Background of Biochemical Warfare Development

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Australian infantry with gas masks, Ypres, 1917.

Chemical Warfare in
​World War I

July 28th, 1914- November 11, 1918

WWI was the first global conflict that initiated the first widespread use of chemical weapons- about 3000 chemicals were investigated for military use and 50 toxic agents were deployed on the battlefields across Europe, killing about 90,000 to 100,000 people and leaving 1.3 people injured

​Source: Chemical & Engineering News
By the end of WWI, they had already lost their effectiveness against well-prepared troops. 

Geneva Protocol

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Image Source: https://www.un.org/disarmament/education/presentations/bwc.html

The Protocol for the Prohition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare

June 17, 1925

Due to the unpopular public opinion for chemical warfare, Geneva Protocol- a treaty prohibiting the use of chemical and biological weapons in international armed conflicts was signed at Geneva on June 17, 1925. 
The Geneva Protocol of 1925 banned biological and chemical warfare in international armed conflicts in order to prevent the outbreak of another war on the magnitude of World War I. The Japanese delegation in attendance at the conference had signed the agreement, but since the Japanese Diet did not ratify the agreement, Japan was not bound by the Geneva Protocol. Several countries who had ostensibly agreed to the Protocol were developing their own weapons in secret, and Japan was no exception. ​For more info, check out our blog: http://www.pacificatrocities.org/blog/the-experiments-of-unit-731-torture-in-the-name-of-warfare​

Here is a video on who else broke the Geneva Protocol: 

Activity Suggestion: 

Divide your students up into groups to take a look at Geneva Protocol https://www.state.gov/t/isn/4784.htm

Discussion Questions:

1. Does the Geneva Protocol ask leaders of the world to stop developing biochemical weapon?
2. Why do you think world leaders are still using biochemical warfare?

This content is a supplementary resource guide to our ebook. ​

Unit 731- The Forgotten Asian Auschwitz

The Japanese invasion of China during the Second Sino-Japanese war has left a strong legacy of hate and disgust among many Chinese today. Much of the atrocities committed by the Japanese are now known to most historians. By far, the most despicable and forgotten act against humanity committed by the Imperial Japanese government was its covert biochemical weapons program. Euphemistically labelled as the "Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department" of the Imperial Japanese Army, the Japanese conducted a wide range of cruel and inhumane experiments on prisoners who were often innocent. 

​Imperial Japan's Chemical Warfare Development Program