Unlike biological weapons, chemical weapons have been used rather extensively in human history.
Debut
The first experience mankind had with these was
World War I, when
gas was used as weapon. From 1915 to 1918 these weapons caused approximately 100.000 casualties (on a total of 1.3 million).
Shock
In the
interbellum,
Benito Mussolini made extensive use of
mustard-gas in
Ethiopia. It cost the lives of many unprepared Ethiopian soldiers, as well as those of civilians. The world was
shocked over this. Also '
thanks' to the development of the even heavier
nuclear weaponry, biological weapons were not produced (and used) in extremely large numbers.
Napalm was the most heavily used chemical weapon after the war, mainly by the
US in
Vietnam.
Treaty
Still, it had to last until
1997 to get the world's main countries to sign a treaty on banning chemical weapons (also called
c-weapons). Although
Russia was the only
G7-country not to participate, in the meantime it has also signed the treaty. All countries agreed on banning every single c-weapon from the world before
2007.
Problems
Two immense problems are still very much alive:
- The high costs. Europe and the US have committed themselves to financial support to Russia in this matter, whereas Japan will assist China in clearing up its c-weaponry.
- Unwilling countries. Not all countries have signed the treaty. People like Saddam Hussein are not willing to support the idea of banning these powerful weapons which are ideal for terrorist actions.
(Rewritten and transferred from the biological weapons node.)