Methods of warfare

A further fact must be taken into account, which for obvious reasons did not appear in Haslam s article. As a consequence of our contracts with the Americans, we received from them above and beyond the agreement many very valuable contributions for the synthesis and improvement of motor fuels and lubrication oils, which just now during the war are most useful to us. It need not be especially mentioned that without lead-tetraethyl the present method of warfare would be unthinkable. The fact that since the beginning of the war we could produce lead-tetraethyl is entirely due to the circumstances that, shortly before, the Americans had presented us with the production plans, complete with experimental knowledge. Thus the difficult work of development (one need only recall the poisonous property of lead-tetraethyl, which caused many deaths in the U.S.A.) was spared us, since we could take up the manufacture of this product together with ail the experience that the Americans had gathered over long years. 

In the event of (a) the use of chemical weapons or riot control agents as a method of warfare, and/or (b) the threat of the use of chemical weapons, and/or (c) the threat of actions or activities prohibited for States Parties by Article I ... 

Chemical weapons are not a new method of warfare, they have been in recorded use since about 2000 BC. However, science and technology have refined these weapons and now their potential is awesome. It was the rise of the modern chemical industry at the end of the nineteenth century that first made feasible the use of significant quantities of toxic chemicals on large-scale battlefields and, indeed, chemical weapons were first used on a significant scale by both sides in the First World War. They were then used immediately after the war by Britain in Iraq (1920), and Spain in Morocco (1921). They were also used by Italy during its invasion of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935-1936, Japan during its war against China in 1937-1943, and by the United States in Vietnam... 

Each State Party undertakes not to use riot control agents as a method of warfare. 

Chemical warfare agents (CWA) are classified into several categories, for example, nerve agents and vesicants. Tear gases are forbidden as a method of warfare but still allowed for riot control purposes. The CWC fists chemicals in three Schedules, which have been constructed on the basis of the toxicity of the chemicals, their industrial use, and historical usage as warfare agents. Schedule 1 consists of families of toxic chemicals, which have been developed, produced, stockpiled, or used as chemical weapons, for example, sarin and mustard gas. These chemicals have little industrial use. Schedule 3, on the other hand, consists of 17 single chemicals with... 

Under the CWC of 1997, RCAs were banned from use as a method of warfare because in high concentrations RCAs are toxic chemicals with the potential to incapacitate individuals for prolonged periods, produce long-term sequelae. 

The 1925 Geneva Protocol was actually the League of Nations Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare. 

That the High Contracting Parties, so far as they are not already Parties to Treaties prohibiting such use, accept this prohibition, agree to extend this prohibition to the use of bacteriological methods of warfare and agree to be bound as between themselves according to the terms of this declaration. 

However, unlike the BTWC which prohibits all uses of biological or toxin weapons for hostile purposes or in armed conflict, the CWC has a different treatment in regard to riot control agents where each State Party undertakes not to use riot control agents as a method of warfare. This is further amplified by the definition in Article II of the CWC of the words purposes not prohibited under this Convention as follows ... 

Riot control agents (RCA) are accorded a special status in the CWC. On one hand, it is acknowledged that they are toxic chemicals, which in principle fall under the prohibitions of the Convention. On the other hand, RCA have legitimate uses in law enforcement and riot control operations. Thus Article I, para 5 prohibits the use of RCA as a method of warfare, while Article II, para 9(d) explicitly permits their use for Taw enforcement including domestic riot control. RCA are... 

Nevertheless, by 192. it was considered sufficiently feasible for the prohibition of bacteriological methods of warfare to be included within the scope of the Geneva Protocol. No nation at this... 

Biological warfare need not remain a method of warfare repugnant to the civilised world. The further development of types such as U S coupled with a certain amount of informed guidance of the public [authors italics] might well result in its being regarded as very humane indeed by comparison with atom bombs. 5... 

The first authentic article of aluminium was a rattle for the infant destined later to become Emperor Napoleon hi. In 1854, an aluminium medal was struck and presented to him, and he both authorised and financed experiments to manufacture the metal on a larger scale. He had visions of supplying his troops with helmets and breastplates of aluminium, but its price of over 100 per lb. rendered the proposition hopeless. After the invention of the Hall-H roult electrolytic process the price fell to about 85 per ton in 1914. The world consumption in 1938 was 550,000 tons, and by 1941 it was close upon one million tons. It was stated in October 1939, that bullet-proof duralumin armour was among Germany s new methods of warfare on the Western Front. 

Although the new League of Nations concluded in 1920 that chemical warfare was no more cruel than any other method of warfare used by combatants, the Limitation of Arms Conference, held in Washington, D. C., in 1922, banned the use of poisonous gases except in retaliation. The United States ratified the limitation, but France declined to ratify the treaty and therefore it was never implemented. 

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