Who created chemical weapons. First use of chemical weapons in World War I
Walked First world war. On the evening of April 22, 1915, opposing German and French troops were near the Belgian city of Ypres. They fought for the city for a long time and to no avail. But that evening the Germans wanted to test a new weapon - poison gas. They brought thousands of cylinders with them, and when the wind blew towards the enemy, they opened the taps, releasing 180 tons of chlorine into the air. The yellowish gas cloud was carried by the wind towards the enemy line.
Panic began. Immersed in the gas cloud, the French soldiers were blind, coughing and suffocating. Three thousand of them died from suffocation, another seven thousand received burns.
"At this point science lost its innocence," says science historian Ernst Peter Fischer. According to him, if before the goal of scientific research was to improve the living conditions of people, now science has created conditions that make it easier to kill a person.
"In war - for the fatherland"
A way to use chlorine for military purposes was developed by the German chemist Fritz Haber. He is considered the first scientist to subordinate scientific knowledge to military needs. Fritz Haber discovered that chlorine is an extremely poisonous gas, which, due to its high density, concentrates low above the ground. He knew: this gas causes severe swelling of the mucous membranes, coughing, suffocation and ultimately leads to death. In addition, the poison was cheap: chlorine is found in waste chemical industry.
“Haber’s motto was “In peace for humanity, in war for the fatherland,” Ernst Peter Fischer quotes the then head of the chemical department of the Prussian War Ministry. “Times were different then. Everyone was trying to find a poison gas that they could use in war.” And only the Germans succeeded."
The attack at Ypres was a war crime - already in 1915. After all Hague Convention 1907 prohibited the use of poison and poisoned weapons for military purposes.
Arms race
The "success" of Fritz Haber's military innovation became contagious, and not only for the Germans. Simultaneously with the war of states, the “war of chemists” began. Scientists were given the task of creating chemical weapons that would be ready for use as soon as possible. “People abroad looked at Haber with envy,” says Ernst Peter Fischer. “Many wanted to have such a scientist in their country.” In 1918, Fritz Haber received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. True, not for the discovery of poisonous gas, but for his contribution to the implementation of ammonia synthesis.
The French and British also experimented with poisonous gases. Widespread During the war, phosgene and mustard gas were used, often in combination with each other. And yet, poisonous gases did not play a decisive role in the outcome of the war: these weapons could only be used in favorable weather.
Scary mechanism
Nevertheless, a terrible mechanism was launched in the First World War, and Germany became its engine.
The chemist Fritz Haber not only laid the foundation for the use of chlorine for military purposes, but also, thanks to his good connections in the industry, contributed to the establishment of mass production of this chemical weapons. Thus, the German chemical concern BASF in large quantities produced poisonous substances during the First World War.
After the war, with the creation of the IG Farben concern in 1925, Haber joined its supervisory board. Later, during National Socialism, a subsidiary of IG Farben produced Zyklon B, which was used in the gas chambers of concentration camps.
Context
Fritz Haber himself could not have foreseen this. "He's a tragic figure," says Fisher. In 1933, Haber, a Jew by birth, emigrated to England, exiled from his country, to the service of which he had put his scientific knowledge.
Red line
In total, more than 90 thousand soldiers died from the use of poisonous gases on the fronts of the First World War. Many died from complications several years after the end of the war. In 1905, members of the League of Nations, which included Germany, pledged under the Geneva Protocol not to use chemical weapons. Meanwhile scientific research by application poisonous gases were continued, mainly under the guise of developing means to combat harmful insects.
"Cyclone B" - hydrocyanic acid - insecticidal agent. "Agent Orange" is a substance used to defoliate plants. Americans used defoliant during the Vietnam War to thin out dense vegetation. The consequence is poisoned soil, numerous diseases and genetic mutations in the population. Last example use of chemical weapons - Syria.
“You can do whatever you want with poisonous gases, but they cannot be used as targeted weapons,” emphasizes science historian Fisher. “Everyone who is nearby becomes victims.” He considers it correct that the use of poisonous gas today is “a red line that cannot be crossed”: “Otherwise the war becomes even more inhumane than it already is.”
Almost a century ago, on April 22, 1915, Germany carried out the first massive chemical attack on the Western Front in Belgium near the city of Ypres, releasing chlorine from almost six thousand cylinders. About five thousand French and British died, three times as many were affected by chlorine. Although chemical weapons have been used in the world before, this date is considered the beginning of the use of chemical weapons in war. But not even a weapon of war recent years chemical weapons are becoming terrible, and some political reason to start wars...
"That first one is "official" gas attack lasted only a few minutes. As a result, the Germans cleared part of the territory of the Ypres salient from enemy soldiers. By the way, there, near Ypres, two years later the Germans used a more terrible combat mustard gas, which was named after the place of battle - mustard gas, the candidate told the site historical sciences, associate professor of St. Petersburg state university, co-author of the once sensational book “War Without Shots” Viktor Boyko. — The Germans’ success in that first attack in April 2015 was limited to tactical achievements only. For some reason, the Germans doubted the “quality of the goods” and did not develop a wide offensive. The first echelon of German infantry, slowly advancing behind the cloud of chlorine, allowed the British to close the gap with reserves. This gas attack came as a complete surprise to the Allied troops, but already on September 25, 1915, British troops carried out their test chlorine attack against the Germans...
First against Russian troops chemical attack was used on May 31, 1915 at Wola Szydłowska near Bolimov in Poland. Ironically, the gas masks were delivered on the evening of May 31, after the attack. Combat losses Russian troops from the gas attack amounted to 9,146 people, of which 1,183 died from gases. In general, during the First World War, from 390 to 425 thousand soldiers on both sides of the fronts died specifically from the effects of chemical weapons, and several million were injured...
I note that the history of chemical weapons itself is presented in great detail on the Internet - just type the corresponding phrases in any search engine. So I'll just briefly list some fighting with the use of chemical weapons, about which there is not much information on the Internet. For many readers, I think, some facts will be a revelation.
So, in World War I, chemical weapons were used by the armies of 12 countries, not just Germany and the Entente. In 1918, the Red Army used chemical agents during the so-called Yaroslavl uprising of 1918. And during Tambov uprising 1920-1921 The Red Army also used it against the rebels. On September 15-18, 1924, the Romanian army used chemical weapons to suppress the Tatarbunary uprising. Chemical agents were used in the Spanish-Franco-Moroccan War of 1925-1926, known as the Rif War, as well as in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War of 1935-1936, and in the Second Japanese-Chinese War of 1937-1945.
By the way, there is documentary evidence that in the Soviet-Japanese border conflict near Lake Khasan in 1938, both sides made attempts to use chemical weapons. But the Germans, contrary to popular belief, still used gases during the Great Patriotic War- in the Adzhimushkai quarries in Crimea against Soviet soldiers and partisans.
By the way, Hitler did not give the command to use gases during the war not because of his “great humanism,” but because he believed that the USSR had a much larger quantity of chemical weapons than it did for a retaliatory strike. And the main place where toxic substances were used were the gas chambers of death camps... In the US war in Vietnam, chemical weapons were used by both sides. This weapon also appeared during civil war in North Yemen in 1962-1970.
There is no doubt that chemical weapons were actively used by both sides of the Iran-Iraq War in 1980-1988. By the way, it was the chemical weapons that Iraq allegedly possessed that became the reason for the invasion of this country by US troops, who were trying to find them. Now it is becoming clear where the Americans got “accurate information” about Saddam’s “chemical bombs” - it’s just that the United States was actively supplying them to Iraq just during its war with Iran, which the Americans considered a “great evil” for themselves! But in the end, the Americans didn’t even find “their” combat chemicals in Iraq, obviously getting into trouble...”
By the way, if you believe historical primary sources, already in the First World War, the warring parties very quickly became disillusioned with the combat qualities of chemical weapons and continued to use them only because they had no other ways to bring the war out of the positional deadlock. In total, from April 1915 to November 1918, German troops carried out more than 50 gas attacks, the British 150, the French 20. During the First World War, more than 40 types of toxic substances were tested in combat.
Almost all subsequent, “post-war” cases of the use of chemical warfare agents were either of a test nature or punitive - against civilians who did not have the means of protection and knowledge. The generals, on both sides, were well aware of the inexpediency and futility of using “chemistry,” but were forced to reckon with politicians and the military-chemical lobby in their countries.
Chemical weapons have been and remain a popular horror story for politicians. In general, the fate of such a “promising” remedy massacre people today has developed in a very paradoxical way. Chemical weapons, as well as subsequently atomic weapons, were destined to turn from combat into psychological.
For example, as the site has written more than once, accusations by the Syrian authorities of using chemical weapons against opposition militants could lead to a military operation against the regime of Bashar al-Assad by the United States, France and Great Britain. With the active mediation of Russia, the Syrian government agreed to hand over all its chemical weapons international community Thus, it was possible to avoid intervention in Syria by Western powers. The country has committed itself to the destruction of chemical weapons factories and the transfer toxic substances under international control.
UN experts concluded that chemical weapons were used at least five times during the civil war in Syria, but it was impossible to draw a clear conclusion about which of the warring parties used them... The Syrian authorities and the opposition blame each other for what happened.
Chemical warfare agents began to be used at the time of man's invention of the onion. And even now, some tribes of Indians living in the selva - the Amazon rainforest, lubricate their arrowheads with curare, a poison extracted from the roots and young shoots of plants in the Amazon River basin.
Curare causes damage to the motor nerves, which in turn leads to complete paralysis of the victim and suffocation.
For the first time, toxic substances were used for military purposes in 600 BC. e.
By order of the Athenian king Solon, hellebore roots were thrown into the river from which the enemy took water for his soldiers. A few days later, the enemy warriors were overcome by general diarrhea, and they, having lost all combat effectiveness, surrendered to the mercy of the winner.
400 years later, the Carthaginian commander Hamilcar Barca (209 BC), resorting to cunning, went even further. He insisted on supplying wine from mandrake roots and left the camp with his army. The enemy, taking the departure of the Carthaginians as a defeat, celebrated their easy victory with poisoned wine. The Carthaginians, who returned to the camp, only had to finish off the enemy soldiers, who had fallen into a deep sleep.
The Spartans used sulfur and resins as weapons of war. In 431–430 BC warriors burned these substances under the walls of the cities of Plataea and Belium, hoping to force the population and garrison to surrender.
In the 4th century. AD The Byzantines created the famous "Greek fire" which they used against the Arabs, Slavs and nomadic peoples. The composition of the “Greek fire” included sulfur, saltpeter, antimony sulphide, resin, vegetable oils, some other components unknown to modern chemists. It was impossible to extinguish it with water. Only rags soaked in vinegar or wet sand managed to put out the flames. In addition, the “Greek fire” emitted suffocating sulfur dioxide SO 2.
Much later, in order to more quickly capture the besieged city, they began to contaminate drinking water sources with improvised means - the decaying bodies of killed soldiers and animals. In 1155, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa used a similar technique to poison the water sources of the city of Tortuna. To completely deprive the townspeople of water, tar and sulfur were added to it. This made the water taste bad and undrinkable.
The crusaders also used similar methods in the Middle Ages. They also found ways to smoke the enemy out of cities and fortresses, using arsenic, sulfur, and smoke from burning straw or wood.
Later, famous medieval scientists, such as Leonardo da Vinci, physician Aristotle Fioravanti, and chemist Rudolf Glauber, worked on the creation of smoke-forming substances.
New time
Swedish King Charles XII crossing the river Western Dvina ordered the damp straw to be set on fire, and the smoke reliably hid his troops from the eyes of Russian scouts. And 150 years later, with the smoke of burning straw and damp leaves, the French general Pelissier strangled the rebellious Kabyle tribe in Algeria, who had taken refuge in caves.
Achievements of chemistry in the 19th century. led to the idea that chemical weapons could be used for tactical purposes. England had priority. In 1855 she already had artillery shells, filled with cacodyl oxide and a mixture containing arsenic with a self-igniting substance. It was assumed that if they exploded in the enemy’s camp, such shells would create an arsenic cloud and poison the surrounding air.
The English chemical engineer D. Endonald proposed using sulfur dioxide, a powerful gas, in artillery shells against the defenders of Sevastopol. On August 7, 1855, the British government approved the project. Fortunately, it remained on paper, and the defenders of the hero-fortress escaped the horrors of chemical warfare.
Early 20th century
The creation of mass armies by the beginning of the twentieth century is closely connected with a new round of development of chemical weapons. Germany was the first to use chemical warfare agents (CWAs).
With the outbreak of the First World War of 1914–1918. two German institutes - physicochemical and Kaiser Wilhelm II - began experiments with cacodyl oxide and phosgene:
However, in the laboratory there was powerful explosion, and no further work was carried out.
The city of Leverkusen became the center of chemical agents production. Shrapnel filled with dianisidine sulfate - “shell No. 2” - was first used in the attack on Neuchâtel. The irritant effect of the agent turned out to be weak, and “shell No. 2” was discontinued.
Instead, Dr. F. Haber (future Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry) proposed using chlorine in the form of a gas cloud, which was tested by the Germans at 17:00 on April 22, 1915 in the battle of the Belgian city of Ypres. It was at that hour that the French noticed a greenish-yellow cloud over the German positions, which the wind was blowing in their direction. The soldiers felt a pungent, suffocating odor, their eyes began to burn, and the mucous membranes of their nose and throat began to irritate. In panic, the French troops fled, leaving their positions to the enemy without a fight.
On May 31, 1915, the Germans successfully carried out a gas attack against units of the 2nd Russian Army near Warsaw.
On the night of July 13, 1917, the Germans used “yellow cross” artillery shells filled with a potent chemical agent - bis(2-chloroethyl) sulfide ClCH 2 CH 2 SCH 2 CH 2 Cl, and disabled about 2.5 thousand Entente soldiers. The British dubbed the German agent “mustard gas,” and the French called it “mustard gas,” after the name of the city of Ypres, where it was first used. The result of the use of chemical agents in the First World War was the poisoning of several million people to varying degrees.
The use of chemical weapons in the First World War outraged the world community so much that, under its pressure, on June 17, 1925 in Geneva, representatives of 49 states signed a protocol “On the prohibition of the use of asphyxiating, poisonous and other similar gases in war and bacteriological agents».
Some countries have not signed the protocol - Italy, Japan, the USA and others. And those who signed the Geneva Protocol, in particular Germany, did not particularly take it into account. The chemical arms race continued...
Chemical weapons– this is an OM in combination with the means of their application. It is intended for mass destruction of people and animals, as well as contamination of terrain, weapons, equipment, water and food.
History has preserved many examples of the use of poisons for military purposes. But even occasional use in wars toxic substances, contamination of water sources, abandonment of besieged fortresses poisonous snakes was severely condemned even in the laws of the Roman Empire.
For the first time chemical weapons were used on western front in Belgium by the Germans against English-French troops on April 22, 1915. In a narrow area (6 km wide), 180 tons of chlorine were released in 5-8 minutes. As a result of the gas attack, about 15 thousand people were defeated, of which over 5 thousand died on the battlefield.
This attack is considered the beginning of chemical warfare; it showed the effectiveness of a new type of weapon when suddenly used massively against unprotected personnel.
A new stage in the development of chemical weapons in Germany began with the adoption of weapons b,b 1 dichlorodiethyl sulfide - a liquid substance with a general toxic and blister effect. It was first used on June 12, 1917 near Ypres in Belgium. Within 4 hours, 50 thousand shells containing 125 tons of this substance were fired at the positions. 2,500 people were defeated. The French called this substance "mustard gas" after its place of application, and the British called it "mustard gas" because of its characteristic odor.
In total, during the First World War, 180,000 tons of various chemical agents were produced, of which about 125,000 tons were used. At least 45 different chemical substances were tested in combat, including 4 blister agents, 14 asphyxiants and at least 27 irritating action.
Modern chemical weapons have extremely high lethal effect. For several years, the United States used chemical weapons on a large scale in the war against Vietnam. At the same time, more than 2 million people were affected, vegetation was destroyed on 360 thousand hectares of cultivated land and 0.5 million hectares of forest.
Great importance is attached to the development of a new type of chemical weapon - binary chemical munitions intended for massive combat use in various theaters of war.
There are 4 periods in the development of chemical weapons:
I. The First World War and the next decade. Combat weapons were obtained that have not lost their significance in our time. These include sulfur mustard, nitrogen mustard, lewisite, phosgene, hydrocyanic acid, cyanogen chloride, adamsite, chloroacetophenone. The adoption of gas launchers played a certain role in expanding the range of chemical agents used. The first gas launchers with a firing range of 1-3 km. were loaded with mines containing from 2 to 9 kg of suffocating agents. Gas launchers gave the first impetus to the development of artillery means of using chemical agents, which sharply reduced the preparation time for a chemical attack, making it less dependent on meteorological conditions, the use of chemical agents in any states of aggregation. At this time, most countries concluded an interstate agreement, which went down in history as the “Geneva Protocol on the Prohibition of the Use of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Similar Gases and Bacteriological Agents in War.” The treaty was signed on June 17, 1925, including by a representative of the US government, but it was ratified in this country only in 1975. Naturally, the protocol, due to how long ago it was compiled, does not include agents with nerve-paralytic and psychotomimetic effects, military herbicides and other toxic agents that appeared after 1925. That is why the USSR and the USA entered into an agreement in 1990. agreement on a significant reduction in existing chemical agents reserves. By December 31, 2002, almost 90% of chemical arsenal, no more than 5000 tons of OM remain on each side.
II. Thirties - World War II.
In Germany, research was carried out to find highly toxic OPs. The production of FOVs was obtained and established - tabun (1936), sarin (1938), soman (1944). In accordance with Plan Barbarossa, preparations were made for chemical warfare in Hitler's Reich. However, Hitler did not dare to use chemical weapons in combat, due to a possible retaliatory chemical attack on the deep rear of the Reich (Berlin) by our aviation.
Tabun, sarin and hydrocyanic acid were used in death camps to mass destruction prisoners.
III. Fifties.
It started in 1952 mass production sarin. In 1958, a highly toxic OPA was synthesized - V-gases (5-7 lethal doses in 1 drop). A study was conducted natural poisons and toxins.
IV. Modern period.
In 1962, a synthetic substance affecting the central nervous system, BZ, was studied. The super-irritating agents CS and CR, which were used in the war in Vietnam and the DPRK, were adopted into service. Toxin has appeared weapon - type chemical weapons based on the use damaging properties toxic substances of protein origin produced by microorganisms, some species of animals and plants (tetroidotoxin - poison of the ball fish, batrachotoxin - poison of the cocoa frog, etc.). Since the early 1980s, large-scale production of binary chemical munitions began.
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Chemical weapons were invented by accident. In 1885, in the chemical laboratory of the German scientist Mayer, Russian student trainee N. Zelinsky synthesized a new substance. At the same time, a certain gas was formed, after swallowing which he ended up in a hospital bed.
So, unexpectedly for everyone, gas was discovered, later called mustard gas. Already a Russian chemist, Nikolai Dmitrievich Zelinsky, as if correcting the mistake of his youth, 30 years later invented the world's first coal gas mask, which saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
FIRST TESTS
In the entire history of confrontations, chemical weapons have been used only a few times, but they still keep all of humanity in suspense. Already from the middle of the 19th century, toxic substances were part of military strategy: during the Crimean War in the battles for Sevastopol English army used sulfur dioxide to smoke Russian troops out of the fortress. In the very late XIX century, Nicholas II made efforts to ban chemical weapons.
The result of this was the 4th Hague Convention of October 18, 1907, “On the Laws and Customs of War,” which prohibited, among other things, the use of asphyxiating gases. Not all countries have joined this agreement. Nevertheless, the majority of participants considered poisoning and military honor to be incompatible. This agreement was not violated until the First World War.
The beginning of the 20th century was marked by the use of two new means of defense - barbed wire and mines. They made it possible to contain even significantly superior enemy forces. The moment came when, on the fronts of the First World War, neither the Germans nor the Entente troops could knock each other out of well-fortified positions. Such a confrontation senselessly consumed time, human and material resources. But to whom is war, and to whom is mother dear...
It was then that the commercial chemist and future Nobel laureate Fritz Haber managed to convince the Kaiser's command to use combat gas to change the situation in their favor. Under his personal leadership, more than 6 thousand chlorine cylinders were installed on the front line. All that remained was to wait for a fair wind and open the valves...
April 22, 1915, not far from the Ypres River from the side of the German trenches at the position of the French-Belgian troops wide stripe a thick cloud of chlorine moved. In five minutes, 170 tons of deadly gas covered the trenches over 6 kilometers. Under its influence, 15 thousand people were poisoned, a third of them died. Any number of soldiers and weapons were powerless against the toxic substance. Thus began the history of the use of chemical weapons and came new era- era of weapons of mass destruction.
SAVING FOOT FOOT
At that time, the Russian chemist Zelensky had already presented his invention to the military - a coal gas mask, but this product had not yet reached the front. The following recommendation was preserved in the circulars of the Russian army: in the event of a gas attack, you must urinate on a footcloth and breathe through it. Despite its simplicity, this method turned out to be very effective at that time. Then the troops received bandages soaked in hyposulfite, which somehow neutralized the chlorine.
But German chemists did not stand still. They tested phosgene, a gas with a strong asphyxiating effect. Later, mustard gas was used, followed by lewisite. No dressings were effective against these gases. The gas mask was first tested in practice only in the summer of 1915, when the German command used poison gas against Russian troops in the battles for the Osovets fortress. By that time, the Russian command had sent tens of thousands of gas masks to the front line.
However, wagons with this cargo often stood idle on sidings. Equipment, weapons, manpower and food. It was because of this that the gas masks were only a few hours late to the front line. Russian soldiers repelled many that day German attacks, but the losses were enormous: several thousand people were poisoned. At that time, only sanitary and funeral teams could use gas masks.
Mustard gas was first used by the Kaiser's troops against the Anglo-Belgian forces two years later on July 17, 1917. It affected the mucous membrane and burned the insides. This happened on the same river Ypres. It was after this that it received the name “mustard gas”. For its colossal destructive ability, the Germans nicknamed it “the king of gases.” Also in 1917, the Germans used mustard gas against US troops. The Americans lost 70 thousand soldiers. In total, 1 million 300 thousand people suffered from chemical warfare agents in the First World War, 100 thousand of them died.
KICK YOUR OWN!
In 1921, the Red Army also used chemical warfare gases. But already against his own people. In those years, the entire Tambov region was gripped by unrest: the peasantry rebelled against the predatory surplus appropriation system. Troops under the command of M. Tukhachevsky used a mixture of chlorine and phosgene against the rebels. Here is an excerpt from order No. 0016 of June 12, 1921: “The forests where the bandits are located are to be cleaned with poisonous gases. Precisely calculate that a cloud of suffocating gases will spread throughout the entire massif, destroying everything that is hidden in it.”
During one gas attack alone, 20 thousand residents died, and in three months, two-thirds of the male population of the Tambov region was destroyed. This was the only case of the use of toxic substances in Europe after the end of the First World War.
SECRET GAMES
The First World War ended in defeat German troops and signing Treaty of Versailles. Germany was prohibited from developing and producing any types of weapons and training military specialists. However, on April 16, 1922, bypassing the Treaty of Versailles, Moscow and Berlin signed a secret agreement on military cooperation.
Production was established on the territory of the USSR German weapons and training of military experts. The Germans trained future tank crews near Kazan, and flight personnel near Lipetsk. A joint school was opened in Volsk, training specialists in chemical warfare. New species were created and tested here chemical weapons. Near Saratov, joint research was carried out on the use of combat gases in war conditions, methods of protection personnel and subsequent decontamination. All this was extremely beneficial and useful for the Soviet military - they learned from representatives best army of that time.
Naturally, both sides were extremely interested in maintaining the strictest secrecy. The information leak could lead to a huge international scandal. In 1923, the joint Russian-German enterprise Bersol was built in the Volga region, where mustard gas production was established in one of the secret workshops. Every day, 6 tons of newly produced chemical warfare agent were sent to warehouses. However, the German side did not receive a single kilogram. Just before the plant was launched, the Soviet side forced the Germans to break the agreement.
In 1925, the heads of most states signed the Geneva Protocol prohibiting the use of asphyxiants and poisonous substances. However, again, not all countries signed it, including Italy. In 1935, Italian planes sprayed mustard gas over Ethiopian troops and civilian settlements. Nevertheless, the League of Nations treated this criminal act very leniently and did not take serious measures.
FAILED PAINTER
In 1933, the Nazis came to power in Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, who declared that the USSR posed a threat to peace in Europe and a revived German army has main goal destruction of the first socialist state. By this time, thanks to cooperation with the USSR, Germany had become a leader in the development and production of chemical weapons.
At the same time, Goebbels’ propaganda called poisonous substances the most humane weapon. According to military theorists, they make it possible to capture enemy territories without unnecessary casualties. It's strange that Hitler supported this.
Indeed, during the First World War, he himself, then still a corporal of the 1st company of the 16th Bavarian Infantry Regiment, only miraculously survived an English gas attack. Blind and suffocating from chlorine, lying helplessly in a hospital bed, the future Fuhrer said goodbye to his dream of becoming a famous painter.
At that time, he seriously thought about suicide. And just 14 years later, the entire powerful military-chemical industry of Germany stood behind the back of Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler.
COUNTRY IN GAS MASK
Chemical weapons have distinctive feature: It is not expensive to produce and does not require high technology. In addition, its presence allows you to keep any country in the world in suspense. That is why in those years chemical protection in the USSR became a national matter. No one doubted that toxic substances would be used in war. The country began to live in a gas mask in literally words.
A group of athletes made a record-breaking campaign run in gas masks, 1,200 kilometers long, along the route Donetsk - Kharkov - Moscow. All military and civilian exercises involved the use of chemical weapons or their imitation.
In 1928, an aerochemical attack using 30 aircraft was simulated over Leningrad. The next day, British newspapers wrote: “Chemical rain literally rained down on the heads of passers-by.”
WHAT WAS HITLER AFRAID OF
Hitler never decided to use chemical weapons, although in 1943 alone Germany produced 30 thousand tons of toxic substances. Historians claim that Germany came close to using them twice. But to the German command They made it clear that if the Wehrmacht used chemical weapons, all of Germany would be flooded with a toxic substance. Given the huge population density, German nation It would simply cease to exist, and the entire territory would turn into a desert for several decades, completely unsuitable for habitation. And the Fuhrer understood this.
In 1942, the Kwantung Army used chemical weapons against Chinese troops. It turned out that Japan has made great progress in the development of air defense weapons. Having captured Manchuria and Northern China, Japan set its sights on the USSR. For this purpose, the latest chemical and biological weapons were developed.
In Harbin, in the center of Pingfang, a special laboratory was built under the guise of a sawmill, where victims were brought at night in the strictest secrecy for testing. The operation was so secret that even local residents They didn't suspect anything. Development plan the latest weapons mass destruction belonged to microbiologist Shir Issi. The scope is evidenced by the fact that 20 thousand scientists were involved in research in this area.
Soon Pingfang and 12 other cities were turned into death factories. People were seen only as raw material for experiments. All this went beyond any kind of humanity and humanity. The result of the activities of Japanese specialists in the development of chemical and bacteriological weapons Mass destruction resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties among the Chinese population.
THE PLAGUE IS ON BOTH OF YOUR HOMES!..
At the end of the war, the Americans sought to obtain all the chemical secrets of the Japanese and prevent them from reaching the USSR. General MacArthur even promised Japanese scientists protection from prosecution. In exchange for this, Issy handed over all the documents to the United States. Not a single Japanese scientist was convicted, and American chemists and biologists received enormous and invaluable material. The first center for improving chemical weapons was the Detrick base, Maryland.
It was here that in 1947 there was a sharp breakthrough in the improvement of aerial spray systems, allowing even treatment with toxic substances huge areas. In the 1950s-1960s, the military conducted many experiments in absolute secrecy, including spraying substances over more than 250 settlements, including cities such as San Francisco, St. Louis and Minneapolis.
The protracted war in Vietnam drew harsh criticism from the US Senate. The American command, in violation of all rules and conventions, ordered the use of chemicals in the fight against partisans. 44% of all forested areas South Vietnam have been treated with defoliants and herbicides designed to remove foliage and complete destruction vegetation. Of the numerous species of trees and shrubs of the humid tropical forest Only a few species of trees and several types of thorny grasses, unsuitable for livestock feed, remained.
Total quantity chemicals vegetation destruction expended by the US military from 1961 to 1971 amounted to 90 thousand tons. The US military argued that its herbicides in small doses are not lethal to humans. Nevertheless, the UN adopted a resolution banning the use of herbicides and tear gas, and US President Nixon announced the closure of programs for the development of chemical and bacteriological weapons.
In 1980, war broke out between Iraq and Iran. The combatants appeared on the stage again chemicals, which do not require large expenses. Factories were built on the territory of Iraq with the help of Germany, and S. Hussein was able to produce chemical weapons within the country. The West turned a blind eye to the fact that Iraq began to use chemical weapons in the war. This was also explained by the fact that the Iranians took 50 American citizens hostage.
The brutal, bloody confrontation between Saddam Hussein and Ayatollah Khomeini was considered a kind of revenge on Iran. However, S. Hussein used chemical weapons against his own citizens. Accusing the Kurds of conspiracy and aiding the enemy, he sentenced an entire Kurdish village to death. Nerve gas was used for this. The Geneva Agreement was grossly violated once again.
FAREWELL TO WEAPONS!
On January 13, 1993, in Paris, representatives of 120 states signed the Chemical Weapons Convention. It is prohibited to produce, store and use. For the first time in world history, an entire class of weapons is about to disappear. Enormous reserves accumulated over 75 years industrial production, turned out to be useless.
From that moment on, everyone came under international control research centers. The situation can be explained not only by concern for the environment. States with nuclear weapons do not need competing countries with unpredictable policies, possessing weapons of mass destruction comparable in impact to nuclear weapons.
Russia has the largest reserves - 40 thousand tons are officially declared, although some experts believe that there are much more. In the USA - 30 thousand tons. At the same time, American chemical agents are packaged in barrels made of light duralumin alloy, the shelf life of which does not exceed 25 years.
The technologies used in the USA are significantly inferior to those in Russia. But the Americans had to hurry, and they immediately began burning chemical agents on Johnston Atoll. Since gas utilization in furnaces takes place in the ocean, there is virtually no risk of contamination of populated areas. The problem for Russia is that the stocks of this type of weapon are located in densely populated areas, which exclude this method of destruction.
Despite the fact that Russian chemical agents are stored in cast iron containers, the shelf life of which is much longer, it is not infinite. Russia first of all removed powder charges from shells and bombs filled with chemical warfare agents. At least there is no longer any danger of an explosion and the spread of chemical agents.
Moreover, with this step, Russia showed that it is not even considering the possibility of using this class of weapons. Also, reserves of phosgene produced back in the mid-40s of the 20th century were completely destroyed. The destruction took place in the village of Planovy Kurgan region. This is where the main reserves of sarin, soman, and extremely toxic VX substances are located.
Chemical weapons were also destroyed in a primitive barbaric way. This happened in deserted areas Central Asia: a huge pit was dug, where a fire was lit, in which the deadly “chemistry” was burned. In almost the same way, in the 1950-1960s, hazardous substances were disposed of in the village of Kambar-ka in Udmurtia. Of course, in modern conditions this cannot be done, so it was built here modern enterprise, designed to detoxify the 6 thousand tons of lewisite stored here.
The largest reserves of mustard gas are in the warehouses of the village of Gorny, located on the Volga, in the very place where the Soviet-German school once operated. Some containers are already 80 years old, while safe storage Agents require increasing costs, because combat gases have no expiration date, but metal containers become unusable.
In 2002, an enterprise was built here, equipped with the latest German equipment and using unique domestic technologies: degassing solutions are used to disinfect chemical warfare gas. All this happens when low temperatures, excluding the possibility of explosion. This is a fundamentally different and safest way. There are no world analogues to this complex. Even rainwater does not leave the site. Experts assure that throughout this period there has not been a single leak of a toxic substance.
AT THE BOTTOM
More recently, a new problem has arisen: hundreds of thousands of bombs and shells filled with toxic substances have been discovered at the bottom of the seas. Rusted barrels are a time bomb of enormous destructive power, capable of exploding at any minute. The decision to bury seabed German poison arsenals were accepted allied forces immediately after the end of the war. It was hoped that over time the containers would be covered with sediment and burial would become safe.
However, time has shown that this decision turned out to be wrong. Now three such cemeteries have been discovered in the Baltic: off the Swedish island of Gotland, in the Skagerrak Strait between Norway and Sweden, and off the coast of the Danish island of Bornholm. Over several decades, the containers have rusted and are no longer able to provide airtightness. According to scientists, the complete destruction of cast iron containers can take from 8 to 400 years.
In addition, large stockpiles of chemical weapons were sunk near east coast USA and in northern seas, under the jurisdiction of Russia. The main danger is that mustard gas has begun to leak out. The first result was mass death starfish in the Dvina Bay. Research data showed traces of mustard gas in a third sea creatures this water area.
THE THREAT OF CHEMICAL TERRORISM
Chemical terrorism is a real danger threatening humanity. This is confirmed by the gas attack in the Tokyo and Mitsumoto subways in 1994-1995. From 4 thousand to 5.5 thousand people received severe poisoning. 19 of them died. The world shook. It became clear that any of us could become a victim of a chemical attack.
As a result of the investigation, it turned out that the sectarians acquired the technology for producing the toxic substance in Russia and managed to establish its production in the simplest conditions. Experts talk about several more cases of the use of chemical agents in the countries of the Middle East and Asia. Tens, if not hundreds of thousands of militants were trained in Bin Laden's camps alone. They were also trained in methods of conducting chemical and bacteriological warfare. According to some sources, biochemical terrorism was the leading discipline there.
In the summer of 2002, Hamas threatened to use chemical weapons against Israel. The problem of non-proliferation of such weapons of mass destruction has become much more serious than it seemed, since the size of military shells allows them to be transported even in a small briefcase.
"SAND" GAS
Today, military chemists are developing two types of non-lethal chemical weapons. The first is the creation of substances, the use of which will have a destructive effect on technical means: from increasing the friction force of rotating parts of machines and mechanisms to breaking the insulation in conductive systems, which will lead to the impossibility of their use. The second direction is the development of gases that do not lead to the death of personnel.
A colorless and odorless gas acts on the central nervous system a person and disables him in a matter of seconds. While not lethal, these substances affect people, temporarily causing them to experience daydreams, euphoria, or depression. CS and CR gases are already used by police in many countries around the world. Experts believe that they are the future, since they were not included in the convention.
Alexander GUNKOVSKY