The concept of Weapons of Mass Destruction appeared during War World
II after the use of atomic bombs. In the mass consciousness, weapons of
mass destruction are usually associated first with atomic weapons,
although the concept includes certain chemical and biological weapons.
The atomic bomb was used only twice in World War II, in bombarding the Japanese cities of Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9, 1945) by the United States. The first bomb employed uranium-235 and produced an explosion equivalent in power to approximately 15 kilotons of TNT gunpowder. The second bomb employed plutonium and was equivalent in power to approximately 21 kilotons of TNT gunpowder.
On August 7, 1945 the General Staff of Japan received an alarming telegram from the Hiroshima region claiming that the city was completely destroyed by one bomb. Approximately 130 thousand people were killed because of the bombardments of both cities, and both Hiroshima and Nagasaki were completely destroyed. The number of injured also numbered in the hundreds of thousands, and the consequences of burns and radiation were apparent in bombardment victims for many years, often including the next generation.
The process of radioactive isotope (uranium-235 or plutonium-239) fission is the basis of the action of atomic weapons. A mammoth amount of energy is generated in this process. The dissipation of energy in an atomic bomb explosion occurs in the following approximate ratio: bomb blast and wind–50%; thermal rays–35%; and (radioactive) radiation–15%. These are the three main striking factors of an atomic explosion.
An even more powerful weapon, the hydrogen fusion bomb, was created several years after the A-bomb, and was created practically simultaneously in USA and in the former Soviet Union. The power of the H-bomb is hundreds of times higher than the power of an A-bomb. The process of hydrogen isotope fusion is the basis of the thermonuclear weapon action. The start of this reaction, however, must be initiated by a nuclear fission explosion.
On November 1, 1952, a 10.4 megaton thermonuclear explosion code-named MIKE, ushered in the thermonuclear age (it was an explosion of a special model of the device). The island of Elugelab in the Eniwetok Atoll in Pacific was completely vaporized.
The first H-bomb was exploded in the USSR in August, 1953, followed on March, 1, 1954, by the American explosion of a more powerful hydrogen bomb (approximately 15 megatons). The Soviets responded with the most powerful H-bomb explosion yet, in the Soviet Union on October 15, 1961, over the Novaya Zemlya (New Earth) island (in the Polar Ocean) at a height of 4000 meters (approximately. 13,000 feet) over the Earth. Its power was almost 50 megatons. A gigantic fireball was created by the explosion that reached to the height of about 67 km (41.5 miles), and its light was seen for a distance of more then 1000 km (621 miles). The explosion also resulted in a blast of wind that was felt for hundreds of kilometers.
The creation of the atomic bomb in the USA during World War II was an exceptional scientific phenomenon. The interval between the discovery of the physical fusion process that is the basis of the weapon action, and the moment of its first test (July 16, 1945, in the New Mexico desert) was only several years, and up to the end of this test, its creators were not absolutely sure that the test would be successful. The United States committed an enormous amount of scientific and monetary resources towards the creation of the atom bomb, and a new branch of industry was formed.
In 1949, the A-bomb was also created in the USSR. Later, a big concern among American intelligence authorities arose about atomic espionage, which helped the Russians to create the A-bomb during such a short period. Several people who passed to the Russians secrets about atomic elaboration were revealed and arrested, including Claus Fuchs and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Although some thought that espionage was the crucial factor in the Russian's success, the main secret was whether the nuclear chain reaction of the A-bomb could be successfully created and controlled. As soon as the bomb exploded over Japan, this secret became clear. Additionally, in 1945, a noted report by American physicist H. D. Smith entitled "Atomic Energy for Military Purposes" was openly published, in which the principles of the bomb's action, the methods of isotope separation, and even some of the characteristics of its construction were described in detail. The post-war Soviet Union of 1945 still contained highly qualified scientists, and the totalitarian regime dedicated all possible resources to the high-priority project of atomic bomb development. Thus, the arms race of the 1960s and 1970s has its beginnings as far back as the early post–World War II era.
Many chemical weapons are also considered weapons of mass destruction. Various lethal poisons were known and successfully used in warfare as long ago as ancient times. The creation of such substances for weaponry is much easier and cheaper than, for example, separating uranium isotopes as is necessary for a nuclear weapon. Chlorine gas, for example, one of the simplest poison gases, can be created in small amounts in a simple laboratory. The problem of delivering poison gases to a battlefield is also much simpler than delivering an atomic weapon.
During World War I, the Germans were the first to use poison gases on the modern battlefield. The Germans bombarded their enemies with artillery shells armed with poison gas, or simply ejected gas from their containers. The names of some poison compounds are reminiscent of World War I; for instance, the poison gas yperite (mustard gas) has in its origin the name of the Belgian city Yper, where the gas was used the first time. In 1915, the Germans also conducted massive attacks using chlorine. As a result of one chlorine gas attack, five thousand persons were killed and about ten thousand were injured. The Germans ejected chlorine from 5730 balloons containing about 168 tons of chlorine within the 5 to 8 minute duration of the attack.
Officially, the use of chemical weapons is forbidden by the Hague Conventions concluded in 1899 and 1907, and these resolutions were further clarified and strengthened by the Geneva Protocol of 1925. The first international disarmament treaty that banned the production and stockpiling of biological weapons, and provided for destruction of existing stores became open for signature in 1975. Almost 30 years later, the treaty is still the subject of regular debate and clarification and lacks wide spread ratification.
In the meantime, chemists of various governments have worked actively to create new chemical substances with various destructive factors. Additional chemical weapons have been derived from toxic industrial chemicals that were originally designated for useful purposes, such as pesticides. Chemical weapons can generally be divided among several groups, depending on their action on people, including vesicants, toxins, incapacitating agents, nerve agents, and irritants. The production of vesicants is not technologically complicated. The production of the nerve agents, however, requires significantly more sophisticated chemical processing. Some production processes require strict temperature control, and containment of the toxic substances and gases can pose problems. Depending on the immediacy of use, purity of the product can add a difficult dimension to production. In some cases, special equipment or handling is required to prevent corrosion of equipment and/or rapid deterioration of the product.
Chemical weapons were not used during World War II, although the main participants had large reserves of such weapons. Production of these weapons continued after World War II, and only recently the USA and Russia have stopped their production and agreed to begin to destroy existing stockpiles. Other nations and extremist groups have recently used chemical weapons. Iraq used chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war (probably a somewhat over-fluorinated DC, methylphosphonic dichloride) during the 1980s. Iraq additionally used Sarin gas on its own Kurdish population, killing thousands of citizens in the town of Halabja in 1988. Sarin gas was also the weapon used in an attack on the subway in Tokyo in 1995 by the Japanese extremist religious sect Aum Shinrikyo, in which 17 persons were killed and hundreds were injured.
Biological weapons are also capable of mass human destruction. The basic action of a biological weapon involves the use of pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria, viruses, fungi, or toxins produced by some bacteria. Biological weapons contain particular dangers because they can provoke perilous diseases in people and animals over large geographic areas, as the effectiveness of the weapon multiplies with the spreading of communicable disease. The destructive period can be lengthy with the use of a biological weapon, and it can have latent (incubation) period of action.
What makes biological weapons so dangerous are that the cost to produce such weapons is nominal as compared to the cost to make nuclear weapons. This is why biological weapons are often considered as the terrorist or poor nation's weapon of mass destruction. Also, the production of biological weapons can be easily hidden, as there are no special factories or highly specialized equipment needed for their production. Biological weapons can be deployed silently, through crude crop dusters, the mail, or even bug bombs, therefore allowing for the initial escape of their deployers. Unlike their counterparts (chemical and nuclear weaponry), biological weaponry products are living organisms and do not break down overtime, but in-fact can multiply and increase in numbers.
There is a long list of BW agents that could potentially be used in a war or a terrorist attack. Among those mentioned have been anthrax, cryptococcosis, Yersina pestis (plague, the Black Death of the 14th Century), tularemia (rabbit fever), malaria, cholera, typhoid, smallpox, cobra venom, and others. Some authors have also speculated about the possible terrorist use of new, genetically engineered agents designed to defeat conventional methods of treatment, or to attack specific peoples.
The idea of using biological agents in war is not new. In the 6th century B.C., Solon of Athens used the purgative herb hellebore (skunk cabbage) to poison the water supply during the siege of Krissa. In 1346, plague broke out in the Tartar army during its siege of Kaffa (at present day Feodosiys in the Crimea), after attackers hurled the corpses of those who died over the city walls. The plague epidemic that followed forced the defenders to surrender, and some infected people who left Kaffa may have started the Black Death pandemic that later spread throughout Europe. In 1797, Napoleon attempted to infect the inhabitants of the besieged city of Mantua with swamp fever during his Italian campaign. An attempted biological attack was undertaken in 1915 by the German-American physician Dr. Anton Dilger (in Baltimore) who attempted to infect a reported 3000 head of horses, mules, and cattle destined for the Allied forces in Europe. Nowadays, the specter of annihilation by killer pathogens or toxins has, in some sense, replaced the Cold War nightmare of extermination by massive nuclear attack.
Since 1972, the use of biological weapons is prohibited by the international treaty, as reflected in its formal title, the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction. As of 2003, the agreement had 144 nation-state signatories.
The atomic bomb was used only twice in World War II, in bombarding the Japanese cities of Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9, 1945) by the United States. The first bomb employed uranium-235 and produced an explosion equivalent in power to approximately 15 kilotons of TNT gunpowder. The second bomb employed plutonium and was equivalent in power to approximately 21 kilotons of TNT gunpowder.
On August 7, 1945 the General Staff of Japan received an alarming telegram from the Hiroshima region claiming that the city was completely destroyed by one bomb. Approximately 130 thousand people were killed because of the bombardments of both cities, and both Hiroshima and Nagasaki were completely destroyed. The number of injured also numbered in the hundreds of thousands, and the consequences of burns and radiation were apparent in bombardment victims for many years, often including the next generation.
The process of radioactive isotope (uranium-235 or plutonium-239) fission is the basis of the action of atomic weapons. A mammoth amount of energy is generated in this process. The dissipation of energy in an atomic bomb explosion occurs in the following approximate ratio: bomb blast and wind–50%; thermal rays–35%; and (radioactive) radiation–15%. These are the three main striking factors of an atomic explosion.
An even more powerful weapon, the hydrogen fusion bomb, was created several years after the A-bomb, and was created practically simultaneously in USA and in the former Soviet Union. The power of the H-bomb is hundreds of times higher than the power of an A-bomb. The process of hydrogen isotope fusion is the basis of the thermonuclear weapon action. The start of this reaction, however, must be initiated by a nuclear fission explosion.
On November 1, 1952, a 10.4 megaton thermonuclear explosion code-named MIKE, ushered in the thermonuclear age (it was an explosion of a special model of the device). The island of Elugelab in the Eniwetok Atoll in Pacific was completely vaporized.
The first H-bomb was exploded in the USSR in August, 1953, followed on March, 1, 1954, by the American explosion of a more powerful hydrogen bomb (approximately 15 megatons). The Soviets responded with the most powerful H-bomb explosion yet, in the Soviet Union on October 15, 1961, over the Novaya Zemlya (New Earth) island (in the Polar Ocean) at a height of 4000 meters (approximately. 13,000 feet) over the Earth. Its power was almost 50 megatons. A gigantic fireball was created by the explosion that reached to the height of about 67 km (41.5 miles), and its light was seen for a distance of more then 1000 km (621 miles). The explosion also resulted in a blast of wind that was felt for hundreds of kilometers.
The creation of the atomic bomb in the USA during World War II was an exceptional scientific phenomenon. The interval between the discovery of the physical fusion process that is the basis of the weapon action, and the moment of its first test (July 16, 1945, in the New Mexico desert) was only several years, and up to the end of this test, its creators were not absolutely sure that the test would be successful. The United States committed an enormous amount of scientific and monetary resources towards the creation of the atom bomb, and a new branch of industry was formed.
In 1949, the A-bomb was also created in the USSR. Later, a big concern among American intelligence authorities arose about atomic espionage, which helped the Russians to create the A-bomb during such a short period. Several people who passed to the Russians secrets about atomic elaboration were revealed and arrested, including Claus Fuchs and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Although some thought that espionage was the crucial factor in the Russian's success, the main secret was whether the nuclear chain reaction of the A-bomb could be successfully created and controlled. As soon as the bomb exploded over Japan, this secret became clear. Additionally, in 1945, a noted report by American physicist H. D. Smith entitled "Atomic Energy for Military Purposes" was openly published, in which the principles of the bomb's action, the methods of isotope separation, and even some of the characteristics of its construction were described in detail. The post-war Soviet Union of 1945 still contained highly qualified scientists, and the totalitarian regime dedicated all possible resources to the high-priority project of atomic bomb development. Thus, the arms race of the 1960s and 1970s has its beginnings as far back as the early post–World War II era.
Many chemical weapons are also considered weapons of mass destruction. Various lethal poisons were known and successfully used in warfare as long ago as ancient times. The creation of such substances for weaponry is much easier and cheaper than, for example, separating uranium isotopes as is necessary for a nuclear weapon. Chlorine gas, for example, one of the simplest poison gases, can be created in small amounts in a simple laboratory. The problem of delivering poison gases to a battlefield is also much simpler than delivering an atomic weapon.
During World War I, the Germans were the first to use poison gases on the modern battlefield. The Germans bombarded their enemies with artillery shells armed with poison gas, or simply ejected gas from their containers. The names of some poison compounds are reminiscent of World War I; for instance, the poison gas yperite (mustard gas) has in its origin the name of the Belgian city Yper, where the gas was used the first time. In 1915, the Germans also conducted massive attacks using chlorine. As a result of one chlorine gas attack, five thousand persons were killed and about ten thousand were injured. The Germans ejected chlorine from 5730 balloons containing about 168 tons of chlorine within the 5 to 8 minute duration of the attack.
Officially, the use of chemical weapons is forbidden by the Hague Conventions concluded in 1899 and 1907, and these resolutions were further clarified and strengthened by the Geneva Protocol of 1925. The first international disarmament treaty that banned the production and stockpiling of biological weapons, and provided for destruction of existing stores became open for signature in 1975. Almost 30 years later, the treaty is still the subject of regular debate and clarification and lacks wide spread ratification.
In the meantime, chemists of various governments have worked actively to create new chemical substances with various destructive factors. Additional chemical weapons have been derived from toxic industrial chemicals that were originally designated for useful purposes, such as pesticides. Chemical weapons can generally be divided among several groups, depending on their action on people, including vesicants, toxins, incapacitating agents, nerve agents, and irritants. The production of vesicants is not technologically complicated. The production of the nerve agents, however, requires significantly more sophisticated chemical processing. Some production processes require strict temperature control, and containment of the toxic substances and gases can pose problems. Depending on the immediacy of use, purity of the product can add a difficult dimension to production. In some cases, special equipment or handling is required to prevent corrosion of equipment and/or rapid deterioration of the product.
Chemical weapons were not used during World War II, although the main participants had large reserves of such weapons. Production of these weapons continued after World War II, and only recently the USA and Russia have stopped their production and agreed to begin to destroy existing stockpiles. Other nations and extremist groups have recently used chemical weapons. Iraq used chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war (probably a somewhat over-fluorinated DC, methylphosphonic dichloride) during the 1980s. Iraq additionally used Sarin gas on its own Kurdish population, killing thousands of citizens in the town of Halabja in 1988. Sarin gas was also the weapon used in an attack on the subway in Tokyo in 1995 by the Japanese extremist religious sect Aum Shinrikyo, in which 17 persons were killed and hundreds were injured.
Biological weapons are also capable of mass human destruction. The basic action of a biological weapon involves the use of pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria, viruses, fungi, or toxins produced by some bacteria. Biological weapons contain particular dangers because they can provoke perilous diseases in people and animals over large geographic areas, as the effectiveness of the weapon multiplies with the spreading of communicable disease. The destructive period can be lengthy with the use of a biological weapon, and it can have latent (incubation) period of action.
What makes biological weapons so dangerous are that the cost to produce such weapons is nominal as compared to the cost to make nuclear weapons. This is why biological weapons are often considered as the terrorist or poor nation's weapon of mass destruction. Also, the production of biological weapons can be easily hidden, as there are no special factories or highly specialized equipment needed for their production. Biological weapons can be deployed silently, through crude crop dusters, the mail, or even bug bombs, therefore allowing for the initial escape of their deployers. Unlike their counterparts (chemical and nuclear weaponry), biological weaponry products are living organisms and do not break down overtime, but in-fact can multiply and increase in numbers.
There is a long list of BW agents that could potentially be used in a war or a terrorist attack. Among those mentioned have been anthrax, cryptococcosis, Yersina pestis (plague, the Black Death of the 14th Century), tularemia (rabbit fever), malaria, cholera, typhoid, smallpox, cobra venom, and others. Some authors have also speculated about the possible terrorist use of new, genetically engineered agents designed to defeat conventional methods of treatment, or to attack specific peoples.
The idea of using biological agents in war is not new. In the 6th century B.C., Solon of Athens used the purgative herb hellebore (skunk cabbage) to poison the water supply during the siege of Krissa. In 1346, plague broke out in the Tartar army during its siege of Kaffa (at present day Feodosiys in the Crimea), after attackers hurled the corpses of those who died over the city walls. The plague epidemic that followed forced the defenders to surrender, and some infected people who left Kaffa may have started the Black Death pandemic that later spread throughout Europe. In 1797, Napoleon attempted to infect the inhabitants of the besieged city of Mantua with swamp fever during his Italian campaign. An attempted biological attack was undertaken in 1915 by the German-American physician Dr. Anton Dilger (in Baltimore) who attempted to infect a reported 3000 head of horses, mules, and cattle destined for the Allied forces in Europe. Nowadays, the specter of annihilation by killer pathogens or toxins has, in some sense, replaced the Cold War nightmare of extermination by massive nuclear attack.
Since 1972, the use of biological weapons is prohibited by the international treaty, as reflected in its formal title, the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction. As of 2003, the agreement had 144 nation-state signatories.
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