Make a chronological table of the use of chemical weapons. The largest use of chemical weapons in history. Gas that does not creep on the ground

20.10.2019

On April 24, 1915, on a front line near the city of Ypres, French and British soldiers noticed a strange yellow-green cloud that was rapidly moving in their direction. It seemed that nothing foreshadowed trouble, but when this fog reached the first line of trenches, people in it began to fall, cough, suffocate and die.

This day became the official date of the first massive use of chemical weapons. The German army fired 168 tons of chlorine in the direction of enemy trenches on a front six kilometers wide. The poison struck 15 thousand people, of which 5 thousand died almost instantly, and the survivors died later in hospitals or remained disabled for life. After the use of gas, the German troops went on the attack and occupied enemy positions without loss, because there was no one to defend them.

The first use of chemical weapons was considered successful, so it soon became a real nightmare for the soldiers of the warring parties. Chemical warfare agents were used by all countries participating in the conflict: chemical weapons became a real " calling card» World War I. By the way, the city of Ypres was “lucky” in this regard: two years later, the Germans in the same area used dichlorodiethyl sulfide against the French, a chemical weapon of blistering action, which was called mustard gas.

This small town, like Hiroshima, has become a symbol of one of the gravest crimes against humanity.

On May 31, 1915, chemical weapons were first used against Russian army The Germans used phosgene. The gas cloud was mistaken for camouflage and Front edge sent more soldiers. The consequences of the gas attack were terrible: 9 thousand people died painful death, due to the effects of the poison, even the grass died.

History of chemical weapons

The history of chemical warfare agents (CW) goes back hundreds of years. To poison enemy soldiers or temporarily disable them, various chemical compositions. Most often, such methods were used during the siege of fortresses, since it is not very convenient to use poisonous substances during a maneuver war.

For example, in the West (including Russia) artillery "stinking" cannonballs were used, which emitted suffocating and poisonous smoke, and the Persians used an ignited mixture of sulfur and crude oil during the storming of cities.

However, of course, it was not necessary to talk about the mass use of toxic substances in the old days. Chemical weapons began to be considered by the generals as one of the means of warfare only after they began to receive poisonous substances in industrial quantities and learned how to store them safely.

Already during the First World War, the first methods of protection against poisonous substances appeared. At first, these were various bandages or capes impregnated with various substances, but they usually did not give the desired effect. Then gas masks were invented, in their own way. appearance reminiscent of modern. However, gas masks at first were far from perfect and did not provide the required level of protection. Special gas masks have been developed for horses and even dogs.

The means of delivery of poisonous substances did not stand still. If at the beginning of the war gas was sprayed from cylinders in the direction of the enemy without any fuss, then they began to use artillery shells and mines. New, more deadly types of chemical weapons have emerged.

After the end of the First World War, work in the field of creating poisonous substances did not stop: methods of delivering agents and methods of protection against them improved, new types of chemical weapons appeared. Combat gases were regularly tested, special shelters were built for the population, soldiers and civilians were trained in the use of personal protective equipment.

In 1925, another convention was adopted (the Geneva Pact), which prohibited the use of chemical weapons, but this in no way stopped the generals: they had no doubt that the next big war would be chemical, and they were intensively preparing for it. In the mid-thirties, nerve gases were developed by German chemists, the effects of which are the most deadly.

Despite the lethality and significant psychological effect, today we can confidently say that chemical weapons are a passed stage for mankind. And the point here is not in conventions prohibiting the persecution of their own kind, and not even in public opinion(although it also played a significant role).

The military has practically abandoned poisonous substances, because chemical weapons have more disadvantages than advantages. Let's look at the main ones:

Strong dependence on weather conditions. At first, poison gases were released from cylinders downwind in the direction of the enemy. However, the wind is changeable, so during the First World War there were frequent cases of defeat of their own troops. The use of artillery ammunition as a method of delivery solves this problem only partially. Rain and simply high humidity dissolves and decomposes many poisonous substances, and air ascending currents carry them high into the sky. For example, the British built numerous fires in front of their line of defense so that hot air would carry enemy gas upwards.
Storage insecurity. conventional ammunition without a fuse, they detonate extremely rarely, which cannot be said about shells or containers with OM. They can lead to mass casualties, even deep in the rear in a warehouse. In addition, the cost of their storage and disposal is extremely high.
Protection. Most important reason renunciation of chemical weapons. The first gas masks and bandages were not very effective, but soon they provided quite effective protection against RH. In response, chemists came up with blistering gases, after which a special chemical protection suit was invented. Appeared in armored vehicles reliable protection against any weapons of mass destruction, including chemical ones. In short, the use of chemical warfare agents against modern army not very efficient. That is why in the last fifty years, OV has been more often used against civilians or partisan detachments. In this case, the results of its use were truly horrifying.
Inefficiency. Despite all the horror that war gases caused to soldiers during the Great War, casualty analysis showed that conventional artillery fire was more effective than firing explosive ammunition. The projectile stuffed with gas was less powerful, therefore it destroyed enemy engineering structures and barriers worse. The surviving fighters quite successfully used them in defense.

Today, the greatest danger is that chemical weapons may fall into the hands of terrorists and be used against civilians. In this case, the victims can be horrifying. A chemical warfare agent is relatively easy to make (unlike a nuclear one), and it is cheap. Therefore, to threats terrorist groups regarding possible gas attacks should be treated very carefully.

The biggest disadvantage of chemical weapons is their unpredictability: where the wind will blow, whether the humidity of the air will change, in which direction the poison will go along with groundwater. Whose DNA will be embedded with a mutagen from a war gas, and whose child will be born a cripple. And these are not theoretical questions at all. American soldiers crippled after using their own Agent Orange gas in Vietnam are clear evidence of the unpredictability that chemical weapons bring.

If you have any questions - leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them.

The First World War was on. On the evening of April 22, 1915, German and French troops opposing each other were near the Belgian city of Ypres. They fought for the city for a long time and to no avail. But this evening the Germans wanted to test a new weapon - poison gas. They brought thousands of cylinders with them, and when the wind blew towards the enemy, they opened the taps, releasing 180 tons of chlorine into the air. A yellowish gas cloud was carried by the wind towards the enemy line.

The panic began. Immersed in a gas cloud, the French soldiers went blind, coughed and suffocated. Three thousand of them died of asphyxiation, another seven thousand were burned.

"At this point, science lost its innocence," says science historian Ernst Peter Fischer. In his words, if before that the purpose of scientific research was to alleviate the conditions of people's lives, now science has created conditions that make it easier to kill a person.

"In the war - for the fatherland"

A way to use chlorine for military purposes was developed by the German chemist Fritz Haber. He is considered the first scientist who subordinated scientific knowledge to military needs. Fritz Haber discovered that chlorine is an extremely poisonous gas, which, due to its high density, is concentrated low above the ground. He knew that this gas causes severe swelling of the mucous membranes, coughing, suffocation, and ultimately leads to death. In addition, the poison was cheap: chlorine is found in the waste of the chemical industry.

"Haber's motto was "In the world - for humanity, in the war - for the fatherland," Ernst Peter Fischer quotes the then head of the chemical department of the Prussian War Ministry. - Then there were other times. Everyone was trying to find poison gas that they could use in war And only the Germans succeeded."

The Ypres attack was a war crime - as early as 1915. After all, the Hague Convention of 1907 prohibited the use of poison and poisoned weapons for military purposes.

German soldiers were also exposed to gas attacks. Colorized photo: 1917 gas attack in Flanders

Arms race

The "success" of Fritz Haber's military innovation became contagious, and not only for the Germans. Simultaneously with the war of states, the "war of chemists" also began. Scientists were tasked with creating chemical weapons that would be ready for use as soon as possible. "Abroad, they looked with envy at Haber," says Ernst Peter Fischer, "Many people wanted to have such a scientist in their country." In 1918, Fritz Haber received Nobel Prize in chemistry. True, not for the discovery of poisonous gas, but for his contribution to the implementation of the synthesis of ammonia.

The French and British also experimented with poisonous gases. The use of phosgene and mustard gas, often in combination with each other, became widespread in the war. And yet, poison gases did not play a decisive role in the outcome of the war: these weapons could only be used in favorable weather.

scary mechanism

Nevertheless, a terrible mechanism was launched in the First World War, and Germany became its engine.

The chemist Fritz Haber not only laid the foundation for the use of chlorine for military purposes, but also, thanks to his good industrial connections, helped to mass-produce this chemical weapon. Thus, the German chemical concern BASF in large quantities produced poisonous substances during the First World War.

Already after the war with the creation of the IG Farben concern in 1925, Haber joined its supervisory board. Later, during National Socialism, a subsidiary of IG Farben was engaged in the production of "cyclone B", used in the gas chambers of concentration camps.

Context

Fritz Haber himself could not have foreseen this. "He's a tragic figure," Fischer says. In 1933, Haber, a Jew by origin, emigrated to England, expelled from his country, in the service of which he placed his scientific knowledge.

Red line

In total, more than 90 thousand soldiers died on the fronts of the First World War from the use of poison gases. Many died of complications a few years after the end of the war. In 1905, the members of the League of Nations, which included Germany, under the Geneva Protocol pledged not to use chemical weapons. Meanwhile, scientific research on the use of poisonous gases was continued, mainly under the guise of developing means to combat harmful insects.

"Cyclone B" - hydrocyanic acid - an insecticidal agent. "Agent orange" - a substance for deleafing plants. The Americans used defoliant during the Vietnam War to thin out local dense vegetation. As a consequence - poisoned soil, numerous diseases and genetic mutations in the population. The latest example of the use of chemical weapons is Syria.

"You can do whatever you want with poisonous gases, but they can't be used as a target weapon," emphasizes science historian Fisher. “Everyone who is nearby becomes a victim.” The fact that the use of poisonous gas is still “a red line that cannot be crossed”, he considers correct: “Otherwise, the war becomes even more inhuman than it already is.”

One hundred years have passed since the end of the First World War, remembered mainly by the horrors mass application chemical weapons. Its colossal reserves, which remained after the war and multiplied many times in the interwar period, should have led to an apocalypse in the Second. But it passed. Although there were still local cases of the use of chemical weapons. have been made public real plans its massive use by Germany and Great Britain. Probably, there were such plans in the USSR with the USA, but nothing is known for certain about them. We will tell you all about this in this article.

However, in the beginning, let us recall what a chemical weapon is. This is a weapon of mass destruction, the action of which is based on the toxic properties of poisonous substances (S). Chemical weapons are classified according to the following characteristics:

- the nature of the physiological effects of OM on the human body;

- tactical purpose;

- the speed of the oncoming impact;

- resistance of the used agent;

— means and methods of application.

According to the nature of the physiological effects on the human body, six main types of toxic substances are distinguished:

- Nerve agents that affect the nervous system and cause death. These agents include sarin, soman, tabun, and V-gases.

- NS of blistering action, causing damage mainly through skin, and when applied in the form of aerosols and vapors - also through the respiratory system. The main OM of this group are mustard gas and lewisite.

- OS of general toxic action, which, getting into the body, disrupt the transfer of oxygen from the blood to the tissues. This is an instantaneous OV. These include hydrocyanic acid and cyanogen chloride.

- Asphyxiating agents, affecting mainly the lungs. The main OMs are phosgene and diphosgene.

- OV of psychochemical action, capable of incapacitating for some time manpower enemy. These agents, acting on the central nervous system, disrupt the normal mental activity of a person or cause such disorders as temporary blindness, deafness, a sense of fear, and limitation of motor functions. Poisoning with these substances in doses that cause mental disorders does not lead to death. OBs from this group are quinuclidyl-3-benzilate (BZ) and lysergic acid diethylamide.

— OV irritating action. These are fast-acting agents that stop their action after leaving the infected area, and the signs of poisoning disappear after 1-10 minutes. This group of agents includes lacrimal substances that cause profuse lacrimation, and sneezing - irritating Airways.

According to the tactical classification, toxic substances are divided into groups according to their combat purpose: lethal and temporarily incapacitating manpower. According to the speed of exposure, high-speed and slow-acting agents are distinguished. Depending on the duration of the preservation of the damaging ability, agents are divided into substances of short-term action and long-term action.

Substances are delivered to the place of their application: artillery shells, rockets, mines, aviation bombs, gas cannons, balloon gas launch systems, VAPs (pouring aviation devices), grenades, checkers.

The history of combat OV has more than one hundred years. Various chemical compounds were used to poison enemy soldiers or temporarily disable them. Most often, such methods were used during the siege of fortresses, since it is not very convenient to use poisonous substances during a maneuver war. However, of course, there was no need to talk about any massive use of toxic substances. Chemical weapons began to be considered by the generals as one of the means of warfare only after poisonous substances began to be obtained in industrial quantities and they learned how to store them safely.

It also required certain changes in the psychology of the military: back in the 19th century, poisoning your opponents like rats was considered an ignoble and unworthy deed. The use of sulfur dioxide as a chemical warfare agent by British Admiral Thomas Gokhran was met with indignation by the British military elite. Curiously, chemical weapons became banned even before the start of mass use. In 1899, the Hague Convention was adopted, it spoke about the prohibition of weapons that use strangulation or poisoning to defeat the enemy. However, this convention did not prevent either the Germans or the rest of the participants in the First World War (including Russia) from massively using poison gases.

So, Germany was the first to violate the existing agreements and, first, in the small Bolimovsky battle of 1915, and then in the second battle near the town of Ypres, it used its chemical weapons. On the eve of the planned offensive, German troops installed more than 120 batteries equipped with gas cylinders along the front. These actions were carried out late at night, secret from enemy intelligence, which naturally knew about the impending breakthrough, but neither the British nor the French had any idea about the forces with which it was supposed to be carried out. In the early morning of April 22, the offensive began not with a cannonade characteristic of this, but with the fact that the Allied troops suddenly saw green fog crawling towards them from the side where the German fortifications were supposed to be located. At that time, ordinary masks were the only means of chemical protection, but due to the complete surprise of such an attack, most of the soldiers did not have them. The first ranks of the French and English detachments literally fell down dead. Despite the fact that the chlorine-based gas used by the Germans, later called mustard gas, mainly spread at a height of 1-2 meters above the ground, its amount was enough to hit more than 15 thousand people, and among them were not only the British and French, but also the Germans . At one moment, the wind blew on the positions of the German army, as a result of which many soldiers who were not wearing protective masks were injured. While the gas corroded the eyes and suffocated the enemy soldiers, the Germans, dressed in protective suits, followed him and finished off the unconscious people. The army of the French and British fled, the soldiers, ignoring the orders of the commanders, abandoned their positions without having time to fire a single shot, in fact, the Germans got not only the fortified area, but also most of abandoned provisions and weapons. To date, the use of mustard gas in the Battle of Ypres is recognized as one of the most inhuman actions in world history, as a result of which more than 5 thousand people died, while the rest of the survivors, who received a different dose of deadly poison, remained crippled for life.

Already after the Vietnam War, scientists have identified another detrimental effect of the effects of OM on the human body. Quite often, those affected by chemical weapons gave inferior offspring, i.e. freaks were born in both the first and second generations.

Thus, Pandora's box was opened, and the howling countries began to poison each other everywhere with poisonous substances, although the effectiveness of their action hardly exceeded the mortality from artillery fire. The possibility of application was extremely dependent on the weather, direction and strength of the wind. In some cases, suitable conditions for massive use had to be expected for weeks. When chemical weapons were used during offensives, the side using them itself suffered losses from its own chemical weapons. For these reasons, the belligerents mutually "quietly renounced the use of weapons of mass destruction" and in subsequent wars of massive combat use chemical weapons have not been observed. An interesting fact is that among those injured as a result of the use of chemical agents was Adolf Hitler, who was poisoned by English gases. In total, during the First World War, about 1.3 million people suffered from the use of chemical agents, of which about 100 thousand died.

During the interwar years chemical substances periodically used to destroy individual nationalities and suppress rebellions. Thus, the Soviet government of Lenin used poison gas in 1920 during the assault on the village of Gimry (Dagestan). In 1921, he poisoned the peasants during the Tambov uprising. The order, signed by military commanders Tukhachevsky and Antonov-Ovseenko, read: “The forests in which the bandits are hiding must be cleared with poison gas. This must be carefully calculated so that a layer of gas penetrates into the forests and kills everything hiding there.” In 1924, the Romanian army used OV during the suppression of the Tatarbunary uprising in Ukraine. During the Rif War in Spanish Morocco from 1921-1927, combined Spanish and French troops dropped mustard gas bombs in an attempt to put down a Berber uprising.

In 1925, 16 countries of the world with the greatest military potential signed the Geneva Protocol, thereby pledging never again to use gas in military operations. Notably, while the United States delegation, led by the President, signed the Protocol, it languished in the US Senate until 1975, when it was finally ratified.

In violation of the Geneva Protocol, Italy used mustard gas against Senussi forces in Libya. Poison gas was used against the Libyans as early as January 1928. And in 1935, Italy used mustard gas against the Ethiopians during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. The chemical weapons dropped by military aircraft "proved to be very effective" and were used "on a massive scale against civilians and troops, and for pollution and water supplies." The use of OV continued until March 1939. By some estimates, up to one-third of Ethiopian war casualties were caused by chemical weapons.

It is not clear how the League of Nations behaved in this situation, people were dying from the most barbaric weapons, and she was silent, as if encouraging him to continue to use it. Perhaps for this reason, in 1937, Japan began to use tear gas in hostilities: they bombed chinese city Woqu - about 1000 bombs were dropped on the ground. Later, the Japanese detonated 2,500 chemical shells during the Battle of Dingxiang. Authorized by Japanese Emperor Hirohito, toxic gas was used during the 1938 Battle of Wuhan. It was also used during the invasion of Changde. In 1939, mustard gas was used against both Kuomintang and Communist Chinese troops. They did not stop there and continued to use chemical weapons until the final defeat in the war.

The Japanese army was armed with up to ten types of chemical warfare agents - phosgene, mustard gas, lewisite and others. It is noteworthy that in 1933, immediately after the Nazis came to power, Japan secretly purchased equipment for the production of mustard gas from Germany and began to produce it in Hiroshima Prefecture. Subsequently, military chemical plants appeared in other cities of Japan, and then in China, where a special school was also organized for the training of specialized military units operating in China.

It should be noted that chemical weapons were tested on living prisoners in the infamous "731" and "516" detachments. Due to fear of retribution, however, these weapons were never used against Western nations. Asian psychology did not allow "bullying" against the mighty of the world this. According to various estimates, the Japanese used OV more than 2 thousand times. In total, about 90 thousand Chinese soldiers died from the use of Japanese chemicals, there were civilian casualties, but they were not counted.

It should be noted that by the beginning of World War II, Great Britain, Germany, the USSR and the United States had very significant stocks of various chemical warfare agents filled into ammunition. In addition, each country was actively preparing not only to apply its CA, but also developed active protection from them, if used by the enemy.

Ideas about the role of chemical weapons in the course of warfare were mainly based on an analysis of the experience of their use in operations in 1917–1918. Artillery remained the main means of using explosive weapons to destroy the enemy's location to a depth of 6 km. Beyond this limit, the use of chemical weapons was assigned to aviation. Artillery was used to infect the area with persistent agents such as mustard gas and to exhaust the enemy with irritating agents. For the use of chemical weapons in the armies of the leading countries, chemical troops were created that were armed with chemical mortars, gas launchers, gas cylinders, smoke devices, ground contamination devices, chemical land mines and mechanized means for degassing the area ... However, let's return to the chemical weapons of individual countries.

The first known case of the use of agents in World War II occurred on September 8, 1939, during the Wehrmacht's invasion of Poland, when a Polish battery fired a battalion of German chasseurs trying to capture the bridge with poison mines. It is not known how effectively the Wehrmacht soldiers used gas masks, but their losses in this incident amounted to 15 people.

After the "evacuation" from Dunkirk (May 26 - June 4, 1940) in England there was no equipment or weapons for the land army - everything was abandoned on the French coast. In total, 2,472 artillery pieces, almost 65,000 vehicles, 20,000 motorcycles, 68,000 tons of ammunition, 147,000 tons of fuel and 377,000 tons of equipment and military equipment, 8,000 machine guns and about 90,000 rifles, including all heavy weapons and transport of 9 British divisions. And although the Wehrmacht did not have the opportunity to force the English Channel and finish off the British on the island, it seemed to the latter in fear that this would happen any day. Therefore, the UK was preparing for last fight by all means and means.

On June 15, 1940, the Chief of the Imperial Staff, Sir John Dill, proposed the use of chemical weapons on the coast, during the German landing. Such actions could significantly slow down the advance of the landing force into the interior of the island. It was supposed to spray mustard gas from special tank trucks. Other types of OM were recommended to be used from the air, and with the help of special throwing devices, which were buried on the coast by several thousand.

Sir John Dill attached detailed instructions for the use of each type of agent and calculations of the effectiveness of their use to his note. He also mentioned possible casualties among his civilian population. The British industry increased the production of OV, and the Germans were dragging everything out with the landing. When the supply of OM was significantly increased, and under Lend-Lease in Britain appeared military equipment, incl. and a huge number of bombers, by 1941 the concept of using chemical weapons had changed. Now they were preparing to use it exclusively from the air with the help of aerial bombs. This plan was valid until January 1942, when the British command already ruled out an attack on the island from the sea. Since that time, the OV was planned to be used already in German cities if Germany had used chemical weapons. And although after the start of shelling the UK with rockets, many parliamentarians advocated the use of OV in response, Churchill categorically rejected such proposals, arguing that this weapon is applicable only in cases of mortal danger. However, the production of OV in England continued until 1945.

Since the end of 1941, Soviet intelligence began to receive data on an increase in the production of OM in Germany. In 1942, there was reliable intelligence about the mass deployment of special chemical weapons, about their intensive training. In February-March 1942, the troops on the Eastern Front began to receive new improved gas masks and anti-algae suits, stockpiles of chemical agents (shells and aerial bombs), and chemical units began to be transferred closer to the front. Such parts were found in the cities of Krasnogvardeysk, Priluki, Nezhin, Kharkov, Taganrog. In the anti-tank units, it was intensively carried out chemical preparation. Each company had a non-commissioned officer as a chemical instructor. The headquarters of the Civil Code was sure that in the spring Hitler intended to use chemical weapons. The Stavka also knew that Germany had developed new types of OM, against which the gas masks in service were powerless. There was no time for the production of a new, modeled on the German gas mask of 1941. And the Germans at that time produced 2.3 million pieces. per month. Thus, the Red Army turned out to be defenseless against the German OVs.

Stalin could have made an official statement about a retaliatory chemical attack. However, it could hardly have stopped Hitler: the troops were more or less protected, and the territory of Germany was not to be reached.

Moscow decided to turn to Churchill for help, who understood that if chemical weapons were used against the USSR, Hitler would later be able to use them against Great Britain. After consultations with Stalin, on May 12, 1942, Churchill, speaking on the radio, said that “... England will consider the use of poisonous gases against the USSR by Germany or Finland in the same way as if this attack were carried out against England itself, and that England will respond to this with the use of gases against the cities of Germany ... ".

It is not known what Churchill would actually have done, but already on May 14, 1942, one of the residents of Soviet intelligence, who had a source in Germany, reported to the Center: “... The German civilian population was greatly impressed by Churchill’s speech about the use of gases against Germany in if the Germans use them on the Eastern Front. In German cities, there are very few reliable gas shelters that can cover no more than 40% of the population ... According to German experts, in the event of a retaliatory strike, about 60% of the German population would die from British gas bombs. In any case, Hitler did not in practice check whether Churchill was bluffing or not, since he saw the results of conventional Allied bombing in German cities. The order for the massive use of chemical weapons on the Eastern Front was never issued. Moreover, remembering Churchill's statement, after the defeat on Kursk Bulge, stockpiles of chemical agents were removed from the eastern front, because Hitler feared that some general, driven to despair by defeats, might give the command to use chemical weapons.

Despite the fact that Hitler was no longer going to use chemical weapons, Stalin was really scared, and until the end of the war did not rule out chemical attacks. Was created special administration(GVKhU) as part of the Red Army, appropriate equipment for detecting VO was developed, decontamination and degassing techniques appeared ... The seriousness of Stalin's attitude to chemical protection was determined by a secret order issued on January 11, 1943, in which commanders were threatened with a military tribunal for negligence in matters of chemical protection.

At the same time, having abandoned the mass use of chemical weapons on the Eastern Front, the Germans did not hesitate to use them on a local scale on Black Sea coast. So, gas was used in the battles for Sevastopol, Odessa, Kerch. Only in the Adzhimushkay catacombs about 3 thousand people were poisoned. It was planned to use OV in the battles for the Caucasus. In February 1943, German troops received two carloads of antidotes for toxins. But the Nazis were quickly driven away from the mountains.

The Nazis did not disdain to use chemical agents in concentration camps, where they used carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide (including Zyklon B) to kill millions of prisoners.

After the Allied invasion of Italy, the Germans also withdrew chemical weapons from the front, relocating them to Normandy to defend the Atlantic Wall. When interrogated by Goering why nerve gas was not used in Normandy, he replied that many horses were used to supply the army, and the production of appropriate gas masks for them was not established. It turns out that German horses saved thousands of Allied soldiers, although the veracity of this explanation is highly doubtful.

By the end of the war, for two and a half years of production at the plant in Dürchfurt, Germany had accumulated 12,000 tons of the latest nerve agents - Tabun. 10 thousand tons were loaded into aerial bombs, 2 thousand into artillery shells. The personnel of the plant, in order not to give out the formulation of OV, was destroyed. However, the Red Army managed to capture the ammunition and production and take it to the territory of the USSR. As a result, the Allies were forced to unleash a whole world-wide hunt for German specialists and scientists in the field of chemical agents in order to fill the gap in their chemical arsenals. Thus began the "two worlds" race for chemical weapons, which lasted for decades, in parallel with nuclear weapons.

Only in 1945 did the United States put into service for the M9 and M9A1 Bazooka rocket-propelled grenade launchers M26 warheads with combat agents - cyanogen chloride. They were intended for use against Japanese soldiers who had settled in caves and bunkers. It was believed that there was no protection against this gas, but in combat conditions, the agents were never used.

Summing up the topic of chemical weapons, we note that its mass use was not allowed for several factors: fear of a retaliatory strike, low efficiency of use, dependence of use on weather factors. However, for prewar years and during the war, colossal stocks of OM were accumulated. So the reserves of mustard gas (mustard gas) in Britain amounted to 40.4 thousand tons, in Germany - 27.6 thousand tons, in the USSR - 77.4 thousand tons, in the USA - 87 thousand tons. can be judged by the fact that the minimum dose that causes the formation of abscesses on the skin is 0.1 mg / cm². There is no antidote for mustard gas poisoning. A gas mask and OZK lose their protective functions after 40 minutes, being in the affected area.

Regrettably, numerous conventions banning chemical weapons are constantly violated. The first post-war use of OV was recorded already in 1957 in Vietnam, i.e. 12 years after the end of World War II. And then the gaps in the years of ignoring it become smaller and smaller. It seems that humanity has firmly embarked on the path of self-destruction.

Based on materials from sites: https://ru.wikipedia.org; https://en.wikipedia.org; https://thequestion.ru; http://supotnitskiy.ru; https://topwar.ru; http://magspace.ru; https://news.rambler.ru; http://www.publy.ru; http://www.mk.ru; http://www.warandpeace.ru; https://www.sciencehistory.org http://www.abc.net.au; http://pillboxes-suffolk.webeden.co.uk.

03.03.2015 0 11319

Chemical weapons were invented by accident. In 1885, in the chemical laboratory of the German scientist Mayer, a Russian student-intern N. Zelinsky synthesized a new substance. At the same time, a certain gas was formed, having swallowed which he ended up in a hospital bed.

So, unexpectedly for everyone, a gas was discovered, later called mustard gas. Already a Russian chemist, Nikolai Dmitrievich Zelinsky, as if correcting the mistake of his youth, 30 years later invented the world's first coal gas mask, which saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

FIRST SAMPLES

In the entire history of confrontations, chemical weapons have been used only a few times, but they still keep all of humanity in suspense. Since the middle of the 19th century, poisonous substances have been part of military strategy: during Crimean War in the battles for Sevastopol, the British army used sulfur dioxide to smoke Russian troops out of the fortress. At the very end of the 19th century, Nicholas II made efforts to ban chemical weapons.

The result of this was the 4th Hague Convention of October 18, 1907 "On the Laws and Customs of War", which prohibits, among other things, the use of asphyxiating gases. Not all countries have joined this agreement. Nevertheless, poisoning and military honor were considered by most of the participants to be incompatible. This agreement was not violated until the First World War.

The beginning of the 20th century was marked by the use of two new means of defense - barbed wire and mines. They made it possible to contain even significantly superior enemy forces. The moment came when on the fronts of the First World War, neither the Germans nor the troops of the Entente could knock each other out of well-fortified positions. Such a confrontation senselessly devoured time, human and material resources. But to whom is the war, and to whom is the mother dear ...

It was then that the merchant chemist and future Nobel laureate Fritz Haber managed to convince the Kaiser command to use combat gas to change the situation in their favor. Under his personal leadership, more than 6,000 chlorine cylinders were installed on the front line. It only remained to wait for a fair wind and open the valves ...

On April 22, 1915, a thick cloud of chlorine moved in a wide band towards the position of the French-Belgian troops near the Ypres River from the direction of the German trenches. In five minutes, 170 tons of deadly gas covered the trenches for 6 kilometers. Under its influence, 15 thousand people were poisoned, a third of them died. Against the poisonous substance, any number of soldiers and weapons were powerless. Thus began the history of the use of chemical weapons and a new era began - the era of weapons of mass destruction.

SAVING FOOTWEAR

At that time, the Russian chemist Zelensky had already presented his invention to the military - a coal gas mask, but this product had not yet reached the front. In the circulars of the Russian army, the following recommendation was preserved: in the event of a gas attack, it is necessary to urinate on a footcloth and breathe through it. Despite its simplicity, this method turned out to be very effective at that time. Then bandages appeared in the troops, impregnated with hyposulfite, which somehow neutralized chlorine.

But German chemists did not stand still. They tested phosgene, a gas with a strong suffocating effect. Later, mustard gas came into play, followed by lewisite. No dressings worked against these gases. The gas mask was first tested in practice only in the summer of 1915, when the German command used poison gas against Russian troops in the battles for the Osovets fortress. By that time, tens of thousands of gas masks had been sent to the front line by the Russian command.

However, wagons with this cargo often stood idle on sidings. Equipment, weapons, manpower and food had the right of the first stage. It was because of this that the gas masks were only a few hours late for the front line. Russian soldiers repulsed many German attacks that day, but the losses were enormous: several thousand people were poisoned. At that time, only sanitary and funeral teams could use gas masks.

Mustard gas was first used by the Kaiser troops against the Anglo-Belgian troops two years later, on July 17, 1917. He hit the mucous membrane, burned the insides. It happened on the same river Ypres. It was after this that he received the name "mustard gas". For the colossal destructive ability, the Germans called him the "king of gases." Also in 1917, the Germans used mustard gas against US troops. The Americans lost 70,000 soldiers. In total, 1 million 300 thousand people suffered from BOV (chemical warfare agent) in World War I, 100 thousand of them died.

BEAT YOURSELF!

In 1921, the Red Army also used military poison gases. But already against own people. In those years, the whole Tambov region was engulfed in unrest: the peasantry rebelled against the predatory surplus appropriation. The troops under the command of M. Tukhachevsky used a mixture of chlorine and phosgene against the rebels. Here is an excerpt from order No. 0016 of June 12, 1921: “The forests where the bandits are located must be cleared with poisonous gases. Precisely expect that a cloud of suffocating gases will spread to the entire massif, destroying everything that is hidden in it.

Only during one gas attack, 20 thousand inhabitants died, and in three months two thirds of the male population of the Tambov region were destroyed. This was the only use of poisonous substances in Europe since the end of the First World War.

MYSTERIOUS GAMES

The First World War ended with the defeat of the German troops and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. Germany was forbidden the development and production of any types of weapons, the training of military specialists. However, on April 16, 1922, bypassing the Treaty of Versailles, Moscow and Berlin signed a secret agreement on military cooperation.

Production was established on the territory of the USSR German weapons and military training. Near Kazan, the Germans trained future tankmen, near Lipetsk - flight crews. A joint school was opened in Volsk, which trained specialists in the management chemical warfare. New types of chemical weapons were created and tested here. Near Saratov, joint research was carried out on the use of combat gases in war conditions, methods of protection personnel and subsequent deactivation. All this was extremely beneficial and useful for the Soviet military - they learned from representatives best army that time.

Naturally, both sides were extremely interested in maintaining the strictest secrecy. Leakage of information could lead to a grandiose international scandal. In 1923, a joint Russian-German enterprise "Bersol" was built in the Volga region, where mustard gas production was set up in one of the secret workshops. Every day, 6 tons of newly produced chemical warfare agent were sent to warehouses. However, the German side did not receive a single kilogram. Just before the start-up of the plant, the Soviet side forced the Germans to break the agreement.

In 1925, the heads of most states signed the Geneva Protocol, which banned the use of asphyxiating and poisonous substances. However, again, not all countries have signed it, including Italy. In 1935, Italian planes sprayed mustard gas over Ethiopian troops and civilian settlements. Nevertheless, the League of Nations reacted to this criminal act very condescendingly and did not take serious measures.

FAILED PAINTER

In 1933, the Nazis came to power in Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, who declared that the USSR posed a threat to peace in Europe and the revived German army had the main goal of destroying the first socialist state. By this time, thanks to cooperation with the USSR, Germany had become a leader in the development and production of chemical weapons.

At the same time, Goebbels' propaganda called poisonous substances the most humane weapon. According to military theorists, they allow you to capture enemy territory without unnecessary casualties. It is strange that Hitler supported this.

Indeed, during the First World War, he himself, then still a corporal of the 1st company of the 16th Bavarian Infantry Regiment, only miraculously survived after an English gas attack. Blinded and suffocating from chlorine, lying helplessly in a hospital bed, the future Fuhrer said goodbye to his dream of becoming a famous painter.

At the time, he was seriously contemplating suicide. And just 14 years later, behind the back of Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler stood the entire most powerful military-chemical industry in Germany.

COUNTRY IN A GAS MASK

Chemical weapons have distinguishing feature: it is not expensive to manufacture and does not require high technology. In addition, its presence allows you to keep in suspense any country in the world. That is why in those years chemical protection in the USSR became a national matter. No one doubted that poisonous substances would be used in the war. The country began to live in a gas mask in literally the words.

A group of athletes made a record campaign run in gas masks 1,200 kilometers long along the route Donetsk-Kharkov-Moscow. All military and civilian exercises took place with the use of chemical weapons or their imitation.

In 1928, an aircraft was modeled over Leningrad. chemical attack using 30 aircraft. The next day, British newspapers wrote: "Chemical rain literally fell on the heads of passers-by."

WHAT IS HITLER FEARED

Hitler did not dare to use chemical weapons, although in 1943 alone Germany produced 30,000 tons of poisonous substances. Historians claim that Germany came close to using them twice. But the German command was given to understand that, if the Wehrmacht used chemical weapons, the whole of Germany would be flooded with a poisonous substance. Given the huge population density, the German nation would simply cease to exist, and the entire territory would turn into a desert for several decades, completely uninhabitable. And the Fuhrer understood this.

In 1942, the Kwantung Army used chemical weapons against Chinese troops. It turned out that Japan is very advanced in the development of BOV. Having captured Manchuria and northern China, Japan set its sights on the USSR. For this, the latest chemical and biological weapons were developed.

In Harbin, in the center of Pingfan, under the guise of a sawmill, a special laboratory was built, where victims were brought at night in the strictest secrecy for testing. The operation was so secret that even the locals did not suspect anything. Development Plan the latest weapons mass destruction belonged to the microbiologist Shiru Issy. The scope is evidenced by the fact that 20 thousand scientists were involved in research in this area.

Soon Pingfan and 12 other cities were turned into death factories. People were considered only as raw materials for experiments. All this went beyond any humanity and humanity. The activity of Japanese specialists in the development of chemical and bacteriological weapons of mass destruction resulted in hundreds of thousands of victims among the Chinese population.

A PLAGUE ON BOTH YOUR HOUSES!..

At the end of the war, the Americans sought to obtain all the chemical secrets of the Japanese and prevent them from entering the USSR. General MacArthur even promised Japanese scientists protection from prosecution. In exchange, Issy handed over all documents to the United States. Not a single Japanese scientist was convicted, and American chemists and biologists received a huge and invaluable material. Detrick, Maryland, became the first center for improving chemical weapons.

It was here that in 1947 there was a sharp breakthrough in the improvement of airborne spray systems, which made it possible to evenly treat huge areas with poisonous substances. In the 1950s and 1960s, the military conducted many experiments in absolute secrecy, including spraying substances over more than 250 settlements, including cities such as San Francisco, St. Louis, and Minneapolis.

The protracted war in Vietnam caused harsh criticism from the US Senate. The American command, in violation of all rules and conventions, ordered the use of chemicals in the fight against partisans. 44% of all forest areas South Vietnam were treated with defoliants and herbicides designed to remove foliage and completely destroy vegetation. Of the numerous species of trees and shrubs of the tropical rainforest, only single species of trees and a few species of thorny grasses that are not suitable for livestock feed remain.

The total amount of pesticides used by the US military from 1961 to 1971 was 90,000 tons. The US military claimed that their herbicides in small doses are not lethal to humans. Nevertheless, the UN passed a resolution banning the use of herbicides and tear gas, and US President Nixon announced the closure of chemical and biological weapons programs.

In 1980, a war broke out between Iraq and Iran. Chemical warfare agents, which do not require large expenditures, have again entered the scene. Factories were built on Iraqi territory with the help of the FRG, and S. Hussein got the opportunity to produce chemical weapons within the country. The West turned a blind eye to the fact that Iraq began to use chemical weapons in the war. This was also explained by the fact that the Iranians took 50 American citizens hostage.

The cruel, bloody confrontation between S. Hussein and Ayatollah Khomeini was considered a kind of revenge on Iran. However, S. Hussein also used chemical weapons against his own citizens. Accusing the Kurds of plotting and aiding the enemy, he sentenced an entire Kurdish village to death. For this, nerve gas was used. The Geneva Agreement was grossly violated once again.

BYE WEAPONS!

On January 13, 1993, representatives of 120 states signed the Chemical Weapons Convention in Paris. It is prohibited to produce, store and use. For the first time in world history, an entire class of weapons must disappear. The colossal reserves accumulated over 75 years of industrial production turned out to be useless.

From now on under international control all research centers were included. The situation can be explained not only by concern for the environment. States with nuclear weapons do not need competing countries with unpredictable policies that possess weapons of mass destruction comparable in impact to nuclear weapons.

Russia has the largest reserves - 40,000 tons are officially declared, although some experts believe that there are much more of them. In the USA - 30 thousand tons. At the same time, American OV is packed in barrels made of light duralumin alloy, the shelf life of which does not exceed 25 years.

The technologies used in the United States are significantly inferior to Russian ones. But the Americans had to hurry, and they immediately set about burning OM on Johnston Atoll. Since the utilization of gases in furnaces takes place in the ocean, there is practically no danger of contamination of populated areas. Russia's problem is that stocks of this type of weapon are located in densely populated areas, which exclude such a method of destruction.

Despite the fact that Russian agents are stored in cast-iron containers, the shelf life of which is much longer, but it is not infinite. Russia first of all seized powder charges from shells and bombs filled with a chemical warfare agent. At least, there is no danger of an explosion and the spread of OM.

In addition, by this step, Russia has shown that it is not even considering the possibility of using this class of weapons. The stocks of phosgene produced in the mid-1940s have also been completely destroyed. The destruction took place in the village of Planovy, Kurgan Region. It is here that the main reserves of sarin, soman, as well as extremely toxic VX substances are located.

Chemical weapons were also destroyed in a primitive barbaric way. It happened in deserted areas Central Asia: a huge pit was dug out, where a fire was made, in which the deadly "chemistry" was burned. In almost the same way, in the 1950s-1960s, OM was disposed of in the village of Kambar-ka in Udmurtia. Of course, in modern conditions this cannot be done, so it was built here modern enterprise, designed to detoxify the 6,000 tons of lewisite stored here.

Most large stocks mustard gas is stored in the warehouses of the Gorny settlement, located on the Volga, in the very place where the Soviet-German school once operated. Some containers are already 80 years old, while secure storage OV requires more and more costs, because there is no expiration date for combat gases, but metal containers become unusable.

In 2002, an enterprise equipped with the latest German equipment and using unique domestic technologies: degassing solutions are used to disinfect military poison gas. All this happens when low temperatures excluding the possibility of an explosion. It is fundamentally different and most safe way. There are no world analogues to this complex. Even rain runoff does not leave the site. Experts assure that for all the time there was not a single leak of a toxic substance.

AT THE BOTTOM

More recently, a new problem has arisen: hundreds of thousands of bombs and shells filled with poisonous substances have been found at the bottom of the seas. Rusted barrels are a time bomb of enormous destructive power, capable of exploding at any moment. The decision to bury seabed German poisonous arsenals were taken by the Allied forces immediately after the end of the war. It was hoped that over time the containers would cover the sedimentary rocks and the burial would become safe.

However, time has shown that this decision was wrong. Now three such cemeteries have been discovered in the Baltic: near the Swedish island of Gotland, in the Skagerrak Strait between Norway and Sweden, and off the coast of the Danish island of Bornholm. For several decades, the containers have rusted and are no longer able to provide tightness. According to scientists, the complete destruction of cast-iron containers can take from 8 to 400 years.

In addition, large stockpiles of chemical weapons are flooded off east coast USA and in northern seas under the jurisdiction of Russia. The main danger is that mustard gas has begun to seep out. The first result was mass death starfish in the Dvina Bay. Research data showed traces of mustard gas in a third marine life this water area.

CHEMICAL TERRORISM THREAT

Chemical terrorism is a real danger threatening humanity. This is confirmed by the gas attack in the subways of Tokyo and Mitsumoto in 1994-1995. From 4 thousand to 5.5 thousand people received severe poisoning. 19 of them have died. The world shook. It became clear that any of us could become a victim of a chemical attack.

As a result of the investigation, it turned out that the sectarians acquired the technology for the production of the poisonous substance in Russia and managed to establish its production in the simplest conditions. Experts talk about several more cases of the use of agents in the countries of the Middle East and Asia. Dozens, if not hundreds of thousands of militants were trained in bin Laden's camps alone. They were trained, among other things, in the methods of conducting chemical and bacteriological warfare. According to some reports, biochemical terrorism was the leading discipline there.

In the summer of 2002, the Hamas group threatened to use chemical weapons against Israel. The problem of non-proliferation similar weapons mass destruction has become much more serious than it seemed, since the size of live ammunition allows them to be transported even in a small briefcase.

"SAND" GAS

Today, military chemists are developing two types of non-lethal chemical weapons. The first is the creation of substances, the use of which will have a destructive effect on technical means: from increasing the friction force of rotating parts of machines and mechanisms to breaking the insulation in conductive systems, which will lead to the impossibility of their use. The second direction is the development of gases that do not lead to the death of personnel.

The colorless and odorless gas acts on the central nervous system of a person and disables it in a matter of seconds. Non-lethal, these substances affect people, temporarily causing them to daydream, euphoria or depression. Gases of the CS and CR groups are already used by the police in many countries of the world. Experts believe that the future belongs to them, since they are not included in the convention.

Alexander GUNKOVSKY

The basis of the damaging effect of chemical weapons is toxic substances (S), which have a physiological effect on the human body.

Unlike other military means, chemical weapons effectively destroy the enemy's manpower over a large area without destroying materiel. This is a weapon of mass destruction.

Together with the air, toxic substances penetrate into any premises, shelters, military equipment. Damage persists for some time, objects and terrain become infected.

Types of poisonous substances

Poisonous substances under the shell of chemical munitions are in solid and liquid form.

At the moment of their application, when the shell is destroyed, they come into a combat state:

vaporous (gaseous);
aerosol (drizzle, smoke, fog);
drip-liquid.

Poisonous substances are the main damaging factor of chemical weapons.

Characteristics of chemical weapons

Such weapons are shared:

According to the type of physiological effects of OM on the human body.
For tactical purposes.
By the speed of the coming impact.
According to the resistance of the applied OV.
By means and methods of application.

Human exposure classification:

OV nerve agent action. Deadly, fast-acting, persistent. They act on the central nervous system. The purpose of their use is the rapid mass incapacitation of personnel with the maximum number of deaths. Substances: sarin, soman, tabun, V-gases.
OV skin blister action. Deadly, slow acting, persistent. They affect the body through the skin or respiratory organs. Substances: mustard gas, lewisite.
OV of general toxic action. Deadly, fast acting, unstable. They disrupt the function of the blood to deliver oxygen to the tissues of the body. Substances: hydrocyanic acid and cyanogen chloride.
OV suffocating action. Deadly, slow acting, unstable. The lungs are affected. Substances: phosgene and diphosgene.
OV psychochemical action. Non-lethal. They temporarily affect the central nervous system, affect mental activity, cause temporary blindness, deafness, a sense of fear, restriction of movement. Substances: inuclidyl-3-benzilate (BZ) and lysergic acid diethylamide.
OV irritating action (irritants). Non-lethal. They act quickly, but for a short time. Outside the infected zone, their effect stops after a few minutes. These are tear and sneezing substances that irritate the upper respiratory tract and can affect the skin. Substances: CS, CR, DM(adamsite), CN(chloroacetophenone).

Damage factors of chemical weapons

Toxins are chemical protein substances of animal, plant or microbial origin with high toxicity. Typical representatives: butulic toxin, ricin, staphylococcal entsrotoxin.

The damaging factor determined by toxodose and concentration. The zone of chemical contamination can be divided into the focus of exposure (people are massively affected there) and the zone of distribution of the infected cloud.

First use of chemical weapons

Chemist Fritz Haber was a consultant to the German War Office and is called the father of chemical weapons for his work in the development and use of chlorine and other poisonous gases. The government set the task before him - to create chemical weapons with irritating and toxic substances. It's a paradox, but Haber believed that with the help of a gas war, he would save many lives by ending the trench war.

The history of application begins on April 22, 1915, when the German military first launched a chlorine gas attack. A greenish cloud arose in front of the trenches of the French soldiers, which they watched with curiosity.

When the cloud came close, a sharp smell was felt, the soldiers stinged in the eyes and nose. The mist burned the chest, blinded, choked. The smoke moved deep into the French positions, sowing panic and death, followed by German soldiers with bandages on their faces, but they had no one to fight with.

By evening, chemists from other countries found out what kind of gas it was. It turned out that any country can produce it. Salvation from him turned out to be simple: you need to cover your mouth and nose with a bandage soaked in a solution of soda, and plain water on a bandage weakens the effect of chlorine.

After 2 days, the Germans repeated the attack, but the Allied soldiers soaked clothes and rags in puddles and applied them to their faces. Thanks to this, they survived and remained in position. When the Germans entered the battlefield, machine guns “spoke” to them.

Chemical weapons of the First World War

On May 31, 1915, the first gas attack on the Russians took place. Russian troops mistook the greenish cloud for camouflage and brought even more soldiers to the front line. Soon the trenches filled with corpses. Even the grass died from the gas.

In June 1915, they began to use a new poisonous substance - bromine. It was used in projectiles.

In December 1915 - phosgene. It smells like hay and has a lingering effect. Cheapness made it easy to use. At first they were produced in special cylinders, and by 1916 they began to make shells.

Bandages did not save from blistering gases. It penetrated through clothes and shoes, causing burns on the body. The area was poisoned for more than a week. Such was the king of gases - mustard gas.

Not only the Germans, their opponents also began to produce gas-filled shells. In one of the trenches of the First World War, Adolf Hitler was also poisoned by the British.

For the first time, Russia also used this weapon on the battlefields of the First World War.

Chemical weapons of mass destruction

Experiments with chemical weapons took place under the guise of developing poisons for insects. Used in the gas chambers of concentration camps "Cyclone B" - hydrocyanic acid - an insecticidal agent.

"Agent Orange" - a substance for deleafing vegetation. Used in Vietnam, soil poisoning caused severe illness and mutations in the local population.

In 2013, in Syria, in the suburbs of Damascus, a chemical attack was carried out on a residential area - the lives of hundreds of civilians were claimed, including many children. A nerve agent was used, most likely Sarin.

One of the modern variants of chemical weapons is binary weapons. It comes in combat readiness as a result of a chemical reaction after the combination of two harmless components.

Victims of chemical weapons of mass destruction are all those who fell into the strike zone. Back in 1905 it was signed international agreement on the non-use of chemical weapons. To date, 196 countries around the world have signed up to the ban.

In addition to chemical to weapons of mass destruction and biological.

Types of protection

Collective. The shelter can provide long stays for people without personal protective equipment if it is equipped with filter-ventilation kits and is well sealed.
Individual. Gas mask, protective clothing and a personal chemical bag (PPI) with antidote and liquid to treat clothing and skin lesions.

Prohibition on use

Humanity was shocked by the terrible consequences and huge losses of people after the use of weapons of mass destruction. Therefore, in 1928, the Geneva Protocol came into force on the prohibition of the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other similar gases and bacteriological agents. This protocol prohibits the use of not only chemical, but also biological weapons. In 1992, another document came into force, the Chemical Weapons Convention. This document complements the Protocol, it speaks not only of a ban on the manufacture and use, but also on the destruction of all chemical weapons. The implementation of this document is controlled by a specially created committee at the UN. But not all states signed this document, for example, it was not recognized by Egypt, Angola, North Korea, South Sudan. He also entered legal effect in Israel and Myanmar.