek Fire was a combustible compound emitted by a flame-throwing weapon such as a catapult or trebuchet and used to burn enemy ships. The true formula lost to time, modern chemists’ postulate that was based on petroleum, sulphur, naphtha and quicklime. The result was that Greek Fire ignited on contact with water.3 Trying to put out Greek Fire with water only resulted in a larger fire.
Chemical Weapons are currently defined as, a chemical agent is a substance “intended for use in military operations to kill, seriously injure, or incapacitate man because of its physiological effects.”2. This definition holds true since World War I.
World War I forever changed warfare in the large-scale use of chemical agents by France, Great Britain, and Germany. A new style of fighting known as trench warfare gave way to advancements in synthetic chemistry. Trenches protected from bullets and reduced the mobility of either side. The resultant development of tear gas and then poison gases enabled either side to force out or hurt an entrenched enemy.
Both sides employed their top chemists who reportedly investigated over 3000 chemical substances for potential use as weapons. Though chlorine agents were among the first chemical weapons tested, some of the top chemical agents used were sulfur mustard and carbonyl chlorine.
Sulfur Mustard was used extensively throughout World War I and caused more casualties than any other chemical. Gas masks were an ineffective countermeasure because sulfur mustard did the worst damage when absorbed by the skin.
Dispersed as an aerosol, sulfur mustard does not dissolve in water but has “high lipid solubility” which allows it to be rapidly absorbed by the skin. Known as a blister agent, exposure causes severe, delayed burns to the eyes, skin and respiratory tract. After contact, the damage to cells happens within minutes but the onset of pain and other health effects are not felt until hours later.
Sulfur mustard damages cells responsible for making red blood cells in bone marrow, effecting the immune system. Sulfur mustard also effects the nervous systems ability to regulate normal functions, causing “cholinergic toxicity”. Symptoms include excessive saliva, tears and urine, GI cramping and diarrhea, vomiting and constricted pupils.
Soldiers could usually smell sulfur mustard by the garlic odor. Sulfur mustard can stay in an environment for days and still cause consistent casualties. This enabled an army to use it as an area of denial weapon since it would force soldiers to abandon an area for an extended period of time.
Chlorine was readily available which is why it was tested early in the war. It’s effect was lethal but the toxic cloud would easily disburse in the wind and you needed a lot to kill someone. To overcome this deficiency, the British combined it with phosgene to make carbonyl chloride. Phosgene was carried and better disbursed with the heavier chlorine and is a dangerous poison. Having a smell described as moldy hay, initial exposure to the carbonyl chloride does not show any reactions. Symptoms can manifest anywhere from 24 to 72 hours. Carbonyl chloride binds with the water in the tissues of the respiratory system to form carbon dioxide and hydrochloric acid. The acid dissolves the lungs membranes which causes fluid to leak in. A victim of carbonyl chloride exposure dies from a combination of respiratory failure, shock and loss of blood. They essentially drown in their own blood. Eighty-Five percent of soldiers on the western front died as a result of exposure to carbonyl chloride.
To help soldiers tell what gases they might be exposed to, troops were expected to learn poems like this:
HOW TO TELL THE GASES, BY MAJOR FAIRFAX DOWNEY, FIELD ARTILLERY
Grandma smelled geranium,
Started feeling kind of bum,
Sure, you guessed the trouble right— Grandma whiffed some lewisite.
Don’t you find my odor sweetish? Said flypaper to the fly.
I smell just like chloropicrin,
And you’ll think you’d like to die.
Maud Miller on a summer day,
Smelled the odor of new-mown hay,
She said to the Judge who was turning green, “Put on your mask! That there’s phosgene!”
Apple blossoms, fresh and dewy? Normandy and romance? Hooey!
For the charming fragrance then known, Now is chloracetophenone.
Never take a chance if
Garlic you should strongly sniff. Don’t think Mussolini’s passed,
Man, you’re being mustard-gassed.
Gas caused approximately 2% of deaths in World War I but caused much greater battlefield casualties at around one million.
World-wide public outrage to the deaths and injuries caused by chemical weapons use in World War I helped lead to the Geneva Protocols of 1925 which banned the use of chemical weapons.
World War II
Despite the mass production of lethal nerve agents such as tabun and sarin gas, Germany did not use them on the battlefield. Germany’s decision to not use them is considered a major mistake as their use easily could have altered the course of the war. Their decision had nothing to do with the Geneva protocols. Though no-one knows for sure, a possible explanation is that Hitler was himself a victim of chlorine gas and mustard attacks in World War I and disliked them so much that he would only use chemical agents as a last resort.
Though not used on the battlefields, HCN gas was used in the Nazi concentration camps. Initially HCN was used for delousing to control typhus but later it was used for killing prisoners during the Holocaust. Nazi gas chambers were disguised as shower and decontamination facilities. Probably the most well know tests were performed first in Auschwitz. The chambers were then used in many other “death camps” and assisted in the genocide of over an estimated 6 million Jews, and 11 million other groups composed of Soviets, Poles, Serbs, disabled, Romani, Freemasons, Slovenes, Spanish Republicans, homosexuals and Jehovah’s Witnesses.
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Despite the Geneva Protocols, many countries kept developing chemical weapons. Egypt and the United States were among the first to break the protocols and use chemical and nerve agents for war.
From 1963 to 1967 during the Yemen Civil War, Egypt used tear gas, sulfur mustard, carbonyl chloride, and nerve agents. There were reports of Egypt working with both the Soviet Union and China to develop, test and supply these weapons.
From 1961 to 1971 during the Vietnam War, the United States regularly used Napalm and herbicides as defoliants known as Agent Orange.
Initially used in flamethrowers, napalm is a mixture of plastic polystyrene, hydrocarbon benzene, and gasoline. This mixture creates a jelly-like substance that, when ignited, sticks to practically anything and burns up to ten minutes. The effects of napalm on the human body are unbearably painful and almost always cause death among its victims. “Napalm is the most terrible pain you can ever imagine”. Incendiary bombs were modified to be used with napalm. A single bomb would typically destroy around 2,500 square yards (over half an acre).
Apocalypse Now
Agent Orange is a toxic chemical herbicide that was used from about 1965 – 1970 in the Vietnam War. Agent Orange was intended to deprive guerilla fighters and farmers of clean food and water. Over twenty million gallons of herbicides and defoliants were sprayed over forests and fields.
Agent Orange is fifty times more concentrated than normal agricultural herbicides. The extreme concentration completely destroyed all plants in the area. Agent Orange not only had devastating effects on agriculture but also on people and animals. The Vietnam Red Cross recorded over 4.8 million deaths and 400,000 children born with birth defects due to exposure to Agent Orange. The 2.8 million veterans of the Vietnam war that were exposed have a much higher cancer rate, and cancer deaths to veterans are still being seen today.
Dying from cancer
Agent Orange was later determined to be in violation of the Geneva Contract. U.S. troops gradually stopped using Agent Orange and any other harmful herbicides.
In 1972, the United Nations held the Biological and Toxins Weapon convention. Combined with the Geneva Protocols of 1925, the treaty called for the banning the development, production and stockpiling chemical or biological weapons. The treaty has no mechanisms in place to force nations into compliance.
From 1980 to 1988 in the Iran-Iraq war, Iraq used chemical agents against Iranian troops and civilian personnel. Sulfur mustard and tabun were the primary agents used. Tabun is a colorless, odorless poison that prevents the bodies operation of enzymes that help glands and muscles stop working when you need them to. Without this enzyme, the glands and muscles are being constantly stimulated and will eventually tire causing respiratory failure.
The Iraqis used bombs dropped from planes as their main delivery system but also employed shells and chemical rockets.
In 2012, Syria publicly acknowledged that they possessed chemical weapons. By the end of 2012 through 2013, the Syrian military used sulfur mustard, carbonyl chloride and sarin against civilians in the Syrian Civil War. Sarin works exactly like tabun but is considered the most volatile of the nerve agents because it can evaporate quickly into a vapor and spread readily into the environment and can be lethal even in small doses.
Symptoms within seconds to hours of exposure:
- Runny nose
- Watery eyes
- Small, pinpoint pupils
- Eye pain
- Blurred vision
- Drooling and excessive sweating
- Cough
- Chest tightness
- Rapid breathing
- Diarrhea
- Nausea, vomiting, and/or abdominal pain
- Increased urination
- Confusion
- Drowsiness
- Weakness
- Headache
- Slow or fast heart rate
- Low or high blood pressure
By September 2014, reports had begun of more chemical weapons use in Syria. In 2015, it was confirmed that carbonyl chloride and sarin agents were again in use by both the Syrian government and the Islamic State (ISIL/ISIS). In 2016, sulfur mustard was also confirmed to be in use. Reports of use of these chemical agents have been confirmed as late as 2018.
In 1993, the UN held another Chemical Weapons Convention for which the treaty was ratified in 1997. By April 2016, 192 states (including Syria) signed the treaty and by January 2018, over 96 percent of global declared chemical weapon stockpiles had been destroyed.
- Department of the Army. Textbooks of Military Medicine. Washington, DC; 2008: p. 10
- al-Hassan, A. Y. (2001), "Alchemy, chemistry and chemical technology", in al-Hassan, A. Y., Science and Technology in Islam: Technology and applied sciences, UNESCO, p. 108
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ershdb/emergencyresponsecard_29750008.html
http://media.cq.com/pub/2013/syria-maps/
https://vietnamawbb.weebly.com/napalm-agent-orange.html
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/agent-orange-may-be-responsible-for-more-veteran-deaths-than-the-government-is-willing-to-recognize_n_5b05b4f1e4b07c4ea1046787
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/agent-orange-and-cancer.html
https://www.pennlive.com/projects/2014/agent-orange/
https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/bio/
https://www.statista.com/chart/13518/who-signed-the-1993-chemical-weapons-convention/
https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Timeline-of-Syrian-Chemical-Weapons-Activity