Success?
Chemical warfare, in one form or another, is nearly as old as warfare itself. From the Persians and Romans in the ancient world, to the gassing of the Kurds by Saddam Hussein in 1988, chemical weapons have been employed as a force multiplier in numerous conflicts. Today, condemnation of the use of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons in warfare is nearly universal. Yet this was not always the case. The first half of the 20th century saw the industrialized production and use of chemical weapons on a scale never before seen in warfare. Following the First World War, many advocated for an increased role for gas weapons in future conflicts. Others deemed the use of chemical weapons an abomination. The years between the World Wars proved to be the pivotal era for the debate over the legitimacy of chemical warfare.
The debate over the proper role of chemical warfare occurred in an environment sensationalized by civilian officials, military commanders, business leaders, and the media. Although some used fear and scare tactics for political or monetary gain, but mainly the argument was between those who believed chemical weapons were a legitimate tool of American military defense and those that saw chemical warfare as too horrific even for world war. In the end, consensus was rarely achieved because each side could not agree on the level of danger chemical weapons possessed and the fear of falling behind in such a dangerous arms race.
Because of the inability of nations to monitor and enforce arms limitation treaties, any proposition to abolish the use of chemical weapons would have to rely on mutual trust, and faith among nations was not something politicians could rely on in the post-World War I world. Over 20 years after the end of the “war to end all wars” Germany would once again use chemicals in wartime, not on the battlefield, but in the mass murder of millions of innocent men, women, and children. It was a chilling reminder of the danger of industrialized poison gas. With the creation of these merchants of death during the First World War, the international community began debating how to control such weapons of mass destruction lest proliferation spiral out of control and threaten the very existence of humanity. It is an argument that continues to this day.