Weapons of mass destruction: A review of its use in history to perpetrate chemical offenses

The use of weapons of mass destruction for military purposes is a problem that has its origins in the early history of humanity. Many substances were used as weapon but the chemical ones were the first to be used in history. The first use of chemical agents dates back to 7th century B.C. during the siege of Cirrha, a Greek city. In the literature of that time there are many examples of the use of chemicals, for example in Thucydides' papers, in which the Greek author describes how the Spartans had burned trees previously soaked with sulphur to produce toxic gases that would have reduced the Plataea city's protections. Unfortunately, their plan failed when the wind direction suddenly changed, poisoning their troops instead. Even the Middle Ages offer many testimonies of the use of chemicals as weapons. A real large-scale use of these substances took place in many other events, for example: during the American Civil war (1861-1865) when General Gilmore used explosive shells against the Confederates. In 1865, when Napoleon used hydrogen for military purposes and in 1900, during the Crimean war, when sulphuric gas was used against the Russian troops near Sevastopol. However, the highest levels of use of chemical agents were achieved during World Wars I and II (WWI and WWII). During these years of wars, the international community deemed necessary to regulate the use of this kind of substances and for this aim a couple of conferences were organized in 1899 and 1907 in The Hague to discuss the regulation of chemical agents' use during war. The most important conference took place in Geneva in 1925 where the Chemical Weapons Convention was born. This work is a review of the historical events involving dangerous chemical agents.