How Did Hitler Use Chemical Weapons

Poison Gas/Chemical Warfare usage, while not harming physical structures preventing the collateral damage of homes and buildings, causes a high casualty rate in all living things. It is indescriminate and robs life equally be they related or not to a target of military or strategic importance. Gas usage has been widely considered uncivilized, but the French resorted to its usage in August, 1914 during the first World War in an attempt to rout the Germans. Unfortunately, the Germans were the first to give gas warfare serious development and it became used extensively before the war was over. On the battlefield it prooved effective in eliminating hostile threats in an inhumane way, but this does not make it morally acceptable. In more recent times ISIS has been reported to using Poison Gas in Syria against both military and civilians in an indescriminate manner. This sort of attack ignores international laws as well as inhumanely cause widespread harm. In this day and age, this sort of attack is unnecessary and is why it was outlawed in the first place even back during the first World War.

Chemical weapons have been used throughout history to gain tactical advantages over enemies in armed conflicts. There is evidence that civilizations up to thousands of years ago engaged in the poisoning of water supplies or the use of toxic smoke in sieges. More recently, with the rise of industrialization and formalized scientific study, chemicals were developed with the intention of using them in war. The development of chemical weapons was already of international concern in 1899, when a peace conference at The Hague resulted in a treaty prohibiting the use of “asphyxiating and deleterious gases.” The international ban on chemical weapons was disregarded in World War 1, with various chloride containing compounds being attached to grenades and artillery shells. While the immediate effects of exposure to many chemical weapons are severe, few chemical weapons have been used that cause a lasting environmental impact. Nerve agents, for instance, have the potential to leak into the environment, but low-dose exposure by civilians in areas isolated from combat is rare. One of the most widely used classes of chemical weapons is a set of herbicides nicknamed the “Rainbow Herbicides.” These herbicides have been shown to have caused widespread ecological damage, and the health effects of their use can still be measured today.

Chemical warfare, while horrible, proved to be unwieldy and unpredictable, and relatively easy to counter. After some limited successes against unprepared opponents, the use of chemical gas had very little tactical benefit; the recognition of this limited utility is that after widespread use in 1915 - except for the short-lived effects of the introduction of mustard gas in 1917 - gas was abandoned by both sides as an effective tactic.

Chemical Warfare is defined as “Tactical warfare using incendiary mixtures, smokes, or irritant, burning or asphyxiating gases”. This is the usage of a chemical to harm the opposing side in order to get an advantage in the war at hand. Three of the main chemical weapons used during World War 1 were Lachrymator (tear), Chlorine and Phosgene, and Mustard gas. Chemical warfare was overall effective in World War 1 because it added to the weaponry needed to win the war.

Uses of irritating gas such as sulfur and burning wax have been recorded early as 428 BC during the war between the Athenians and the Spartans, but modern day chemical agents that cause excessive lacrimation and blepharospasm were first developed and used by Germany during World War I. [2] These riot control agents have also been referred to as lacrimators, tear gases, harassing agents, and irritating agents. Since its development, riot control agents have been used in wars, civil disturbances, as well as military training and exercises. While Chemical Weapons Convention prohibited the use of these agents as a method of warfare, USA currently does not classify riot control agents as chemical warfare agents. [3] Today, the most commonly used lacrimating agents are chloroacetophenone (CN), o-chloro-benzylidne malonitrile (CS), and oleoresin capsicum (OC).

Title 18 U.S.C. 2332a, WMD refers to any material, weapon, or devices that are intended to cause, or is capable of causing death or serious bodily injury to a significant number of people through release, dissemination, or impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals or precursors, a disease organism, or radiation or radioactivity, including (but not limited to) biological devices, chemical devices, improvised nuclear devices, radiological dispersion devices, and radiological exposure devices. (WMD, 2016).

The Germans had the far most advanced chemical weapons during each war from WWI to WWII, the Germans were the first to use chemical weapons on the battlefield during World War I Phosgene, and Sulfur Mustard Gas on the allies. Furthermore, during WWII the Germans not only used these chemical poisonous weapons on the battlefield but used hydrogen cyanide on Jews who were under captivity killing millions during the war. Furthermore, Tabu was discovered by the Schrader at IG Farben who connected Phosphorous to cyanide gas and was way more effective than the chemical weapons from WWI, and could kill a victim within 20 minutes of inhaling it.

Hydrogen cyanide was used as the gas in the “famous” gas chambers used on the Jews during World War II. It is formed by many different combinations of hydrogen, carbon, ammonia and oxygen. There are different chemical equations in order to form it, but the most common one is the Andrussow Oxidation: 2 CH4 + 2 NH3 + 3 O2 → 2 HCN + 6 H2O. Finally, we have nerve agents. Nerve agents are perhaps the most powerful and lethal agents out of all of them. They affect the nerve impulses in the nervous system and are highly toxic, as they have an extremely quick rate of action tied into them. Like most of the other agents, they activate by absorbing into their skin or being inhaled into their respiratory system. They are produced using very simple chemical knowledge and they are fairly cheap as well, making them a very significant threat. Nerve agents were accidentally discovered in the 1930s by German chemists who were trying to develop a new pesticide - how unfortunate. Little did they know that a small mistake like that could possibly change the course of our planet for a long time. Examples of nerve agents include VX and Tabun. Tabun has been outlawed by the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1993 and it was created by Germany in World War

The fact that we cannot use chemical weapons is a very bad thing. We could have used these weapons in the Vietnam War. With all the tall grass and dense forests, our soldiers were not prepared for the close up combat. If we had used the chemical agents in that forest, we could have eliminated hidden enemy forces and we would have saved many American soldiers’ lives.

These are just a few examples of many accounts of the use of chemical and biological agents in war.

From the 100 years since chemical weapons were used for the first time, 5 chemicals really stand out from the

“Decades later the chemical it was brought to the US and was perfected and “synthesized by American chemists Ben Corson and Roger Stoughton in 1928 and tear gas using it (CS = Corson + Stoughton) was developed and tested during the 1950s and '60s.” (Soniak) Tear gas is just one chemical along, in fact it’s not even a gas but many chemicals that are solids at room temperature mixed together. The main ingredient is OC short for oleum capsicum (chili pepper oil). Capsicum is a highly pungent natural substance that can have serious side effects when in inhaled in the lungs. The Chemical Weapons Convention banned the production of chemical

The potential weapon that I have chosen to post about is the tried and true Mustard Agent. This chemical weapon, also known as Mustard Gas, is usually identified as a blistering agent due to that similarity of the wounds of this agent and the blisters and burns that afflict the causality.

Chemical weapons are toxic gases, which use in the wars such as World War 1. Chemical weapons used in First World War and they killed a lot of people even children. In addition, chemical weapons are unless color, so people can’t see them. Also, most of people who died through the First World War were civilians. Therefore, who were responsible about them? In addition, people who survived had dangerous and permanent diseases such as cancer, asthma … etc. Even people’s genes effected by these toxic gases and they cause a lot of genetic problems that appeared in a second generation. Even soldiers who were pushed to this war. Then, they died or effected who were responsible about their families. In addition chemical weapons burned a lot of trees and they changed plant characteristics. Also, these gases can react with others to change air and weather characteristics. Therefore, chemical weapons effect on our

Chemical operators are toxic vapors, pressurized fluids and solids that have harmful consequences for individuals. They can be discharged by bombs or spread from air ships. Chemical weapons enter the body through the respiratory system,