On April 24, 1915, on a front line near the city of Ypres, French and British soldiers noticed a strange yellow-green cloud that was rapidly moving in their direction. It seemed that nothing foreshadowed trouble, but when this fog reached the first line of trenches, people in it began to fall, cough, suffocate and die.

This day became the official date of the first massive use of chemical weapons. german army on a front section six kilometers wide, it released 168 tons of chlorine in the direction of enemy trenches. The poison struck 15 thousand people, of which 5 thousand died almost instantly, and the survivors died later in hospitals or remained disabled for life. After the use of gas, the German troops went on the attack and occupied enemy positions without loss, because there was no one to defend them.

The first use of chemical weapons was considered successful, so it soon became a real nightmare for soldiers. opposing sides. Chemical warfare agents were used by all countries participating in the conflict: chemical weapons became a real " calling card» World War I. By the way, the city of Ypres was “lucky” in this regard: two years later, the Germans in the same area used dichlorodiethyl sulfide against the French, a chemical weapon of blistering action, which was called mustard gas.

This small town, like Hiroshima, has become a symbol of one of the gravest crimes against humanity.

On May 31, 1915, chemical weapons were first used against the Russian army - the Germans used phosgene. The gas cloud was mistaken for camouflage and Front edge sent more soldiers. The consequences of the gas attack were terrible: 9 thousand people died a painful death, even grass died due to the effects of the poison.

History of chemical weapons

The history of chemical warfare agents (CW) goes back hundreds of years. Various chemical compounds were used to poison enemy soldiers or temporarily disable them. Most often, such methods were used during the siege of fortresses, since it is not very convenient to use poisonous substances during a maneuver war.

For example, in the West (including Russia) artillery "stinking" cannonballs were used, which emitted suffocating and poisonous smoke, and the Persians used an ignited mixture of sulfur and crude oil during the storming of cities.

However, talking about mass use poisonous substances in the old days, of course, were not necessary. Chemical weapons began to be considered by the generals as one of the means of warfare only after they began to receive poisonous substances in industrial quantities and learned how to store them safely.

It also required certain changes in the psychology of the military: back in the 19th century, poisoning your opponents like rats was considered an ignoble and unworthy deed. The use of sulfur dioxide as a chemical warfare agent by British Admiral Thomas Gokhran was met with indignation by the British military elite.

Already during the First World War, the first methods of protection against poisonous substances appeared. At first, these were various bandages or capes impregnated with various substances, but they usually did not give the desired effect. Then gas masks were invented, in their own way. appearance reminiscent of modern. However, gas masks at first were far from perfect and did not provide the required level of protection. Special gas masks have been developed for horses and even dogs.

The means of delivery of poisonous substances did not stand still. If at the beginning of the war gas was sprayed from cylinders in the direction of the enemy without any fuss, then artillery shells and mines began to be used to deliver OM. New, more deadly types of chemical weapons have emerged.

After the end of the First World War, work in the field of creating poisonous substances did not stop: methods of delivering agents and methods of protection against them improved, new types of chemical weapons appeared. Combat gases were regularly tested, special shelters were built for the population, soldiers and civilians trained in the use of personal protective equipment.

In 1925, another convention was adopted (the Geneva Pact), which prohibited the use of chemical weapons, but this in no way stopped the generals: they had no doubt that the next big war would be chemical, and they were intensively preparing for it. In the mid-thirties, nerve gases were developed by German chemists, the effects of which are the most deadly.

Despite the lethality and significant psychological effect, today we can confidently say that chemical weapons are a past stage for humanity. And the point here is not in conventions that prohibit the persecution of their own kind, and not even in public opinion (although it also played a significant role).

The military has practically abandoned poisonous substances, because chemical weapons have more disadvantages than advantages. Let's look at the main ones:

  • Strong dependence on weather conditions. At first, poison gases were released from cylinders downwind in the direction of the enemy. However, the wind is changeable, so during the First World War there were frequent cases of defeat of their own troops. The use of artillery ammunition as a method of delivery solves this problem only partially. Rain and simply high humidity dissolves and decomposes many poisonous substances, and air ascending currents carry them high into the sky. For example, the British built numerous fires in front of their line of defense so that hot air would carry enemy gas upwards.
  • Storage insecurity. Conventional ammunition without a fuse detonates extremely rarely, which cannot be said about shells or containers with explosive agents. They can lead to mass casualties, even deep in the rear in a warehouse. In addition, the cost of their storage and disposal is extremely high.
  • Protection. The most important reason for the abandonment of chemical weapons. The first gas masks and bandages were not very effective, but soon they provided quite effective protection against RH. In response, chemists came up with blistering gases, after which a special chemical protection suit was invented. Reliable protection against any weapon appeared in armored vehicles mass destruction including chemical. In short, the use of chemical warfare agents against the modern army is not very effective. That is why in the last fifty years, OV has been more often used against civilians or partisan detachments. In this case, the results of its use were truly horrific.
  • Inefficiency. Despite all the horror that war gases caused to soldiers during the Great War, casualty analysis showed that conventional artillery fire was more effective than firing explosive ammunition. The projectile stuffed with gas was less powerful, therefore it destroyed enemy engineering structures and barriers worse. The surviving fighters quite successfully used them in defense.

Today, the greatest danger is that chemical weapons may fall into the hands of terrorists and be used against civilians. In this case, the victims can be horrifying. A chemical warfare agent is relatively easy to make (unlike a nuclear one), and it is cheap. Therefore, the threats of terrorist groups regarding possible gas attacks should be treated very carefully.

The biggest disadvantage of chemical weapons is their unpredictability: where the wind will blow, whether the humidity of the air will change, in which direction the poison will go along with groundwater. Whose DNA will be embedded with a mutagen from a war gas, and whose child will be born a cripple. And these are not theoretical questions at all. American soldiers crippled after using their own Agent Orange gas in Vietnam are clear evidence of the unpredictability that chemical weapons bring.

If you have any questions - leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them.

Today we will discuss cases of the use of chemical weapons against people on our planet.

Chemical weapon- now banned for use as a means of warfare. It adversely affects all systems of the human body: it leads to paralysis of the limbs, blindness, deafness and quick and painful death. In the 20th century international conventions the use of chemical weapons was prohibited. However, during the period of its existence, it caused many troubles to mankind. History knows a lot of cases of the use of chemical warfare agents during wars, local conflicts and terrorist attacks.

From time immemorial, mankind has tried to invent new ways of waging war that would provide the advantage of one side without big losses from my side. The idea to use poisonous substances, smoke and gases against enemies was thought of even before our era: for example, the Spartans in the 5th century BC used sulfuric fumes during the siege of the cities of Plataea and Belium. They impregnated the trees with resin and sulfur and burned them right under the fortress gates. The Middle Ages was marked by the invention of shells with asphyxiating gases, made like Molotov cocktails: they were thrown at the enemy, and when the army began to cough and sneeze, the opponents went on the attack.

During the Crimean War in 1855, the British proposed to take Sevastopol by storm with the help of the same sulfur fumes. However, the British rejected this project as unworthy of a fair war.

World War I

April 22, 1915 is considered the start of the "chemical arms race", but before that, many armies of the world conducted experiments on the effects of gases on their enemies. In 1914 german army sent several shells with toxic substances to the French units, but the damage from them was so small that no one mistook it for a new type of weapon. In 1915, in Poland, the Germans tested their new development- tear gas, but did not take into account the direction and strength of the wind, and the attempt to panic the enemy again failed.

For the first time on a terrifying scale, chemical weapons were tested by the French army during the First World War. It happened in Belgium on the Ypres River, after which the poisonous substance, mustard gas, was named. On April 22, 1915, a battle took place between the German and French army during which chlorine was sprayed. The soldiers could not protect themselves from harmful chlorine, they suffocated and died from pulmonary edema.

On that day, 15,000 people were attacked, of which more than 5,000 died on the battlefield and subsequently in the hospital. Intelligence warned that the Germans were placing cylinders with unknown contents along the front line, but the command considered them harmless. However, the Germans could not take advantage of their advantage: they did not expect such a damaging effect and were not ready for the offensive.

This episode was included in many films and books as one of the most horrifying and bloody pages of the First World War. A month later, on May 31, the Germans again sprayed chlorine during the battle on the Eastern Front in the battle against the Russian army - 1,200 people died, more than 9,000 people received chemical poisoning.

But here, too, the resilience of Russian soldiers became stronger than the power of poison gases - the German offensive was stopped. On July 6, the Germans attacked the Russians in the Sukha-Volya-Shydlovskaya sector. The exact number of dead is not known, but only two regiments lost about 4,000 men. Despite the terrible damaging effect, it was after this incident that chemical weapons began to be used more and more often.

Scientists from all countries hastily began to equip the armies with gas masks, but one property of chlorine became clear: its effect is greatly weakened by a wet bandage on the mouth and nose. However, the chemical industry did not stand still.

And in 1915, the Germans introduced into their arsenal bromine and benzyl bromide: they produced a suffocating and lachrymal effect.

At the end of 1915, the Germans tested their new achievement on the Italians: phosgene. It was an extremely poisonous gas that caused irreversible changes in the mucous membranes of the body. Moreover, it had a delayed effect: often the symptoms of poisoning appeared 10-12 hours after inhalation. In 1916, at the Battle of Verdun, the Germans fired more than 100,000 chemical shells at the Italians.

A special place was occupied by the so-called burning gases, which, when sprayed in the open air, remained active. for a long time and caused incredible suffering to a person: they penetrated under clothes on the skin and mucous membranes, leaving bloody burns there. Such was mustard gas, which the German inventors called "the king of gases."

Only by rough estimate more than 800,000 people died from gases during World War I. On different areas front, 125 thousand tons of toxic substances were used different action. The numbers are impressive and far from definitive. The number of victims and then dead in hospitals and at home after a short illness was not found out - the meat grinder of the world war captured all countries, and losses were not considered.

Italo-Ethiopian War

In 1935, the government of Benito Mussolini ordered the use of mustard gas in Ethiopia. At that time, the Italo-Ethiopian war was being waged, and although the Geneva Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was adopted 10 years ago, from mustard gas in Ethiopia more than 100 thousand people died.

And not all of them were military - civilians also suffered losses. The Italians claimed to have sprayed a substance that could not kill anyone, but the number of victims speaks for itself.

Sino-Japanese War

Not without the participation of nerve gases and the Second World War. During this global conflict there was a confrontation between China and Japan, in which the latter actively used chemical weapons.

The persecution of enemy soldiers with harmful substances was put on stream by the imperial troops: special combat units were created that were engaged in the development of new destructive weapons.

In 1927, Japan built the first plant for the production of chemical warfare agents. When the Nazis came to power in Germany, the Japanese authorities bought mustard gas production equipment and technology from them and began to produce it in large quantities.

The scope was impressive: research institutes, factories for the production of chemical weapons, schools for training specialists in their use worked for the military industry. Since many aspects of the influence of gases on the human body were not clarified, the Japanese tested the effects of their gases on prisoners and prisoners of war.

To practice Imperial Japan switched in 1937. In total, during the history of this conflict, chemical weapons were used from 530 to 2000. According to the most rough estimates, more than 60 thousand people died - most likely, the numbers are much higher.

For example, in 1938, Japan dropped 1,000 chemical bombs on the city of Woqu, and during the Battle of Wuhan, the Japanese used 48,000 shells with war materials.

Despite clear successes in the war, Japan capitulated under the pressure of the Soviet troops and did not even try to use its arsenal of gases against the Soviets. Moreover, she hastily hid chemical weapons, although before that she had not hidden the fact of their use in hostilities. Until now, buried chemicals cause illness and death for many Chinese and Japanese.

Poisoned water and soil, many burials of military substances have not yet been discovered. Like many countries in the world, Japan has joined the convention banning the production and use of chemical weapons.

Trials in Nazi Germany

Germany, as the founder of the chemical arms race, continued to work on new types of chemical weapons, but did not apply its developments in the fields of the Great Patriotic War. Perhaps this was due to the fact that the "space for life", cleared of Soviet people, was to be settled by the Aryans, and poisonous gases seriously harmed crops, soil fertility and the general ecology.

Therefore, all the developments of the Nazis moved to concentration camps, but here the scale of their work became unprecedented in its cruelty: hundreds of thousands of people died in gas chambers from pesticides under the code "Cyclone-B" - Jews, Poles, gypsies, Soviet prisoners of war, children, women and the elderly …

The Germans did not make distinctions and discounts for gender and age. The scale of war crimes in Nazi Germany is still difficult to assess.

Vietnam War

The United States also contributed to the development of the chemical weapons industry. They actively used harmful substances during Vietnam War since 1963. It was difficult for the Americans to fight in hot Vietnam with its humid forests.

There, our Vietnamese partisans are sheltering themselves, and the United States began to spray defoliants over the territory of the country - substances for the destruction of vegetation. They contained the strongest gas, dioxin, which tends to accumulate in the body and leads to genetic mutations. In addition, dioxin poisoning entails diseases of the liver, kidneys, and blood. All over the forests and settlements 72 million liters of defoliants were dumped. The civilian population had no chance to escape: there was no talk of any personal protective equipment.

There are about 5 million victims, and the effect of chemical weapons is still affecting Vietnam.

Even in the 21st century, children are born here with gross genetic abnormalities and deformities. The effect of poisonous substances on nature is still difficult to assess: relict mangrove forests were destroyed, 140 species of birds disappeared from the face of the earth, the water was poisoned, almost all the fish in it died, and the survivors could not be eaten. Across the country, the number of rats carrying the plague increased sharply, and infected ticks appeared.

Tokyo subway attack

The next time toxic substances were used in Peaceful time against an unsuspecting population. The attack with the use of sarin - a nerve agent with a strong effect - was carried out by the Japanese religious sect Aum Senrikyo.

In 1994, a truck drove onto the streets of Matsumoto City carrying a vaporizer coated with sarin. When sarin evaporated, it turned into a poisonous cloud, the vapors of which penetrated the bodies of passers-by and paralyzed them. nervous system.

The attack was short-lived, as the fog emanating from the truck was visible. However, a few minutes were enough to kill 7 people, and 200 were injured. Emboldened by their success, the sect's activists repeated their attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995. On March 20, five people with sarin bags descended into the subway. The packages were opened in different formulations and the gas began to leak into the ambient air in the enclosed space.

Sarin- an extremely toxic gas, and one drop is enough to kill an adult. The terrorists had with them a total of 10 liters. As a result of the attack, 12 people died and more than 5,000 were seriously poisoned. If the terrorists had used spray guns, the victims would have been in the thousands.

Now "Aum Senrikyo" is officially banned worldwide. The organizers of the subway attack were detained in 2012. They admitted that they were conducting large-scale work on the use of chemical weapons in their terrorist attacks: experiments were carried out with phosgene, soman, tabun, and the production of sarin was put on stream.

Conflict in Iraq

During the Iraq war, both sides did not disdain the use of chemical warfare agents. Terrorists detonated chlorine bombs in the Iraqi province of Anbar, and later a chlorine gas bomb was used.

As a result, the civilian population suffered - chlorine and its compounds cause fatal injuries. respiratory system, and at low concentrations leave burns on the skin.

The Americans did not stand aside: in 2004 they dropped white phosphorus bombs on Iraq. This substance literally burns out all life within a radius of 150 km and is extremely dangerous if inhaled. The Americans tried to justify themselves and denied the use of white phosphorus, but then stated that they considered this method of warfare to be quite acceptable and would continue to drop such shells.

It is characteristic that during the attack with incendiary bombs with white phosphorus, it was mainly civilians who suffered.

War in Syria

Recent history can also name several cases of the use of chemical weapons. Here, however, not everything is unambiguous - the conflicting parties deny their guilt, presenting their own evidence and accusing the enemy of falsifying evidence. At the same time, all means of conducting an information war are used: forgeries, fake photographs, fake witnesses, massive propaganda, and even staging attacks.

For example, on March 19, 2013, Syrian militants used a rocket filled with chemicals in the battle in Aleppo. As a result, 100 people were poisoned and hospitalized, and 12 people died. It is not clear what gas was used - most likely it was a substance from a series of asphyxiants, as it affected the respiratory organs, causing them to fail and convulsions.

Until now, the Syrian opposition does not admit its guilt, assuring that the rocket belonged to government troops. There was no independent investigation, as the work of the UN in this region is hindered by the authorities. In April 2013, East Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, was hit by surface-to-surface missiles containing sarin.

As a result, according to various estimates between 280 and 1,700 people died.

On April 4, 2017, a chemical attack took place on the city of Idlib, for which no one took the blame. The US authorities declared the Syrian authorities and President Bashar al-Assad personally to be the culprit and took advantage of this occasion to inflict missile attack Shayrat airbase. After being poisoned by an unknown gas, 70 people died and more than 500 were injured.

Despite the terrible experience of mankind in terms of the use of chemical weapons, colossal losses throughout the 20th century and the delayed period of action of toxic substances, due to which children with genetic abnormalities are still born in countries under attack, the risk of oncological diseases is increased and even the changing environment, it is clear that chemical weapons will be produced and used again and again. This is a cheap type of weapon - it is quickly synthesized on an industrial scale, it is not difficult for a developed industrial economy to put its production on stream.

Chemical weapons are amazing in their effectiveness - sometimes a very small concentration of gas is enough to cause the death of a person, not to mention the complete loss of combat capability. And although chemical weapons are clearly not among the honest methods of warfare and are prohibited from production and use in the world, no one can prohibit their use by terrorists. Poisonous substances are easy to bring into the institution Catering or an entertainment center where guaranteed a large number of victims. Such attacks take people by surprise, few would even think to put a handkerchief to their face, and panic will only increase the number of victims. Unfortunately, terrorists are aware of all the advantages and properties of chemical weapons, which means that new attacks using chemicals are not excluded.

Now, after another case of the use of prohibited weapons, the country responsible is threatened with indefinite sanctions. But if a country has big influence in a world like the United States, she can afford not to pay attention to mild reproaches international organizations. The tension in the world is constantly growing, military experts have long been talking about the Third World War, which is in full swing on the planet, and chemical weapons can still enter the forefront of the battles of the new time. The task of mankind is to bring the world to stability and prevent the sad experience of past wars, which was so quickly forgotten, despite the colossal losses and tragedies.

On April 7, the United States launched a missile attack on the Syrian Shayrat airbase in Homs province. The operation was a response to a chemical attack in Idlib on April 4, for which Washington and Western countries blame Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Official Damascus denies any involvement in the attack.

As a result chemical attack more than 70 people were killed, more than 500 were injured. This is not the first such attack in Syria and not the first in history. The largest cases of the use of chemical weapons are in the RBC photo gallery.

One of the first major cases of the use of chemical warfare agents occurred April 22, 1915, when German troops sprayed about 168 tons of chlorine on positions near the Belgian city of Ypres. The victims of this attack were 1100 people. In total, during the First World War, as a result of the use of chemical weapons, about 100 thousand people died, 1.3 million were injured.

In the photo: a group of British soldiers blinded by chlorine

Photo: Daily Herald Archive / NMeM / Global Look Press

During the Second Italo-Ethiopian War (1935-1936) Despite the ban on the use of chemical weapons established by the Geneva Protocol (1925), on the orders of Benito Mussolini, mustard gas was used in Ethiopia. The Italian military stated that the substance used during the hostilities was not lethal, however, during the entire conflict, about 100 thousand people (military and civilians) who did not have even the simplest means of chemical protection died from poisonous substances.

In the photo: Red Cross soldiers carry the wounded through the Abyssinian desert

Photo: Mary Evans Picture Library / Global Look Press

During the Second World War, chemical weapons were practically not used on the fronts, but were widely used by the Nazis to kill people in concentration camps. Hydrocyanic acid-based pesticide called "cyclone-B" was first used against humans in September 1941 in Auschwitz. For the first time, these deadly gas pellets were used September 3, 1941 600 Soviet prisoners of war and 250 Poles became victims, the second time 900 Soviet prisoners of war became victims. Hundreds of thousands of people died from the use of "cyclone-B" in Nazi concentration camps.

In November 1943 During the Battle of Changde, the Imperial Japanese Army used chemical and bacteriological weapons against Chinese soldiers. According to the testimonies of witnesses, in addition to the poisonous gases of mustard gas and lewisite, fleas infected with bubonic plague were thrown into the area around the city. The exact number of victims of the use of toxic substances is unknown.

Pictured: Chinese soldiers march through the ruined streets of Changde

During the Vietnam War from 1962 to 1971 American troops used a variety of chemicals to destroy vegetation to make it easier to find enemy units in the jungle, the most common of which was a chemical known as Agent Orange. The substance was produced using a simplified technology and contained high concentrations of dioxin, which causes genetic mutations and cancer. The Vietnamese Red Cross estimated that 3 million people were affected by the use of Agent Orange, including 150,000 children born with mutations.

Pictured: 12-year-old boy suffering from the effects of Agent Orange

March 20, 1995 members of the Aum Shinrikyo sect sprayed the nerve agent sarin on the Tokyo subway. As a result of the attack, 13 people were killed and another 6,000 were injured. Five members of the sect entered the carriages, lowered packages of volatile liquid onto the floor and pierced them with the tip of an umbrella, after which they left the train. According to experts, there could have been much more victims if the poisonous substance had been sprayed in other ways.

Pictured: Doctors treating passengers affected by sarin

November 2004 American troops used white phosphorus ammunition during the assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah. Initially, the Pentagon denied the use of such ammunition, but eventually admitted this fact. The exact number of deaths from the use of white phosphorus in Fallujah is unknown. White phosphorus is used as an incendiary agent (it causes severe burns to people), but itself and its decay products are highly toxic.

Pictured: U.S. Marines escorting a captured Iraqi

The largest chemical attack in Syria since the standoff took place in April 2013 in Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus. As a result of shelling with sarin, according to various sources, from 280 to 1,700 people died. UN inspectors were able to establish that surface-to-ground missiles with sarin were used in this place, and they were used by the Syrian military.

Pictured: UN chemical weapons experts collect samples

Security Guarantor

Colonel General Valery Kapashin

Russia has completely completed the destruction of stockpiles of chemical weapons under the treaty signed in 1993

Exactly a year ago, on September 27, 2017, the head of the Federal Directorate for the Safe Storage and Destruction of Chemical Weapons, Colonel-General Valery Kapashin, stated that Russia had completely completed the destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles under the agreement signed in 1993. Disposal of deadly ammunition was engaged in 15 years. Destroyed chemical shells stored in seven arsenals. It is worth noting that even under the USSR, it was synthesized and developed great amount toxic substances, among which were both chloride and cyanide-containing agents.

The big war, for which all this "good" was created and stored, fortunately, never happened. Over time, the storage of chemical warfare agents began to cost more and more, and the slightest carelessness or damage could lead to a Chernobyl-scale disaster. During the four-stage elimination of chemical weapons, all toxic substances were destroyed, including the especially dangerous VX, sarin and soman, the use of which could lead to irreversible consequences.

On September 27, 2017, the Russian military officially completed the elimination of all poisonous substances and their ammunition. On October 9, following the results of the work, Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the abolition of State Commission on chemical disarmament, and already on October 11, 2017, OPCW official representative Ahmet Uzyumcyu presented the Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Georgy Kalamanov with a certificate confirming the destruction of weapons. According to official data, Russia has destroyed almost 40,000 tons of poisonous substances.

Photo ©RIA Novosti/Ilya Pitalev

The anniversary of this date is an occasion to remember those who not only manufactured and stored chemical weapons, but also used and continue to use them to this day.

First in history

Chemical weapons are often compared to the deadliest in human history, nuclear weapons. With the exception of total destruction and the transformation of tens of thousands of people into ashes, the consequences of the use of two types of weapons of mass destruction are generally comparable - a large number of victims, serious health problems, entailing either death or permanent disability. Chemical weapons have been used in various forms and scales in 20 major conflicts, but the most mass case poisoning the enemy on the conscience of the German army.

On April 22, 1915, German troops sprayed about 170 tons of chlorine on positions near the Belgian city of Ypres. According to the plans of the German military leaders, unique weapon it was supposed to break the resistance of the French and English armies, which would allow them to take up positions and, going on a counterattack, break through a section of the front. However, the offensive of the German infantry, which was equipped with gauze bandages in advance, almost failed. German tactics did not take into account weather conditions, and a headwind carried the caustic gas straight into the face of the advancing army, and not to the English and French soldiers. Nearly 5 thousand people became victims of the first mass use of chlorine. Despite the colossal casualties, the Germans could not take advantage of the gap in the front line. In total, according to historians, about 100 thousand people were killed by chlorine and other toxic substances during the First World War. Nearly 1.5 million more remained disabled.

Photo © Wikimedia Commons

Architect of death

In 1925, the Geneva Protocol banned the use of chemical weapons. However, the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini considered the signing of the document a formality, so 10 years later - during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War - the Italian military began to actively poison the enemy with mustard gas, a gas synthesized back in the early 1820s. Despite the fact that the conflict lasted only a year (from 1935 to 1936), almost 100 thousand people died from poisonous substances.

Fritz Gaber

Death is death

However, the most terrible weapon was the invention of Fritz Haber, a German chemist who had previously adapted the absolutely deadly gas phosgene, from which there are still no antidotes, for combat use. Zyklon-B gas was first tested on September 3, 1941 on Soviet prisoners of war sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. For experimental purposes, for the most massive genocide, Cyclone-B was used by the SS troops three times: the first time 620 Soviet prisoners of war were killed, the second - 250 Poles. The third gas test was the most monstrous - at least 915 were killed in the gas chamber in just a couple of hours Soviet soldiers taken prisoner on the Eastern Front.

According to various estimates, Zyklon-B claimed more lives than atomic weapon. The exact number of victims killed in the cells varies, but historians believe that at least 3 million people were killed by hydrocyanic acid gas, most of which were civilians. In some cases, the SS troops killed in the gas chambers 3 thousand people at a time.

"Cyclone-B". Photo © Wikimedia Commons

The use of chemical weapons by Japan became a little less large-scale. In 1943, during the battle of Changde, the Japanese used against Chinese soldiers not only mustard gas, but also lewisite - a mixture of isomers of chlorovinyldichloroarsine, bis-chloroarsine and arsenic trichloride. In addition to chemical weapons, fleas infected with bubonic plague were dropped on the Chinese military.

orange powder

In the recent history of armed conflicts, the Americans were noted for the most massive use of chemical weapons - from 1962 to 1971, the US Air Force sprayed dioxin over the forests of Vietnam - ecotoxicants with powerful mutagenic, immunosuppressive and carcinogenic effects. The chemical even got its own name. For the characteristic color of trees and vegetation "burned" by active chemistry, dioxin was dubbed Agent Orange. In total, at least 3 million people suffered from this type of reagent, 200 thousand of which were children. The consequences of using Agent Orange are still being felt - Vietnamese children are still born with serious mutations.

White smoke

In 2004, the US military was again accused of using chemical weapons. To storm the Iraqi city of Fallujah, the US Air Force used aerial bombs with white phosphorus - a substance with a combustion temperature of 1300 degrees. In addition to the burning effect, which, for example, can corrode human flesh to the bone if a sufficient amount of a chemical gets on the skin, white phosphorus is highly toxic. Inhalation of the gas led to mass poisoning and burns of the respiratory tract and digestive organs of ordinary Iraqis. The United States until the last did not recognize the use of these munitions, however, under pressure from the public and journalists, they confirmed the use of these weapons.

Photo © AP Photo/Hussein Malla

However, the American troops did not abandon the use of white phosphorus. In 2016, the story that happened with Fallujah in 2004 repeated itself again - a coalition led by the United States began to storm the city, occupied by militants of a terrorist group banned in Russia. As in the case of the assault in 2004, the number of civilians who died from poisonous substances did not bother anyone. A year later, from June to October 2017, the United States burned Raqqa with white phosphorus. You can read Life's detailed material about this operation.

alien war

It is worth noting that the United States flatly refuses to destroy its own stocks of poisonous substances, among which there are not only white phosphorus, but also more deadly gases, such as VX. In addition, the staged use of chemical weapons in some cases is used as a pretext for the presence of the US military in Syria and as an alleged precedent, with reference to which missile and bomb attacks are carried out on the Syrian armed forces and government facilities.

Photo © AP Photo/Hussein Malla

Members of the terrorist organizations supported by the US in Syria. Assistance in "eliminating" the consequences of a "chemical attack" is each time the first to be provided by the activists of the "White Helmets", who are credited with the role of advisers and consultants on the use of chemical weapons. The origin of the chemical weapons used by Syrian fighters is difficult to establish with absolute certainty. Among the 190 states that have signed the Chemical Weapons Convention, the United States is also present - the country not only signed the treaty, but also later ratified it, assuming obligations to destroy chemical weapons.

Chemical weapons are poisonous substances and the means by which they are used on the battlefield. Poisonous substances form the basis of the damaging effect of chemical weapons.

Poisonous substances (OS) are chemical compounds, which, when used, can defeat unprotected manpower or reduce its combat capability. In terms of their damaging properties, OVs differ from other military weapons: they are able to penetrate, together with air, into various structures, into tanks and other military equipment and inflict defeat on the people in them; they can retain their damaging effect in the air, on the ground and in various objects for some, sometimes quite a long time; spreading in large volumes of air and over large areas, they inflict defeat on all people who are in their area of ​​\u200b\u200baction without means of protection; vapors are capable of propagating in the direction of the wind over considerable distances from areas of direct use of chemical weapons.

Chemical munitions are distinguished by the following characteristics:
- stability of the used agent;
- the nature of the physiological effects of OM on the human body;
- means and methods of application;
- tactical purpose;
- the speed of the coming impact.

1. Endurance

Depending on how long after application, toxic substances can retain their damaging effect, they are conventionally divided into:
- resistant;
- unstable.

The resistance of poisonous substances depends on their physical and chemical properties, methods of application, meteorological conditions and the nature of the terrain on which toxic substances are used.

Persistent agents retain their damaging effect from several hours to several days and even weeks. They evaporate very slowly and change little under the influence of air or moisture.

Unstable agents retain their damaging effect in open areas for several minutes, and in places of stagnation (forests, hollows, engineering structures) - from several tens of minutes or more.

2. Physiological impact

According to the nature of the action on the human body, toxic substances are divided into five groups:
- nerve-paralytic action;
- blistering action;
- common poisonous;
- suffocating;
- psychochemical action.

a) Nerve agents cause damage to the central nervous system. According to the views of the US Army command, it is advisable to use such weapons to defeat unprotected enemy manpower or for a surprise attack on manpower with gas masks. In the latter case, it means that the personnel will not have time to use gas masks in a timely manner. The main goal of using the nerve agents is the rapid and massive incapacitation of personnel with the greatest possible number of deaths.

b) Agents of blistering action cause damage mainly through the skin, and when applied in the form of aerosols and vapors, also through the respiratory organs.

c) General poisonous agents affect through the respiratory organs, causing the cessation of oxidative processes in the tissues of the body.

d) Suffocating agents affect mainly the lungs.

e) Psychochemical agents have appeared in service with a number of foreign states relatively recently. They are capable of incapacitating enemy manpower for some time. These toxic substances, acting on the central nervous system, disrupt the normal mental activity of a person or cause such mental deficiencies as temporary blindness, deafness, a sense of fear, restriction of the motor functions of various organs. Distinctive feature of these substances is that for fatal defeat they require doses 1000 times greater than for incapacitation.

According to American data, psychochemical agents, along with toxic substances that cause death, will be used to weaken the will and stamina of enemy troops in battle.

3. Means and methods of application

According to the views of US Army military experts, poisonous substances can be used to solve the following tasks:

Damage to manpower with the aim of its complete destruction or temporary incapacitation, which is achieved by using mainly nerve agents;

Suppression of manpower in order to force it to take protective measures for a certain time and thus make it difficult to maneuver, reduce the speed and accuracy of fire; this task is performed by the use of agents of skin-abscess and nerve-paralytic action;

Shackling (exhausting) the enemy in order to make it difficult fighting for a long time and cause losses in personnel; this problem is solved by using persistent agents;

Infection of the terrain with the aim of forcing the enemy to leave their positions, to prohibit or make it difficult to use certain areas of the terrain and overcome obstacles.

To solve these problems in the US Army can be used:
- missiles;
- aviation;
- artillery;
- chemical bombs.

The defeat of manpower is conceived through massive raids with chemical munitions, especially with the help of multi-barreled rocket launchers.

4. Characteristics of the main toxic substances

Currently, the following chemicals are used as agents:
- sarin;
- soman;
- V-gases;
- mustard gas;
- hydrocyanic acid;
- phosgene;
- lysergic acid dimethylamide.

a) Sarin is a colorless or yellow liquid with almost no odor, making it difficult to detect by outward signs. It belongs to the class of nerve agents. Sarin is intended primarily for air contamination with vapors and fog, that is, as an unstable agent. In a number of cases, however, it can be used in a drop-liquid form to infect the area and the military equipment located on it; in this case, the persistence of sarin can be: in summer - several hours, in winter - several days.

Sarin causes damage through the respiratory system, skin, gastrointestinal tract; through the skin it acts in drop-liquid and vapor states, without causing local damage to it. The extent of sarin damage depends on its concentration in the air and the time spent in the contaminated atmosphere.

When exposed to sarin, the affected person experiences salivation, profuse sweating, vomiting, dizziness, loss of consciousness, seizures severe convulsions, paralysis and, consequently, severe poisoning, death.

b) Soman is a colorless and almost odorless liquid. Belongs to the class of neuro-parlytic agents. In many ways, it is very similar to sarin. The persistence of soman is somewhat higher than that of sarin; on the human body, it acts about 10 times stronger.

c) V-gases are low volatile liquids with a very high boiling point, so their resistance is many times greater than that of sarin. Like sarin and soman, they are classified as nerve agents.

According to the foreign press, V-gases are 100-1000 times more toxic than other nerve agent agents. causes the death of a person.

d) Mustard gas is a dark brown oily liquid with a characteristic odor reminiscent of the smell of garlic or mustard. It belongs to the class of skin blister agents.

Mustard evaporates slowly from infected areas; its durability on the ground is: in summer - from 7 to 14 days, in winter - a month or more.

Mustard gas has a multifaceted effect on the body: in the drop-liquid and vapor states it affects the skin and eyes, in the vapor state it affects the respiratory tract and lungs, and when ingested with food and water, it affects the digestive organs. The action of mustard gas does not appear immediately, but after some time, called the period of latent action.

When it comes into contact with the skin, drops of mustard gas are quickly absorbed into it without causing pain. After 4 - 8 hours, redness appears on the skin and itching is felt. By the end of the first and the beginning of the second day, small bubbles form, but then they merge into single large bubbles filled with an amber-yellow liquid, which becomes cloudy over time. The appearance of blisters is accompanied by malaise and fever. After 2-3 days, the blisters break through and expose ulcers underneath that do not heal for a long time. If an infection gets into the ulcer, then suppuration occurs and the healing time increases to 5-6 months.

The organs of vision are affected by vaporous mustard gas even in its negligible concentrations in the air and the exposure time is 10 minutes. The period of latent action in this case lasts from 2 to 6 hours; then signs of damage appear: a feeling of sand in the eyes, photophobia, lacrimation. The disease can last 10-15 days, after which recovery occurs.

The defeat of the digestive system is caused by eating food and water contaminated with mustard gas. In severe cases of poisoning, after a period of latent action (30 - 60 minutes), signs of damage appear: pain in the pit of the stomach, nausea, vomiting; then general weakness occurs, headache, weakening of reflexes; discharge from the mouth and nose acquires a fetid odor. In the future, the process progresses: paralysis is observed, there is a sharp weakness and exhaustion. With an unfavorable course, death occurs on the 3rd - 12th day as a result of a complete breakdown and exhaustion.

e) hydrocyanic acid - a colorless liquid with a peculiar odor reminiscent of the smell of bitter almonds; in low concentrations, the smell is difficult to distinguish. Hydrocyanic acid evaporates easily and acts only in the vapor state. Refers to the general poisonous agents.

Characteristic signs of hydrocyanic acid damage are: a metallic taste in the mouth, throat irritation, dizziness, weakness, nausea. Then painful shortness of breath appears, the pulse slows down, the poisoned person loses consciousness, and sharp convulsions occur. Spasms are observed rather not for long; they are being replaced complete relaxation muscles with loss of sensitivity, drop in temperature, respiratory depression, followed by its stop. Cardiac activity after respiratory arrest continues for another 3-7 minutes.

f) Phosgene is a colorless, volatile liquid with the smell of rotten hay or rotten apples. It acts on the body in a vapor state. Belongs to the class of OV suffocating action.

Phosgene has a latency period of 4 - 6 hours; its duration depends on the concentration of phosgene in the air, the time spent in the contaminated atmosphere, the state of the person, and the cooling of the body.

When inhaling phosgene, a person feels a sweetish unpleasant taste in the mouth, then coughing, dizziness and general weakness appear. Upon leaving the contaminated air, the signs of poisoning quickly disappear, and a period of so-called imaginary well-being begins. But after 4-6 hours, the affected person experiences a sharp deterioration in his condition: bluish coloration of the lips, cheeks, and nose quickly develops; general weakness, headache, rapid breathing, severe shortness of breath, a painful cough with liquid, foamy, pinkish sputum appear, indicating the development of pulmonary edema. The process of phosgene poisoning reaches its climax within 2 to 3 days. With a favorable course of the disease, the state of health of the affected person will gradually begin to improve, and in severe cases, death occurs.

e) Lysergic acid dimethylamide is a psychochemical poison.

When it enters the human body, after 3 minutes mild nausea and dilated pupils appear, and then hallucinations of hearing and vision continue for several hours.

Based on materials freely distributed on the Internet