A History Of Chemical Warfare

This book provides an analysis of the development and deployment of chemical weapons from 700BC to the present day. The First World War is examined in detail since it remains the most significant experience of the chemical threat, but the Second World War, and post-war conflicts are also evaluated. Additionally, protocols attempting to control the proliferation and use of chemical weapons are assessed. Finally, the book examines the threat (real and imagined) from a chemical warfare attack today by rationally assessing to what extent terrorist groups around the world are capable of making and using such weapons.

A Laboratory History of Chemical Warfare Agents is a revolutionary new book discussing the laboratory preparation of some of the most interesting toxic substances known to man. However broad the field may be, this book is an invaluable collection of nearly 100 years of chemical warfare research and history. From the researcher to the student or just plain novice, the information contained herein will change the way you think about warfare agents and their properties. The book is a valuable educational tool designed to give the reader a full picture of the world of chemical warfare agents. NOTE TO CUSTOMERS, this book has been renamed from The Preparatory Manual of Chemical Warfare Agents so if you have already purchased The Preparatory Manual of Chemical Warfare Agents in the past, then you don't need to purchase A Laboratory History of Chemical Warfare Agents.

A Laboratory History of Chemical Warfare Agents is a revolutionary new book discussing the laboratory preparation of some of the most interesting toxic substances known to man. However broad the field may be, this book is an invaluable collection of nearly 100 years of chemical warfare research and history. From the researcher to the student or just plain novice, the information contained herein will change the way you think about warfare agents and their properties. The book is a valuable educational tool designed to give the reader a full picture of the world of chemical warfare agents. NOTE TO CUSTOMERS: This book has been renamed from the Preparatory Manual of Chemical Warfare Agents, to A Laboratory History of Chemical Warfare Agents.

This book offers a full examination and description of all the toxic chemical and microbiological agents, either tested, manufactured or used since 1914. It identifies the major research, testing and manufacturing plants worldwide with special emphasis on the UK and North America. Among the British sites are Porton Down (Wiltshire), Sutton Oak (Lancashire), Nancekuke (North Cornwall) and the ICI-operated plants at Rhydymwn (North Wales) and St Helens and elsewhere in Lancashire. It details all verifiable uses of CBW since 1914 and examines the rationale behind such operations. Also studied is the 'arms race' for CBW between competing powers. The author uncovers the scientific arrogance and political ignorance that has led to a greatly exaggerated perception of the potency of CBW, which he maintains is still the case today. Finally McCamley reveals the scandalous history of inadequate and dangerous storage and disposal practices.

Following the 9/11 attacks and the anthrax letters that appeared in their wake, the threat posed by the widespread accessibility of chemical and biological weapons has continually been used to stir public fear and opinion by politicians and the media alike. In Chemical and Biological Weapons, Edward M. Spiers cuts through the scare tactics and hype to provide a thorough and even-handed examination of the weapons themselves—the various types and effects—and their evolution from World War I to the present. Spiers describes the similarities and differences between the two types of weapons and how technological advancements have led to tactical innovations in their use over time. As well, he gives equal attention to the international response to the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons, analyzing global efforts aimed at restraining their use, such as deterrence and disarmament, and the effectiveness of these approaches in the twentieth century. Using Iraq as a case study, Spiers also investigates its deployment of chemical weapons in the Iran-Iraq War and the attempts by the international community to disarm Iraq through the United Nations Special Commission and the United States-led war in 2003. A timely and balanced historical survey, Chemical and Biological Weapons will be of interest to readers studying the proliferation and use of chemical and biological warfare and the reactions of the international community throughout the last several decades.

Often described as the misuse of science, chemical and biological weapons have incurred widespread opposition over the years. Despite condemnation from the United Nations, governments, and the disarmament lobby, they remain very real options for rogue states and terrorists. In this new edition of Agents of War, Edward M. Spiers has expanded and updated this much-needed history with two new chapters on political poisoning and chemical weapons in the Middle East. Spiers breaks new ground by presenting his analysis in both historical and contemporary contexts, giving a comprehensive chronological account of why, where, and when such weapons were used or suspected to be deployed.

Nerve agents are the world's deadliest means of chemical warfare. Nazi Germany developed the first military-grade nerve agents and massive industry for their manufacture--yet, strangely, the Third Reich never used them. At the end of the Second World War, the Allies were stunned to discover this advanced and extensive programme. The Soviets and Western powers embarked on a new arms race, amassing huge chemical arsenals. From their Nazi invention to the 2018 Novichok attack in Britain, Dan Kaszeta uncovers nerve agents' gradual spread across the world, despite international arms control efforts. They've been deployed in the Iran-Iraq War, by terrorists in Japan, in the Syrian Civil War, and by assassins in Malaysia and Salisbury--always with bitter consequences. Toxic recounts the grisly history of these weapons of mass destruction: a deadly suite of invisible, odourless killers.

This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license. On April 22, 1915, the German military released 150 tons of chlorine gas at Ypres, Belgium. Carried by a long-awaited wind, the chlorine cloud passed within a few minutes through the British and French trenches, leaving behind at least 1,000 dead and 4,000 injured. This chemical attack, which amounted to the first use of a weapon of mass destruction, marks a turning point in world history. The preparation as well as the execution of the gas attack was orchestrated by Fritz Haber, the director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry in Berlin-Dahlem. During World War I, Haber transformed his research institute into a center for the development of chemical weapons (and of the means of protection against them). Bretislav Friedrich and Martin Wolf (Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, the successor institution of Haber’s institute) together with Dieter Hoffmann, Jürgen Renn, and Florian Schmaltz (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science) organized an international symposium to commemorate the centenary of the infamous chemical attack. The symposium examined crucial facets of chemical warfare from the first research on and deployment of chemical weapons in WWI to the development and use of chemical warfare during the century hence. The focus was on scientific, ethical, legal, and political issues of chemical weapons research and deployment — including the issue of dual use — as well as the ongoing effort to control the possession of chemical weapons and to ultimately achieve their elimination. The volume consists of papers presented at the symposium and supplemented by additional articles that together cover key aspects of chemical warfare from 22 April 1915 until the summer of 2015.