Chemical Weapons: A Man-Made Horror

A Global Ban: The Chemical Weapons Convention

In 1992, the world agreed on the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which came into effect in 1997. It prohibited the development, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons and mandated their verified destruction.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was created to enforce this. As of today:

• Nearly every country on Earth is a signatory.

• 99% of declared stockpiles have been destroyed.

Yet, compliance is not universal—Egypt and North Korea are among the few non-signatories. And sadly, the age of chemical warfare is not entirely behind us.Man has always been adept at killing his fellow man. Even our oldest stories reflect this truth—Cain and Abel being perhaps the first moral warning against fratricide. So it should come as no surprise that humanity eventually found a new, more insidious way to kill.

Ancient Beginnings

Chemical weapons, by definition, inflict harm or death through toxic chemical properties. Their use predates the modern era by millennia. Around 1000 BC, the ancient Chinese employed arsenic smoke bombs during sieges. The Greeks and Romans later used sulfur, pitch, and toxic fumes to flush enemies from fortifications or inflict slow, painful deaths.

Still, these early efforts were crude. Before the modern age, chemical warfare was limited—smoke, fumes, and irritants. But with the Industrial Revolution, humanity gained the means not only to build wonders, but also to engineer new horrors.

World War I

In 1915, the German Army unleashed chlorine gas at the Second Battle of Ypres, catching French troops completely off guard. A strange green-yellow cloud drifted over the trenches—curiosity turned to terror as soldiers began choking, coughing, and suffocating. Over 1,000 died in that single attack. The impact was so effective that a chemical arms race quickly ensued.

What followed was a succession of increasingly lethal agents:

• Phosgene, more deadly than chlorine.

• Mustard gas, which burned lungs and skin and lingered in soil and clothing, making it a persistent nightmare.

By war’s end, an estimated 90,000 soldiers had died from chemical weapons, with over one million more wounded or maimed. Despite their brutality, chemical weapons were not decisive in changing the war’s outcome—but they were decisive in changing how wars would be remembered.

Interwar Conventions and Wartime Violations

In the aftermath, revulsion led to the Geneva Protocol of 1925, prohibiting the use of chemical and biological weapons in warfare. But there were critical flaws: it didn’t ban production or stockpiling, nor did it include enforcement mechanisms.

And so, the gas kept flowing—not in Europe, but in its colonies:

• Fascist Italy used mustard gas during its invasion of Ethiopia in the 1930s.

• Imperial Japan deployed chemical agents against Chinese forces during its war of conquest.

World War II

Despite vast stockpiling by all major powers during World War II, chemical weapons were largely not used in battlefield operations, mainly due to the fear of retaliation. The logic of mutually assured chemical destruction prevailed.

However, chemical weapons were used—in far more horrific ways:

• Nazi Germany used Zyklon B in extermination camps.

• Both Nazi and Japanese scientists conducted chemical and biological experiments on prisoners.

The Cold War

The Cold War brought with it a new wave of chemical weaponry—nerve agents like sarin, VX, and tabun were developed, stored, and perfected. Though they were rarely used, chemical weapons emerged in regional conflicts:

• The North Yemeni Civil War

• The Iran–Iraq War, where Saddam Hussein used mustard and nerve agents, including during the Halabja massacre of Kurdish civilians

• Other shadowy and semi-deniable uses across the globe

It became clear the world needed stronger action.

A Global Ban: The Chemical Weapons Convention

In 1992, the world agreed on the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which came into effect in 1997. It prohibited the development, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons and mandated their verified destruction.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was created to enforce this. As of today:

• Nearly every country on Earth is a signatory.

• 99% of declared stockpiles have been destroyed.

Yet, compliance is not universal—Egypt and North Korea are among the few non-signatories. And sadly, the age of chemical warfare is not entirely behind us.

The Modern Era

In the Syrian Civil War, the Assad regime has been accused of using sarin and chlorine gas on civilians. ISIS has also reportedly used mustard agents in Iraq and Syria.

Even outside of warzones, chemical agents have made a sinister comeback:

• In 2017, Kim Jong Nam was assassinated in Malaysia with VX nerve agent.

• In 2018, Sergei Skripal, a former Russian intelligence officer, was poisoned in the UK with Novichok, a nerve agent developed during the Soviet era.

A Stain on Humanity

Chemical weapons are among the most cruel inventions ever conceived. Death by gas is slow, excruciating, and indiscriminate. Children, civilians, and soldiers alike suffer when these weapons are used.

We opened Pandora’s Box, and though we have made strides toward closing it, the lid still rattles.

Let this be remembered: for every scientist who refines a chemical weapon, for every general who deploys it, and every politician who authorizes it—the suffering is human, and the stain eternal. The history is written not just in treaties or battlefield reports, but in the lungs and skin of the victims.

It is our shared responsibility that this chapter of human warfare ends with us.