The history of the use of chemical weapons briefly. Modern chemical weapons: history, varieties. Types of chemical weapons and names

Introduction

No weapon has been as widely condemned as this type of weapon. From time immemorial, the poisoning of wells has been regarded as a crime inconsistent with the rules of war. “War is waged with weapons, not with poison,” said Roman jurists. As the destructive power of weapons grew over time, and with it the potential for widespread use of chemicals, steps were taken to prohibit by means of international agreements and legal means of using chemical weapons. The Brussels Declaration of 1874 and the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 banned the use of poisons and poisoned bullets, while a separate declaration of the Hague Convention of 1899 condemned "the use of projectiles the sole purpose of which is to spread asphyxiating or other poisonous gases".

Today, despite the convention on the prohibition of chemical weapons, the danger of their use still remains.

In addition, there are many possible sources of chemical hazards. It can be a terrorist act, an accident at a chemical plant, aggression by a state uncontrolled by the world community, and much more.

The aim of the work is the analysis of chemical weapons.

Work tasks:

1. Give the concept of chemical weapons;

2. Describe the history of the use of chemical weapons;

3. Consider the classification of chemical weapons;

4. Consider Protective Measures against Chemical Weapons.

Chemical weapon. Concept and history of use

The concept of chemical weapons

Chemical weapons are ammunition ( warhead missiles, projectile, mine, aerial bomb and others), equipped with a chemical warfare agent (CW), with the help of which these substances are delivered to the target and sprayed in the atmosphere and on the ground and designed to destroy manpower, infect the area, equipment, weapons. In accordance with international law (Paris Convention, 1993), chemical weapons also mean each of its constituent parts(ammunition and OV) separately. The so-called binary chemical weapon is a munition completed with two or more containers containing non-toxic components. During the delivery of the ammunition to the target, the containers are opened, their contents are mixed, and as a result of a chemical reaction between the components, OM is formed. Poisonous substances and various pesticides can cause massive damage to people and animals, infect the area, water sources, food and fodder, and cause the death of vegetation.

Chemical weapons are one type of weapon mass destruction, the use of which leads to lesions of varying severity (from incapacitation for several minutes to lethal outcome) only manpower and does not affect equipment, weapons, property. The action of chemical weapons is based on the delivery of chemical agents to the target; conversion of OV into combat state(steam, aerosol of various degrees of dispersion) by explosion, spray, pyrotechnic sublimation; distribution of the formed cloud and the effect of OM on manpower.

Chemical weapons are intended for use in the tactical and operational-tactical combat zone; able to effectively solve a number of tasks in strategic depth.

The effectiveness of chemical weapons depends on the physical, chemical and toxicological properties of the agents, design features means of use, the provision of manpower with means of protection, the timeliness of transfer to a combat state (the degree of achievement of tactical surprise in the use of chemical weapons), weather conditions (the degree of vertical stability of the atmosphere, wind speed). The effectiveness of chemical weapons under favorable conditions is significantly higher than the effectiveness of conventional weapons, especially when exposed to manpower located in open engineering structures (trenches, trenches), unsealed objects, equipment, buildings and structures. Infection of equipment, weapons, terrain leads to secondary damage to the manpower located in the infected areas, fettering its actions and exhaustion due to the need to stay in protective equipment for a long time.

History of the use of chemical weapons

In the texts of the IV century BC. e. an example is given of the use of poisonous gases to combat enemy digging under the walls of a fortress. The defenders pumped smoke from burning mustard and wormwood seeds into the underground passages with the help of furs and terracotta pipes. Toxic gases caused suffocation and even death.

In ancient times, attempts were also made to use OM in the course of hostilities. Toxic fumes were used during the Peloponnesian War of 431-404 BC. e. The Spartans placed pitch and sulfur in logs, which were then placed under the city walls and set on fire.

Later, with the advent of gunpowder, they tried to use bombs filled with a mixture of poisons, gunpowder and resin on the battlefield. Released from catapults, they exploded from a burning fuse (the prototype of a modern remote fuse). Exploding bombs emitted clouds of poisonous smoke over enemy troops - poisonous gases caused bleeding from the nasopharynx when using arsenic, skin irritation, blisters.

In medieval China, a cardboard bomb stuffed with sulfur and lime was created. During a naval battle in 1161, these bombs, falling into the water, exploded with a deafening roar, spreading poisonous smoke in the air. The smoke formed from the contact of water with lime and sulfur caused the same effects as modern tear gas.

As components in the creation of mixtures for equipping bombs, the following were used: hooked mountaineer, croton oil, soap tree pods (to generate smoke), arsenic sulfide and oxide, aconite, tung oil, spanish flies.

At the beginning of the 16th century, the inhabitants of Brazil tried to fight the conquistadors by using poisonous smoke obtained from the burning of red pepper against them. This method was later repeatedly used during uprisings in Latin America.

In the Middle Ages and later, chemical agents continued to attract attention for solving military problems. So, in 1456, the city of Belgrade was protected from the Turks by influencing the attackers with a poisonous cloud. This cloud arose from the combustion of a toxic powder with which the inhabitants of the city sprinkled rats, set them on fire and released them towards the besiegers.

A range of preparations, including compounds containing arsenic and the saliva of rabid dogs, were described by Leonardo da Vinci.

The first tests of chemical weapons in Russia were carried out in the late 50s of the 19th century on the Volkovo field. Shells filled with cyanide cacodyl were blown up in open log cabins where there were 12 cats. All cats survived. The report of Adjutant General Barantsev, in which incorrect conclusions were drawn about the low effectiveness of poisonous substances, led to a disastrous result. Work on testing shells filled with explosive agents was stopped and resumed only in 1915.

During the First World War chemical substances were used in huge quantities - about 400 thousand people were struck by 12 thousand tons of mustard gas. In total, during the years of the First World War, 180 thousand tons of ammunition were produced various types filled with poisonous substances, of which 125 thousand tons were used on the battlefield. More than 40 types of OV have passed combat testing. The total losses from chemical weapons are estimated at 1.3 million people.

The use of poisonous substances during the First World War are the first recorded violations of the Hague Declarations of 1899 and 1907 (the United States refused to support the Hague Conference of 1899.).

In 1907 Great Britain acceded to the declaration and accepted its obligations. France agreed to the 1899 Hague Declaration, as did Germany, Italy, Russia and Japan. The parties agreed on the non-use of asphyxiating and poisonous gases for military purposes.

Citing the exact wording of the declaration, Germany and France used non-lethal tear gases in 1914.

The initiative in the use of combat weapons on a large scale belongs to Germany. Already in the September battles of 1914 on the Marne and on the Ain, both belligerents felt great difficulties in supplying their armies with shells. With the transition in October-November to positional warfare, there was no hope left, especially for Germany, of overpowering the enemy covered by powerful trenches with the help of ordinary artillery shells. OVs, on the other hand, have a powerful property of hitting a living enemy in places that are not accessible to the action of the most powerful projectiles. And Germany was the first to embark on the path of widespread use of combat agents, having the most developed chemical industry.

Immediately after the declaration of war, Germany began to experiment (at the Institute of Physics and Chemistry and the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute) with cacodyl oxide and phosgene in order to be able to use them militarily.

In Berlin, the Military Gas School was opened, in which numerous depots of materials were concentrated. A special inspection was also located there. In addition, a special chemical inspection A-10 was formed under the Ministry of War, specifically dealing with issues chemical warfare.

The end of 1914 marked the beginning of research activities in Germany to find combat agents, mainly artillery ammunition. These were the first attempts to equip shells of combat OV.

The first experiments on the use of combat agents in the form of the so-called "N2 projectile" (10.5-cm shrapnel with the replacement of bullet equipment in it with dianiside sulfate) were made by the Germans in October 1914.

On October 27, 3,000 of these shells were used on the Western Front in an attack on Neuve Chapelle. Although the irritating effect of the shells turned out to be small, but, according to German data, their use facilitated the capture of Neuve Chapelle.

German propaganda stated that such projectiles were no more dangerous than picric acid explosives. Picric acid, another name for melinitis, was not a poisonous substance. It was an explosive substance, during the explosion of which asphyxiating gases were released. There were cases when soldiers who were in shelters died of suffocation after the explosion of a shell filled with melinite.

But at that time there was a crisis in the production of shells (they were withdrawn from service), and besides, the high command doubted the possibility of obtaining a mass effect in the manufacture of gas shells.

Then Dr. Gaber suggested using gas in the form of a gas cloud. The first attempts to use combat agents were carried out on such an insignificant scale and with such an insignificant effect that no measures were taken by the allies in the line of anti-chemical defense.

Leverkusen became the center for the production of combat agents, where a large number of materials were produced, and where the Military Chemical School was transferred from Berlin in 1915 - it had 1,500 technical and command personnel and, especially, several thousand workers in production. 300 chemists worked non-stop in her laboratory in Gust. Orders for poisonous substances were distributed among various factories.

On April 22, 1915, Germany carried out a massive chlorine attack, chlorine was released from 5730 cylinders. Within 5-8 minutes, 168-180 tons of chlorine were fired at the front of 6 km - 15 thousand soldiers were defeated, of which 5 thousand died.

This gas attack was a complete surprise for the Allied troops, but already on September 25, 1915, the British troops carried out their test chlorine attack.

In further gas attacks, both chlorine and mixtures of chlorine with phosgene were used. For the first time, a mixture of phosgene and chlorine was first used as an agent by Germany on May 31, 1915, against Russian troops. At the front of 12 km - near Bolimov (Poland), 264 tons of this mixture were produced from 12 thousand cylinders. In 2 Russian divisions, almost 9 thousand people were put out of action - 1200 died.

Since 1917, the warring countries began to use gas launchers (a prototype of mortars). They were first used by the British. Mines (see the first picture) contained from 9 to 28 kg of a poisonous substance, firing from gas cannons was carried out mainly with phosgene, liquid diphosgene and chloropicrin.

German gas guns were the cause of the "miracle at Caporetto", when, after shelling from 912 gas guns with mines with phosgene of the Italian battalion, all life was destroyed in the Isonzo river valley.

The combination of gas cannons with artillery fire increased the effectiveness of gas attacks. So on June 22, 1916, for 7 hours of continuous shelling, German artillery fired 125 thousand shells from 100 thousand liters. suffocating agents. The mass of poisonous substances in cylinders was 50%, in shells only 10%.

On May 15, 1916, during artillery shelling, the French used a mixture of phosgene with tin tetrachloride and arsenic trichloride, and on July 1, a mixture of hydrocyanic acid with arsenic trichloride.

On July 10, 1917, diphenylchlorarsine was first used by the Germans on the Western Front, causing a severe cough even through a gas mask, which in those years had a poor smoke filter. Therefore, in the future, diphenylchlorarsine was used together with phosgene or diphosgene to defeat enemy manpower.

New stage The use of chemical weapons began with the use of a persistent blister agent (B, B-dichlorodiethyl sulfide), which was first used by German troops near the Belgian city of Ypres. On July 12, 1917, within 4 hours, 50 thousand shells containing tons of B, B-dichlorodiethyl sulfide were fired at the Allied positions. 2,490 people received injuries of varying degrees.

The French called the new agent "mustard gas", after the place of first use, and the British called it "mustard gas" because of the strong specific smell. British scientists quickly deciphered its formula, but it was only in 1918 that it was possible to establish the production of a new OM, which is why it was possible to use mustard gas for military purposes only in September 1918 (2 months before the armistice).

In total, over the period from April 1915 to November 1918, more than 50 gas balloon attacks were carried out by German troops, by the British 150, by the French 20.

In the Russian army, the high command has a negative attitude towards the use of shells with OM. Impressed by the gas attack carried out by the Germans on April 22, 1915, on the French front in the Ypres region, as well as in May on the eastern front, it was forced to change its views.

On August 3 of the same 1915, an order appeared on the formation of a special commission under the State Agrarian University for the preparation of asphyxiants. As a result of the work of the GAU commission for the preparation of suffocating agents, in Russia, first of all, the production of liquid chlorine was established, which was brought from abroad before the war.

In August 1915, chlorine was produced for the first time. In October of the same year, phosgene production began. Since October 1915, special chemical teams began to form in Russia to carry out gas balloon attacks.

In April 1916, the Chemical Committee was formed at the GAU, which also included a commission for the preparation of suffocating agents. Thanks to the energetic actions of the Chemical Committee, an extensive network of chemical plants (about 200) was created in Russia. Including a number of plants for the manufacture of poisonous substances.

New plants for poisonous substances were put into operation in the spring of 1916. By November, the number of manufactured agents reached 3,180 tons (about 345 tons were produced in October), and the 1917 program planned to increase the monthly output to 600 tons in January and to 1,300 t in May.

The first gas balloon attack by Russian troops was carried out on September 5-6, 1916 in the Smorgon region. By the end of 1916, there was a tendency to shift the center of gravity chemical control from gas-balloon attacks to artillery firing with chemical projectiles.

Russia has taken the path of using chemical projectiles in artillery since 1916, manufacturing 76-mm chemical grenades of two types: asphyxiating (chloropicrin with sulfuryl chloride) and poisonous (phosgene with tin chloride, or vensinite, consisting of hydrocyanic acid, chloroform, chlorine arsenic and tin), the action of which caused damage to the body and in severe cases death.

By the autumn of 1916, the army's requirements for 76-mm chemical shells were fully satisfied: the army received 15,000 shells every month (the ratio of poisonous and asphyxiating shells was 1 to 4). The supply of the Russian army with large-caliber chemical projectiles was hampered by the lack of shell cases, which were fully intended for equipping with explosives. Russian artillery began to receive chemical mines for mortars in the spring of 1917.

As for gas cannons, which were successfully used as a new means of chemical attack on the French and Italian fronts from the beginning of 1917, Russia, which withdrew from the war in the same year, did not have gas cannons.

In the mortar artillery school, formed in September 1917, it was only supposed to begin experiments on the use of gas throwers. Russian artillery was not rich enough in chemical shells to use mass shooting, as was the case with Russia's allies and opponents. She used 76 mm chemical grenades almost exclusively in a positional warfare situation, as an auxiliary tool along with firing ordinary projectiles. In addition to shelling enemy trenches immediately before an attack by enemy troops, firing chemical projectiles was used with particular success to temporarily cease fire on enemy batteries, trench guns and machine guns, to assist their gas attack - by shelling those targets that were not captured by a gas wave. Shells filled with explosive agents were used against enemy troops accumulated in a forest or in another sheltered place, his observation and command posts, sheltered message moves.

At the end of 1916, the GAU sent 9,500 hand-held glass grenades with asphyxiating liquids to the active army for combat testing, and in the spring of 1917, 100,000 hand-held chemical grenades. Those and other hand grenades were thrown at 20 - 30 m and were useful in defense and especially during retreat, in order to prevent the pursuit of the enemy. During the Brusilov breakthrough in May-June 1916, the Russian army got some front-line stocks of German OM as trophies - shells and containers with mustard gas and phosgene. Although the Russian troops were subjected to German gas attacks several times, these weapons themselves were rarely used - either due to the fact that chemical munitions from the Allies arrived too late, or due to the lack of specialists. And at that time, the Russian military did not have any concept of using OV. All the chemical arsenals of the old Russian army at the beginning of 1918 were in the hands of the new government. During the Civil War, chemical weapons were used in small quantities by the White Army and the British occupation forces in 1919.

The Red Army used poisonous substances in the suppression of peasant uprisings. According to unverified data, for the first time the new government tried to use the OV during the suppression of the uprising in Yaroslavl in 1918.

In March 1919, another anti-Bolshevik Cossack uprising broke out in the Upper Don. On March 18, the artillery of the Zaamursky regiment fired on the rebels with chemical shells (most likely with phosgene).

The massive use of chemical weapons by the Red Army dates back to 1921. Then, under the command of Tukhachevsky, a large-scale punitive operation was launched in the Tambov province against Antonov's rebel army.

In addition to punitive actions - the execution of hostages, the creation of concentration camps, the burning of entire villages, chemical weapons were used in large quantities (artillery shells and gas cylinders). One can definitely talk about the use of chlorine and phosgene, but perhaps there was also mustard gas.

Since 1922, with the help of the Germans, they have been trying to establish their own production of combat agents in Soviet Russia. Bypassing the Versailles agreements, on May 14, 1923, the Soviet and German sides sign an agreement on the construction of a plant for the production of poisonous substances. Technological assistance in the construction of this plant was provided by the Stolzenberg concern within the framework of the Bersol joint stock company. They decided to deploy production in Ivashchenkovo ​​(later Chapaevsk). But for three years, nothing really was done - the Germans were clearly not eager to share technology and were playing for time.

On August 30, 1924, the production of its own mustard gas began in Moscow. The first industrial batch of mustard gas - 18 pounds (288 kg) - from August 30 to September 3 was issued by the Aniltrest Moscow Experimental Plant.

And in October of the same year, the first thousand chemical shells were already equipped with domestic mustard gas. The industrial production of OM (mustard gas) was first established in Moscow at the Aniltrest experimental plant.

Later, on the basis of this production, a research institute for the development of optical agents with a pilot plant was established.

Since the mid-1920s, a chemical plant in the city of Chapaevsk has become one of the main centers for the production of chemical weapons, producing military agents until the start of World War II.

During the 1930s, the production of combat agents and the supply of ammunition with them was deployed in Perm, Berezniki (Perm Region), Bobriky (later Stalinogorsk), Dzerzhinsk, Kineshma, Stalingrad, Kemerovo, Shchelkovo, Voskresensk, Chelyabinsk.

After the First World War and up to the Second World War, public opinion in Europe was opposed to the use of chemical weapons - but among the industrialists of Europe, who ensured the defense of their countries, the opinion prevailed that chemical weapons should be an indispensable attribute of warfare. At the same time, through the efforts of the League of Nations, a number of conferences and rallies were held to promote the prohibition of the use of poisonous substances for military purposes and talk about the consequences of this. The International Committee of the Red Cross supported conferences that condemned the use of chemical warfare in the 1920s.

In 1921, the Washington Conference on Arms Limitation was convened, chemical weapons were the subject of discussion by a specially created subcommittee, which had information on the use of chemical weapons during the First World War, which intended to propose a ban on the use of chemical weapons, even more than conventional weapons of war.

The subcommittee decided: the use of chemical weapons against the enemy on land and on water cannot be allowed. The opinion of the subcommittee was supported by a public opinion poll in the United States.

The treaty has been ratified by most countries, including the US and the UK. In Geneva, on June 17, 1925, the "Protocol on the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous and Other Similar Gases and Bacteriological Agents" was signed. This document was subsequently ratified by more than 100 states.

However, at the same time, the United States began to expand the Edgewood arsenal.

In Britain, many perceived the possibility of using chemical weapons as a fait accompli, fearing that they would be at a disadvantage, as in 1915.

And as a consequence of this, further work continued on chemical weapons, using propaganda for the use of toxic substances.

Chemical weapons were used in large quantities in "local conflicts" of the 1920s and 1930s: by Spain in Morocco in 1925, by Japanese troops against Chinese troops from 1937 to 1943.

The study of poisonous substances in Japan began, with the help of Germany, in 1923, and by the beginning of the 1930s, the production of the most effective agents in the arsenals of Tadonuimi and Sagani was organized.

Approximately 25% of the set of artillery and 30% of the aviation ammunition of the Japanese army was in chemical equipment.

In the Kwantung Army "Manchu Detachment 100" in addition to creating bacteriological weapons carried out work on the research and production of chemical poisonous substances (6th division of the "detachment").

In 1937 - August 12 in the battles for the city of Nankou and August 22 in the battles for railway Beijing-Suyuan, the Japanese army used shells filled with OM.

The Japanese continued to widely use poisonous substances in China and Manchuria. The losses of Chinese troops from poisonous substances amounted to 10% of the total.

Italy used chemical weapons in Ethiopia (from October 1935 to April 1936). Mustard gas was used with great efficiency by the Italians, despite the fact that Italy acceded to the Geneva Protocol in 1925. Almost all the fighting of the Italian units was supported by a chemical attack with the help of aircraft and artillery. Aircraft pouring devices were also used, dispersing liquid OM.

415 tons of blister agents and 263 tons of asphyxiants were sent to Ethiopia.

In the period from December 1935 to April 1936, Italian aviation carried out 19 large-scale chemical raids on the cities and towns of Abyssinia, using up 15,000 aviation chemical bombs. Of the total losses of the Abyssinian army of 750 thousand people, about a third were losses from chemical weapons. A large number of civilians also suffered. Specialists of the IG Farbenindustrie concern helped the Italians to establish the production of agents, so effective in Ethiopia. The IG Farben concern, created for complete dominating in the dyes and organic chemistry markets, merged six of the largest chemical companies in Germany.

British and American industrialists saw the concern as an empire similar to the Krupp arms empire, considering it a serious threat and made efforts to dismember it after the Second World War. The superiority of Germany in the production of poisonous substances is an indisputable fact: the well-established production of nerve gases in Germany came as a complete surprise to the Allied forces in 1945.

In Germany, immediately after the Nazis came to power, by order of Hitler, work was resumed in the field of military chemistry. Starting in 1934, in accordance with the plan of the High Command of the Ground Forces, these works acquired a purposeful offensive character, in line with the aggressive policy of the Nazi government.

First of all, at the newly created or modernized enterprises, the production of known agents began, which showed the greatest combat effectiveness during the First World War, based on the creation of their stock for 5 months of chemical warfare.

The high command of the fascist army considered it sufficient to have about 27 thousand tons of poisonous substances such as mustard gas and tactical formulations based on it: phosgene, adamsite, diphenylchlorarsine and chloroacetophenone.

At the same time, intensive work was carried out to search for new poisonous substances among the most diverse classes. chemical compounds. These works in the field of skin-abscess agents were marked by the receipt in 1935 - 1936. nitrogen mustard (N-lost) and "oxygen mustard" (O-lost).

In the main research laboratory of the concern I.G. The Farben industry in Leverkusen revealed the high toxicity of some fluorine- and phosphorus-containing compounds, a number of which were subsequently adopted by the German army.

In 1936 tabun was synthesized, which from May 1943 began to be produced in industrial scale, in 1939 more toxic than tabun sarin was obtained, and at the end of 1944 - soman. These substances marked the emergence of a new class of deadly nerve agents in the army of fascist Germany, many times superior in their toxicity to the toxic substances of the First World War.

In 1940, in the city of Oberbayern (Bavaria), a large plant owned by IG Farben was launched for the production of mustard gas and mustard compounds, with a capacity of 40 thousand tons.

In total, in the pre-war and first war years in Germany, about 20 new technological installations for the production of OM were built, the annual capacity of which exceeded 100 thousand tons. They were located in Ludwigshafen, Hüls, Wolfen, Urdingen, Ammendorf, Fadkenhagen, Seelz and other places.

In the city of Dühernfurt, on the Oder (now Silesia, Poland), there was one of the largest production facilities for organic matter. By 1945, Germany had 12 thousand tons of herd in stock, the production of which was nowhere else.

The reasons why Germany did not use chemical weapons during World War II remain unclear to this day. According to one version, Hitler did not give the command to use chemical weapons during the war because he believed that the USSR had a larger number of chemical weapons.

Another reason could be the insufficiently effective effect of OM on enemy soldiers equipped with chemical protection equipment, as well as their dependence on weather conditions.

Separate work on obtaining tabun, sarin, soman was carried out in the USA and Great Britain, but a breakthrough in their production could not occur until 1945. During the years of World War II in the United States, 135 thousand tons of toxic substances were produced at 17 installations, half of the total volume was accounted for mustard gas. Mustard gas was equipped with about 5 million shells and 1 million air bombs. Initially, mustard gas was supposed to be used against enemy landings on the sea coast. During the period of the emerging turning point in the course of the war in favor of the Allies, serious fears arose that Germany would decide to use chemical weapons. This was the basis for the decision of the American military command to supply mustard gas ammunition to the troops on the European continent. The plan provided for the creation of stocks of chemical weapons for the ground forces for 4 months. military operations and for the Air Force - for 8 months.

Transportation by sea was not without incident. So, on December 2, 1943, German aircraft bombed ships that were in the Italian port of Bari in the Adriatic Sea. Among them was the American transport "John Harvey" with a load of chemical bombs in equipment with mustard gas. After the damage to the transport, part of the OM mixed with the spilled oil, and mustard gas spread over the surface of the harbor.

During the Second World War, extensive military biological research was also carried out in the United States. For these studies, the biological center Kemp Detrick, opened in 1943 in Maryland (later it was called Fort Detrick), was intended. There, in particular, the study of bacterial toxins, including botulinum toxins, began.

In the last months of the war in Edgewood and the Army Aeromedical Laboratory Fort Rucker (Alabama), searches and tests of natural and synthetic substances that affect the central nervous system and causing a person in negligible doses of mental or physical disorders.

In close cooperation with the United States of America, work was carried out in the field of chemical and biological weapons In Great Britain. So, in 1941, at the University of Cambridge, the research group of B. Saunders synthesized a poisonous nerve agent - diisopropyl fluorophosphate (DFP, PF-3). Soon, a process plant for the production of this chemical agent began to operate at Sutton Oak near Manchester. Porton Down (Salisbury, Wiltshire), founded in 1916 as a military chemical research station, became the main scientific center of Great Britain. The production of poisonous substances was also carried out at a chemical plant in Nenskyuk (Cornwell).

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), by the end of the war, about 35 thousand tons of poisonous substances were stored in the UK.

After the Second World War, OV was used in a number of local conflicts. The facts of the use of chemical weapons by the US army against the DPRK (1951-1952) and Vietnam (60s) are known.

From 1945 to 1980, only 2 types of chemical weapons were used in the West: lacrimators (CS: 2-- tear gas) and defoliants - chemicals from the herbicide group.

CS alone, 6,800 tons were used. Defoliants belong to the class of phytotoxicants - chemicals that cause foliage to fall off plants and are used to unmask enemy objects.

In the laboratories of the United States, the purposeful development of means for the destruction of vegetation was started back in the years of the Second World War. The level of development of herbicides reached by the end of the war, according to US experts, could allow their practical application. However, research for military purposes continued, and only in 1961 was a "suitable" test site chosen. The use of chemicals to destroy vegetation in South Vietnam was initiated by the US military in August 1961 with the authorization of President Kennedy.

All areas were treated with herbicides South Vietnam- from the demilitarized zone to the Mekong Delta, as well as many areas of Laos and Kampuchea - everywhere and everywhere, where, according to the Americans, there could be detachments of the People's Liberation Armed Forces (PLF) of South Vietnam or lay their communications.

Along with woody vegetation, fields, gardens and rubber plantations also began to be affected by herbicides. Since 1965, these chemicals have been sprayed over the fields of Laos (especially in its southern and eastern parts), and two years later - already in the northern part of the demilitarized zone, as well as in the areas adjacent to it in the DRV. Forests and fields were cultivated at the request of the commanders of the American units stationed in South Vietnam. The spraying of herbicides was carried out with the help of not only aircraft, but also special ground devices that were available in the American troops and Saigon units. Herbicides were especially intensively used in 1964-1966 to destroy mangrove forests on the southern coast of South Vietnam and on the banks of shipping channels leading to Saigon, as well as forests of the demilitarized zone. Two US Air Force aviation squadrons were fully engaged in operations. Maximum dimensions the use of chemical anti-vegetative agents reached in 1967. Subsequently, the intensity of operations fluctuated depending on the intensity of hostilities.

In South Vietnam, during Operation Ranch Hand, the Americans tested 15 different chemicals and formulations for the destruction of crops, plantations of cultivated plants and trees and shrubs.

The total amount of chemicals for the destruction of vegetation used by the US armed forces from 1961 to 1971 amounted to 90 thousand tons, or 72.4 million liters. Four herbicidal formulations were predominantly used: purple, orange, white and blue. The formulations found the greatest use in South Vietnam: orange - against forests and blue - against rice and other crops.

Last week, it became known that Russia had destroyed 99% of its stockpiles of chemical weapons and will eliminate the rest ahead of schedule in 2017. Our Version decided to find out why the leading military powers so easily agreed to the destruction of this type of weapon of mass destruction.

Russia began destroying the arsenals of Soviet chemical weapons as early as 1998. At that time, there were about 2 million shells with various military poison gases in the warehouses, which would be enough to destroy the entire population of the Earth several times. Initially, funds for the implementation of the program for the destruction of ammunition were allocated by the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Italy and Switzerland. Then Russia launched its own program, which cost the treasury more than 330 billion rubles.

The Russian Federation turned out to be far from being the only owner of chemical weapons - 13 countries recognized their presence. In 1990, they all acceded to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction. As a result, all 65 chemical weapons factories were shut down, and most of them were converted to civilian needs.

Gas masks were even made for horses

At the same time, experts note the ease with which the countries - owners of chemical weapons abandoned their stocks. But at the time it was considered very promising. The official date of the first massive use of chemical weapons is April 22, 1915, when the German army fired 168 tons of chlorine in the direction of enemy trenches against the French and British soldiers on the front line near the city of Ypres. Gases struck then 15 thousand people, from their action 5 thousand died almost instantly, and the survivors died in hospitals or remained disabled for life. The military was impressed by the first success, and the industry of the advanced countries urgently began to increase the capacity for the production of toxic substances.

However, it soon became clear that the effectiveness of this weapon is very arbitrary, which is why already in the First world war the opposing sides began to become disillusioned with his fighting qualities. The weakest point of chemical weapons is their absolute dependence on the vagaries of the weather, in general, where the wind goes, there goes the gas. In addition, almost immediately after the first chemical attacks, effective means of protection were invented - gas masks, as well as special protective suits that nullified the use of chemical weapons. Even protective masks for animals have been created. So, in the Soviet Union, hundreds of thousands of gas masks were purchased for horses, the last 10,000th batch of which was disposed of just four years ago.

However, the advantage of chemical weapons is that it is quite simple to make poison gas. To do this, according to some experts, it is enough just to slightly change the "recipe" of production at existing chemical enterprises. Therefore, they say, if necessary, the production of chemical weapons can be restored quite quickly. However, there are weighty arguments that explain why the countries - owners of chemical weapons decided to abandon them.

Combat gases become suicidal

The fact is that the few cases of the use of chemical weapons in recent local wars also confirmed their low effectiveness and low efficiency.

During the fighting in Korea in the early 50s, the US Army used poisonous substances against the troops of the Korean People's Army and Chinese volunteers. According to incomplete data, from 1952 to 1953, more than 100 cases of the use of chemical projectiles and bombs by American and South Korean troops were noted. As a result, more than a thousand people were poisoned, of which 145 died.

Experts point out the ease with which the countries-owners of chemical weapons abandoned their stocks. But at one time it was considered very promising

Most mass use chemical weapons in recent history have been recorded in Iraq. The military of this country repeatedly used various chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war from 1980 to 1988. Poison gases poisoned up to 10 thousand people. In 1988, on the orders of Saddam Hussein, mustard gas (mustard gas) and nerve agents were used against Iraqi Kurds in Halabja, in northern Iraq. According to some estimates, the death toll reaches 5 thousand people.

The latest incident with the use of chemical agents took place in the Syrian city of Khan Sheikhoun (Idlib province) on April 4, 2017. The Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said that the gas attack on April 4 in Syrian Idlib used sarin or its equivalent. Poisonous gas killed about 90 people, injured more than 500 people. Representatives of the Russian side reported that the poisoning was the result of a strike by government troops on a military chemical factory. The events in Khan Sheikhoun served as the official reason for missile attack US Navy at Ash Shayrat Air Force Base April 7.

Thus, the effect of the use of chemical weapons is even less than that of a missile and bomb strike. There are a lot of troubles with gases. It is extremely difficult to make chemical munitions sufficiently safe to handle and store. Therefore, their presence in combat formations poses a great danger: if the enemy conducts a successful air raid or hits a chemical munitions depot with a high-precision missile, then the damage to their own troops will be unpredictable. Therefore, chemical weapons are being removed from the arsenal of the leading armies, but it is likely that in the arsenals of individual countries with totalitarian regimes and terrorist organizations, it may persist.

In the US, there may be "gas" bombs

However, the Americans tried to improve this type of weapon, working on the creation of binary ammunition. It is based on the principle of refusing to use a finished toxic product - shells are loaded with two components that are individually safe. The advantage of binary ammunition lies in the safety of storage, transportation and maintenance. However, there are also disadvantages - the high cost and complexity of production. Therefore, experts believe that there is a danger - they say, the Americans will keep binary weapons in their arsenals that did not fall under the convention, therefore, in addition to the destruction of the classic forms of chemical weapons, the question of the destruction of the binary weapons development cycle should also be raised.

As for domestic developments in this direction, formally they have been curtailed long ago. Trying to find out how true this is is almost impossible because of the secrecy regime.

Viktor Murakhovsky, editor-in-chief of the Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine, retired colonel:

– Today I don’t see even a minimal need to return to the production of chemical weapons and create means for their use. Only for the storage and control of stockpiles of chemical weapons it is necessary to constantly spend gigantic funds. Combat gas ammunition cannot be stored next to conventional ammunition; special expensive storage and control systems are required. In my opinion, today no country with a modern army is developing chemical weapons, talk about this is nothing more than conspiracy theories. The costs of its development, production, storage and maintenance in readiness for use in comparison with its effectiveness are absolutely unjustified. The use of chemical warfare agents against the modern army is also absolutely ineffective, since they are equipped with modern effective means of protection.

The combination of these factors played a role in favor of signing the chemical weapons treaty. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) remains, expert groups within this organization can monitor the presence of such weapons both in the signatory countries and in third countries. In addition, the presence of such huge stockpiles of chemical weapons provokes terrorist and other armed groups to obtain and use them. Although, of course, relatively simple and well-known types of chemical weapons such as mustard gas, chlorine, sarin and soman can be obtained by terrorists practically in the conditions of a school laboratory.

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 were killed, 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 military chemistry in the war. But not even a weapon of war in last years becomes a terrible chemical weapon, but a certain political reason for unleashing wars ...

“That first “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, in the same place, near Ypres, the Germans two years later used a more terrible military mustard gas, which was named after the place of battles is mustard gas, - said the site, candidate of historical sciences, associate professor of St. ", and limited. The Germans for some reason doubted the "quality of goods" and did not develop a broad offensive. The first echelon of German infantry, slowly advancing behind a 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 ...

Against the Russian troops, the first chemical attack was used on May 31, 1915 at Wola Shidlovskaya near Bolimov in Poland. Ironically, the gas masks were delivered on May 31 in the evening, after the attack. The combat losses of the Russian troops from the gas balloon attack amounted to 9146 people, of which 1183 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 very history of chemical weapons is presented in great detail on the Internet - just type the appropriate phrases in any search engine. So I will only very briefly list some military operations 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, and not just Germany and the Entente. In 1918, the Red Army used poisonous substances during the so-called Yaroslavl uprising of 1918. And during the Tambov uprising of 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. Poison agents were used in the Spanish-French-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 in 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. And the Germans, contrary to popular belief, still used gases during the Great Patriotic War - in the Adzhimushkay quarries in the Crimea against Soviet fighters 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 number of chemical weapons than him for a retaliatory strike. And the gas chambers of the death camps became the main place for the use of poisonous substances ... In the US war in Vietnam, chemical weapons were used by both sides. This weapon also featured during the 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. Incidentally, it was precisely the chemical weapons allegedly possessed by Iraq that became the reason for the invasion of this country by US troops, who were just trying to find them. Now it turns out where the Americans got the "accurate information" about Saddam's "chemical bombs" - it's just that the United States actively supplied them to Iraq just during its war with Iran, which the Americans considered a "great evil" for themselves! But in the end, the Americans in Iraq did not even find "their" military chemicals, having clearly got into a mess ... ".

By the way, according to historical primary sources, already in the First World War, the opposing sides very quickly became disillusioned with the combat qualities of chemical weapons and continued to use them only because they had no other way to bring the war out of the positional impasse. In total, from April 1915 to November 1918, more than 50 gas balloon attacks were carried out by German troops, 150 by the British, and 20 by the French. Over 40 types of poisonous substances were tested during the First World War.

Almost all subsequent, "post-war" cases of the use of chemical warfare agents were either probationary or punitive - against civilians who did not have means of protection and knowledge. The generals, both on the one hand and on the other, 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" means of mass murder of people has developed today is very paradoxical. Chemical weapons, as well as later atomic weapons, were destined to turn from military weapons into psychological ones.

For example, as the site has written more than once, accusations by the Syrian authorities of using chemical weapons against opposition fighters 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 transfer all of its chemical weapons to the international community, thus avoiding intervention in Syria by Western powers. The country has committed itself to the destruction of chemical weapons factories and the transfer of toxic substances under international control.

UN experts concluded that chemical weapons were used during the civil war in Syria at least five times, but it turned out to be impossible to make an unambiguous conclusion about which of the warring parties used them ... The Syrian authorities and the opposition blame each other for what happened.

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Chemical weapons were invented by accident. In 1885, in the chemical laboratory of the German scientist Mayer, a Russian student-intern N. Zelinsky synthesized a new substance. At the same time, a certain gas was formed, having swallowed which he ended up in a hospital bed.

So, unexpectedly for everyone, a 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 SAMPLES

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, poisonous substances were part of the military strategy: during the Crimean War in the battles for Sevastopol English army used sulfur dioxide to smoke Russian troops out of the fortress. At the very end of the 19th 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 prohibits, among other things, the use of asphyxiating gases. Not all countries have joined this agreement. Nevertheless, poisoning and military honor were considered by most of the participants 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 troops of the Entente could knock each other out of well-fortified positions. Such a confrontation senselessly devoured time, human and material resources. But to whom is the war, and to whom is the mother dear ...

It was then that the businessman-chemist and the future Nobel laureate Fritz Haber managed to convince the Kaiser command to use combat gas to change the situation in their favor. Under his personal leadership, more than 6,000 chlorine cylinders were installed on the front line. It only remained to wait for a fair wind and open the valves ...

On April 22, 1915, a thick cloud of chlorine moved in a wide band towards the position of the French-Belgian troops near the Ypres River from the direction of the German trenches. In five minutes, 170 tons of deadly gas covered the trenches for 6 kilometers. Under its influence, 15 thousand people were poisoned, a third of them died. Against the poisonous substance, any number of soldiers and weapons were powerless. Thus began the history of the use of chemical weapons and a new era began - the era of weapons of mass destruction.

SAVING FOOTWEAR

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. In the circulars of the Russian army, the following recommendation was preserved: in the event of a gas attack, it is necessary to urinate on a footcloth and breathe through it. Despite its simplicity, this method turned out to be very effective at that time. Then bandages appeared in the troops, impregnated with hyposulfite, which somehow neutralized chlorine.

But German chemists did not stand still. They tested phosgene, a gas with a strong suffocating effect. Later, mustard gas came into play, followed by lewisite. No dressings worked 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, tens of thousands of gas masks had been sent to the front line by the Russian command.

However, wagons with this cargo often stood idle on sidings. Equipment, weapons, manpower and food had the right of the first stage. It was because of this that the gas masks were only a few hours late for the front line. Russian soldiers repulsed many German attacks that day, 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 troops against the Anglo-Belgian troops two years later, on July 17, 1917. He hit the mucous membrane, burned the insides. It happened on the same river Ypres. It was after this that he received the name "mustard gas". For the colossal destructive ability, the Germans called him the "king of gases." Also in 1917, the Germans used mustard gas against US troops. The Americans lost 70,000 soldiers. In total, 1 million 300 thousand people suffered from BOV (chemical warfare agent) in World War I, 100 thousand of them died.

BEAT YOURSELF!

In 1921, the Red Army also used military poison gases. But already against their own people. In those years, the whole Tambov region was engulfed in unrest: the peasantry rebelled against the predatory surplus appropriation. The 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 must be cleared with poisonous gases. Precisely expect that a cloud of suffocating gases will spread to the entire massif, destroying everything that is hidden in it.

Only during one gas attack, 20 thousand inhabitants died, and in three months two thirds of the male population of the Tambov region were destroyed. This was the only use of poisonous substances in Europe since the end of the First World War.

MYSTERIOUS GAMES

The First World War ended with the defeat of the German troops and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. Germany was forbidden the development and production of any types of weapons, the training of military specialists. However, on April 16, 1922, bypassing the Treaty of Versailles, Moscow and Berlin signed a secret agreement on military cooperation.

On the territory of the USSR, the production of German weapons and the training of military experts were established. Near Kazan, the Germans trained future tankmen, near Lipetsk - flight crews. A joint school was opened in Volsk, which trained specialists in chemical warfare. New types of chemical weapons were created and tested here. Near Saratov, joint research was carried out on the use of combat gases in war conditions, methods for protecting personnel and subsequent decontamination. All this was extremely beneficial and useful for the Soviet military - they learned from representatives of the best army of that time.

Naturally, both sides were extremely interested in maintaining the strictest secrecy. Leakage of information could lead to a grandiose international scandal. In 1923, a joint Russian-German enterprise "Bersol" was built in the Volga region, where mustard gas production was set up 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 start-up of the plant, the Soviet side forced the Germans to break the agreement.

In 1925, the heads of most states signed the Geneva Protocol, which banned the use of asphyxiating and poisonous substances. However, again, not all countries have signed it, including Italy. In 1935, Italian planes sprayed mustard gas over Ethiopian troops and civilian settlements. Nevertheless, the League of Nations reacted to this criminal act very condescendingly 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 the revived German army had the main goal of destroying 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 allow you to capture enemy territory without unnecessary casualties. It is 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 after an English gas attack. Blinded and suffocating from chlorine, lying helplessly in a hospital bed, the future Fuhrer said goodbye to his dream of becoming a famous painter.

At the time, he was seriously contemplating suicide. And just 14 years later, behind the back of Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler stood the entire most powerful military-chemical industry in Germany.

COUNTRY IN A GAS MASK

Chemical weapons have a distinctive feature: they are not expensive to produce and do not require high technology. In addition, its presence allows you to keep in suspense any country in the world. That is why in those years chemical protection in the USSR became a national matter. No one doubted that poisonous substances would be used in the war. The country began to live in a gas mask in the literal sense of the word.

A group of athletes made a record campaign run in gas masks 1,200 kilometers long along the route Donetsk-Kharkov-Moscow. All military and civilian exercises took place with the use of chemical weapons or their imitation.

In 1928, an aerial chemical attack was simulated over Leningrad using 30 aircraft. The next day, British newspapers wrote: "Chemical rain literally fell on the heads of passers-by."

WHAT IS HITLER FEARED

Hitler did not dare to use chemical weapons, although in 1943 alone Germany produced 30,000 tons of poisonous substances. Historians claim that Germany came close to using them twice. But the German command was given to understand that, if the Wehrmacht used chemical weapons, the whole of Germany would be flooded with a poisonous substance. Given the huge population density, the German nation would simply cease to exist, and the entire territory would turn into a desert for several decades, completely uninhabitable. And the Fuhrer understood this.

In 1942, the Kwantung Army used chemical weapons against Chinese troops. It turned out that Japan is very advanced in the development of BOV. Having captured Manchuria and northern China, Japan set its sights on the USSR. For this, the latest chemical and biological weapons were developed.

In Harbin, in the center of Pingfan, under the guise of a sawmill, a special laboratory was built, where victims were brought at night in the strictest secrecy for testing. The operation was so secret that even the locals did not suspect anything. Development Plan the latest weapons mass destruction belonged to the microbiologist Shiru Issy. The scope is evidenced by the fact that 20 thousand scientists were involved in research in this area.

Soon Pingfan and 12 other cities were turned into death factories. People were considered only as raw materials for experiments. All this went beyond any humanity and humanity. The activity of Japanese specialists in the development of chemical and bacteriological weapons of mass destruction resulted in hundreds of thousands of victims among the Chinese population.

A PLAGUE ON BOTH YOUR HOUSES!..

At the end of the war, the Americans sought to obtain all the chemical secrets of the Japanese and prevent them from entering the USSR. General MacArthur even promised Japanese scientists protection from prosecution. In exchange, Issy handed over all documents to the United States. Not a single Japanese scientist was convicted, and American chemists and biologists received a huge and invaluable material. Detrick, Maryland, became the first center for improving chemical weapons.

It was here that in 1947 there was a sharp breakthrough in the improvement of airborne spray systems, which made it possible to evenly treat huge areas with poisonous substances. In the 1950s and 1960s, the military carried out many experiments in absolute secrecy, including spraying over 250 locations, including cities like San Francisco, St. Louis, and Minneapolis.

The protracted war in Vietnam caused 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 forest areas in South Vietnam have been treated with defoliants and herbicides designed to remove leaves and completely destroy vegetation. Of the numerous species of trees and shrubs of the wet rainforest only single species of trees and several species of thorny grasses remained, not suitable for livestock feed.

The total amount of pesticides used by the US military from 1961 to 1971 was 90,000 tons. The US military claimed that their herbicides in small doses are not lethal to humans. Nevertheless, the UN passed a resolution banning the use of herbicides and tear gas, and US President Nixon announced the closure of chemical and biological weapons programs.

In 1980, a war broke out between Iraq and Iran. Chemical warfare agents, which do not require large expenditures, have again entered the scene. Factories were built on Iraqi territory with the help of the FRG, and S. Hussein got the opportunity 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 cruel, bloody confrontation between S. Hussein and Ayatollah Khomeini was considered a kind of revenge on Iran. However, S. Hussein also used chemical weapons against his own citizens. Accusing the Kurds of plotting and aiding the enemy, he sentenced an entire Kurdish village to death. For this, nerve gas was used. The Geneva Agreement was grossly violated once again.

A FAREWELL TO ARMS!

On January 13, 1993, representatives of 120 states signed the Chemical Weapons Convention in Paris. It is prohibited to produce, store and use. For the first time in world history, an entire class of weapons must disappear. Enormous reserves accumulated over 75 years industrial production, were useless.

From that moment on, all research centers came under international control. The situation can be explained not only by concern for the environment. States with nuclear weapons do not need competing countries with unpredictable policies that possess weapons of mass destruction comparable in impact to nuclear weapons.

Russia has the largest reserves - 40,000 tons are officially declared, although some experts believe that there are much more of them. In the USA - 30 thousand tons. At the same time, American OV is packed in barrels made of light duralumin alloy, the shelf life of which does not exceed 25 years.

The technologies used in the United States are significantly inferior to Russian ones. But the Americans had to hurry, and they immediately set about burning OM on Johnston Atoll. Since the utilization of gases in furnaces takes place in the ocean, there is practically no danger of contamination of populated areas. Russia's problem is that stocks of this type of weapon are located in densely populated areas, which exclude such a method of destruction.

Despite the fact that Russian agents are stored in cast-iron containers, the shelf life of which is much longer, but it is not infinite. Russia first of all seized powder charges from shells and bombs filled with a chemical warfare agent. At least, there is no danger of an explosion and the spread of OM.

In addition, by this step, Russia has shown that it is not even considering the possibility of using this class of weapons. The stocks of phosgene produced in the mid-1940s have also been completely destroyed. The destruction took place in the village of Planovy, Kurgan Region. It is here that the main reserves of sarin, soman, as well as extremely toxic VX substances are located.

Chemical weapons were also destroyed in a primitive barbaric way. It happened in deserted areas Central Asia: a huge pit was dug out, where a fire was made, in which the deadly "chemistry" was burned. In almost the same way, in the 1950s-1960s, OM was disposed of in the village of Kambar-ka in Udmurtia. Of course, in modern conditions this cannot be done, so a modern enterprise was built here, designed to detoxify 6,000 tons of lewisite stored here.

The largest reserves of mustard gas are located in the warehouses of the Gorny settlement, located on the Volga, in the very place where the Soviet-German school once operated. Some containers are already 80 years old, while the safe storage of chemical agents is increasingly costly, because there is no expiration date for combat gases, 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 military poison gas. All this happens at low temperatures, excluding the possibility of an explosion. It is fundamentally different and most safe way. There are no world analogues to this complex. Even rain runoff does not leave the site. Experts assure that for all the time there was not 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 poisonous substances have been found at the bottom of the seas. Rusted barrels are a time bomb of enormous destructive power, capable of exploding at any moment. The decision to bury German poison arsenals on the seabed was made by the Allied forces immediately after the end of the war. It was hoped that over time the containers would cover the sedimentary rocks and the burial would become safe.

However, time has shown that this decision was wrong. Now three such cemeteries have been discovered in the Baltic: near the Swedish island of Gotland, in the Skagerrak Strait between Norway and Sweden, and off the coast of the Danish island of Bornholm. For several decades, the containers have rusted and are no longer able to provide tightness. According to scientists, the complete destruction of cast-iron containers can take from 8 to 400 years.

In addition, large stockpiles of chemical weapons are flooded off east coast United States and in the northern seas under the jurisdiction of Russia. The main danger is that the mustard gas has begun to seep out. The first result was the mass death of starfish in the Dvina Bay. Research data showed traces of mustard gas in a third marine life this water area.

CHEMICAL TERRORISM THREAT

Chemical terrorism is a real danger threatening humanity. This is confirmed by the gas attack in the subways of Tokyo and Mitsumoto in 1994-1995. From 4 thousand to 5.5 thousand people received severe poisoning. 19 of them have 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 the production of the poisonous substance in Russia and managed to establish its production in the simplest conditions. Experts talk about several more cases of the use of agents in the countries of the Middle East and Asia. Dozens, if not hundreds of thousands of militants were trained in bin Laden's camps alone. They were trained, among other things, in the methods of conducting chemical and bacteriological warfare. According to some reports, biochemical terrorism was the leading discipline there.

In the summer of 2002, the Hamas group 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 live ammunition 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.

The colorless and odorless gas acts on the central nervous system of a person and disables it in a matter of seconds. Non-lethal, these substances affect people, temporarily causing them to daydream, euphoria or depression. Gases of the CS and CR groups are already used by the police in many countries of the world. Experts believe that the future belongs to them, since they are not included in the convention.

Alexander GUNKOVSKY

War is terrible in itself, but it becomes even more terrible when people forget about respect for the enemy and begin to use such means from which it is already impossible to escape. In memory of the victims of the use of chemical weapons, we have prepared for you a selection of six of the most famous such incidents in history.

1. Second Battle of Ypres during WWI

This case can be considered the first in the history of chemical warfare. On April 22, 1915, Germany used chlorine against Russia near the city of Ypres in Belgium. On the front flank of the German positions, 8 km long, cylindrical cylinders of chlorine were installed, from which a huge cloud of chlorine was released in the evening, blown away by the wind towards the Russian troops. The soldiers did not have any means of protection, and as a result of this attack, 15,000 people received severe poisoning, of which 5,000 died. A month later, the Germans repeated the attack on the Eastern Front, this time 9000 soldiers were gassed, 1200 died on the battlefield.

These casualties could have been avoided: Allied military intelligence warned of a possible attack and that the enemy had cylinders of unknown purpose. However, the command decided that the cylinders could not conceal any particular danger, and the use of new chemical weapons was impossible.

This incident can hardly be considered a terrorist attack - it nevertheless happened in the war, and there were no casualties among the civilian population. But it was then that chemical weapons showed their terrible effectiveness and began to be widely used - first during this war, and after the end - in peacetime.

Governments had to think about chemical protection means - new types of gas masks appeared, and in response to this - new types of poisonous substances.

2. The use of chemical weapons by Japan in the war with China

The next incident occurred during the Second World War: Japan used chemical weapons many times during the conflict with China. Moreover, the Japanese government, headed by the emperor, considered this method of warfare to be extremely effective: firstly, chemical weapons at a cost no more than ordinary ones, and secondly, they can do without almost no losses in their troops.

By order of the emperor were created special units for the development of new types of toxic substances. For the first time, chemicals were used by Japan during the bombing of the Chinese city of Woqu - about 1000 bombs were dropped on the ground. Later, the Japanese detonated 2,500 chemical shells during the Battle of Dingxiang. They did not stop there and continued to use chemical weapons until the final defeat in the war. In total, about 50,000 people or more died from chemical poisoning - the victims were both among the military and among the civilian population.

Later, Japanese troops did not dare to use chemical weapons of mass destruction against the advancing US and Soviet forces. Probably because of the not unfounded fear that both of these countries have their own stocks of chemicals, several times greater than the potential of Japan, so the Japanese government rightly feared a retaliatory strike on its territories.

3. US environmental war against Vietnam

The United States took the next step. It is known that in the Vietnam War, the states actively used poisonous substances. The civilian population of Vietnam, of course, had no chance to defend themselves.

During the war, starting in 1963, the United States sprayed 72 million liters of Agent Orange defoliants over Vietnam, which is used to destroy forests where Vietnamese partisans were hiding, as well as directly during the bombing settlements. Dioxin was present in the used mixtures - a substance that settles in the body and results in diseases of the blood, liver, impaired pregnancy and, as a result, deformities in newborn children. As a result, more than 4.8 million people suffered from a chemical attack in total, and some of them experienced the consequences of forest and soil poisoning after the war was over.

The bombing almost caused an ecological catastrophe - as a result of the action of chemicals, the ancient mangrove forests growing in Vietnam were almost completely destroyed, about 140 species of birds died, the number of fish in poisoned reservoirs sharply decreased, and the one that remained could not be eaten without risk to health. But plague rats bred in large numbers and infected ticks appeared. In some way, the consequences of the use of defoliants in the country are still being felt - from time to time children are born with obvious genetic abnormalities.

4 Sarin Attack On The Tokyo Subway

Perhaps the most famous terrorist attack in history, unfortunately a success, was carried out by the neo-religious Japanese religious sect Aum Senrikyo. In June 1994, a truck drove through the streets of Matsumoto with a heated evaporator in its back. Sarin, a poisonous substance that enters the human body through the respiratory tract and paralyzes the nervous system, was applied to the surface of the evaporator. The evaporation of sarin was accompanied by the release of a whitish fog, and fearing exposure, the terrorists quickly stopped the attack. However, 200 people were poisoned and seven of them died.

The criminals did not limit themselves to this - taking into account previous experience, they decided to repeat the attack in indoors. On March 20, 1995, five unidentified people descended into the Tokyo subway carrying packets of sarin. The terrorists pierced their bags in five different subway trains, and the gas quickly spread throughout the subway. A drop of sarin the size of a pinhead is enough to kill an adult, while the perpetrators carried two liter bags each. According to official figures, 5,000 people were seriously poisoned, 12 of them died.

The attack was perfectly planned - cars were waiting for the perpetrators at the exit from the metro in the agreed places. The organizers of the attack, Naoko Kikuchi and Makoto Hirata, were only found and arrested in the spring of 2012. Later, the head of the chemical laboratory of the Aum Senrikyo sect admitted that in two years of work, 30 kg of sarin was synthesized and experiments were carried out with other toxic substances - tabun, soman and phosgene.

5. Terror attacks during the war in Iraq

During the war in Iraq, chemical weapons were used repeatedly, and both sides of the conflict did not disdain them. For example, a chlorine gas bomb exploded in the Iraqi village of Abu Saida on May 16, killing 20 people and injuring 50. Earlier, in March of the same year, terrorists detonated several chlorine bombs in the Sunni province of Anbar, injuring more than 350 people in total. Chlorine is fatal to humans - this gas causes fatal damage to the respiratory system, and with a small impact leaves severe burns on the skin.

Even at the very beginning of the war, in 2004, US troops used white phosphorus as a chemical incendiary weapon. When used, one such bomb destroys all living things within a radius of 150 m from the place of impact. The American government at first denied any involvement in the incident, then declared a mistake, and finally, the representative of the Pentagon, Lt. armed forces enemy. Moreover, the US has stated that incendiary bombs are a perfectly legitimate instrument of warfare, and henceforth the US does not intend to stop using them if the need arises. Unfortunately, when using white phosphorus, civilians suffered.

6. Attack in Aleppo, Syria

The militants still use chemical weapons. For example, quite recently, on March 19, 2013, in Syria, where the opposition is now at war with the incumbent president, a rocket filled with chemicals was used. There was an incident in the city of Aleppo, as a result, the center of the city, included in the UNESCO lists, was badly damaged, 16 people died, and another 100 people were poisoned. There are still no reports in the media about what substance was contained in the rocket, however, according to eyewitnesses, when inhaled, the victims experienced suffocation and severe convulsions, which in some cases led to death.

Opposition representatives blame the Syrian government for the incident, which does not admit guilt. Given the fact that Syria is prohibited from developing and using chemical weapons, it was assumed that the UN would take over the investigation, but at present the Syrian government does not give its consent to this.