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Article: A question of chemistry: controlling the spread and use of chemical weapons.
- Article from:
- Harvard International Review
- Article date:
- September 22, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Harvard International Relations Council, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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As the world was introduced to the destructiveness of total war with new technology in World War I, it also became acquainted with one of the most persistent, hidden threats of today--chemical weapons. World War I brought the destruction of almost an entire continent along with longstanding empires. One of the most powerful exhibits of this new devastating capacity was the introduction of chemical weapons in combat. Although there is some indication that arsenic gas was used during the Peloponnesian Wars from the recorded ailments of soldiers after battles, the first recorded use of a chemical weapon occurred at a battle in Ypres, Belgium in 1915. Over 6,000 cylinders of ...