This book provides an analysis of the development and deployment of chemical weapons from 700BC to the present day. The First World War is examined in detail since it remains the most significant experience of the chemical threat, but the Second World War, and post-war conflicts are also evaluated. Additionally, protocols attempting to control the proliferation and use of chemical weapons are assessed. Finally, the book examines the threat (real and imagined) from a chemical warfare attack today by rationally assessing to what extent terrorist groups around the world are capable of making and using such weapons.

Ever since its employment in the First World War, chemical warfare has always aroused controversy. Governments have responded by pursuing the policies of disarmament and deterrence in the hope of avoiding its recurrence. However, despite the signing of the Geneva Protocol in 1925 which banned the use of poison gas, chemical weapons have been used in subsequent conflicts and most recently in the Gulf War between Iraq and Iran. In this work the policies of disarmament and deterrence will be reassessed within a broad historical and strategic context. It will be argued that poison gas could still be used in a modern European conflict; that the Soviet forces are the best equipped to operate in a contaminated environment; and that weaknesses persist in NATO's anti-chemical defences and in her deterrent. It will be emphasised, too, that the Geneva disarmament talks, which have made some progress in recent years, still face formidable difficulties over the issues of verification and compliance. Above all, it will be claimed that the onset of nuclear parity between the superpowers has eroded the credibility of a deterrent to chemical attack based upon the threat of nuclear release. Accordingly, this book will contend that the United States should modernize her stockpile of chemical weapons to bolster the Western deterrent and to provide more leverage for the negotiations in Geneva.

Ticking Time Bomb. Between 1946 and 1990, on the order of 754,975 tons (over 1.5 billion pounds or 684 million kilograms) of chemical weapons were disposed in European waters. At least 21 European Nations are now potentially at risk because of the expected toxic effect on marine life and the food chain. Critical research revealed in over 400 print pages contains 111 images including 23 declassified TOP SECRET, SECRET, CONFIDENTIAL, and RESTRICTED documents, 40 photographs, and 17 maps. Principal Chapters: - Evolution of Plans for the Disposition of Captured Chemical Weapons - Accounting of All Captured Chemical Weapons - Accounting of All Sea-Disposed Chemical Weapons - Locations of the Scuttled Ships - Estimated Total Chemical Warfare Agents Disposed in European Waters - Legal Responsibilities of States - Conclusion and The Imperative for an International Strategy “Bottom Line”: The environmental and public health problems facing European nations incident to the anticipated release of potentially massive amounts of slowly hydrolyzing nerve and blister agents into the marine environment are more critical and urgent than generally supposed. Increased incidents of human and marine injury in recent years have convinced many the threat of chemical poisons leaking from the deteriorating shells, canisters, and containers on the ocean floor is an imminent and insoluble problem. The fundamental premise of this study is that when the these sea disposals occurred, dumping of toxic CW into the ocean was the preferred disposal method and was not an act of malevolence or ill will. Such dumping was not prohibited and the effect on the environment was simply not considered important at that time. It is therefore not the intent of this book to affix blame or culpability. Rather, a detailed analysis of principal findings underscores the imperative for an international strategy and a proposal for international collaboration and cooperation in addressing the potential problem is advanced.