Chemical Warfare

Chemical warfare is closely related to biological warfare, but there is a major difference between these two types of attack. Chemical warfare solely uses nonliving toxic substances such as botulinum toxin, ricin, or saxitoxin; whereas, biological warfare is dependant upon living organisms. There exist over seventy different types of chemicals that can be classified as chemical warfare weaponry, but there are many more chemical possibilities that have yet to be classified. Similar to biological warfare, chemical warfare has been in use for many centuries, and it is still used (although somewhat more secretly) today.

Chemical warfare really began during the medieval times when arrows were dipped in poison, but some historians believe that other types of chemical were used prior to arrow dipping. Some records show that chemical warfare was actually used during the Stone Age in the form of poisons gathered throughout natural South African environments. The poisons were turned into liquid forms, and used to “paint” weapons with the fatal concoction. However, those that attempted to use chemical warfare during the Stone Age aimed their weaponry at animals they were seeking, which meant poisoning a beast until it fell – most of the time, those that ate the meat would wind up ill as well.

Although chemical weapons have come a long way from various plant and animal compounds, chemical weaponry has been present throughout almost every wary from the ancient Spartan wars to modern day wars. Chemical warfare remains highly controversial, but in some cases moderate forms of chemical warfare can be useful. Additionally, terrorist groups tend to use chemicals in order to fight their wars since chemicals are easily fabricated and are largely inexpensive.