According to the results of World War I, several countries concluded several agreements, according to which a ban was introduced on the use and use of certain types of weapons, in particular, chemical and bacteriological. One of the most famous agreements was the Geneva Convention, dated 1925 (Geneva Protocol).
The result of this convention was the signing of a ban on the use of several asphyxiating and poisonous gases, as well as bacteriological weapons. Noteworthy. That the protocol prohibited only the use of these weapons during wars and armed conflicts, but not their production or movement. In this article, we will talk about several types of weapons, most of which were invented in the 20th century and banned for use by international laws.
Some of the presented types of weapons are prohibited for use in any conflict, others cannot be used only against the civilian population.
We did not include nuclear weapons in this list, since everyone already knows about its ban, our goal is to tell you about lesser known, but no less terrible inventions.
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Napalm
Napalm is a liquid with flammable properties. It is extremely dangerous, and its production involves the synthesis of thickeners and fuel derived from oil. Napalm was invented in 1942 in the laboratory of Harvard University, and became widely used during attacks on buildings occupied by the enemy. Antipersonnel ammunition was later produced from napalm.
Napalm was first used in the capture of Berlin at the end of World War II. The US Air Force dropped aerial bombs from bombers during raids on the city. Despite the fact that the use of napalm is not prohibited during hostilities, it is banned for attacks on civilians. This protocol was signed at a UN meeting in 1980.
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Blinding Laser Weapons
Blinding laser beams cannot kill, but they can damage the retina so much that it leads to permanent blindness. One of these types of weapons is the Disturber ZM-87 laser from the People's Republic of China, specially designed to remotely blind a person. The laser was produced in the amount of two dozen before its use was prohibited at the 1995 Vienna Convention.
This type of weapon is produced by many countries, however, for example, the American Dazzler laser, striking eyesight, does not cause permanent blindness. It was actively used during the conflict in Iraq in 2006. According to the US military, the laser was used to blind drivers suspected of transporting explosives who refused to stop at the checkpoint. For the first time, laser weapons were used by the British against the Argentine military during the Falkland Islands war.
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Flamethrowers
“Pork Chop Hill Height”, “Mad Max 2”, “Guardians”, in all these films you could see flamethrowers in action. And this is the first thing that occurred to you, in your life you have seen at least one film where villains (that’s how) use a flamethrower. Many directors have set themselves the goal of showing all the horror that this weapon generates. And to a certain extent, they managed to convey to the viewer the reality of destruction by knocking down the raid of romance that is present in the stories of battles.
It is believed that the first prototypes of flamethrowers were used by the ancient Greeks around the 1st century BC. e. Flamethrowers achieved the greatest popularity during the Second World War, when both sides were actively used. This led to painful deaths of thousands of people. They were also in demand during the wars in Korea and Vietnam. Despite the constant protests and the many signed petitions, they were not completely banned, motivating their position with practical and commercial benefits.
By the way, on the pages of our site thebiggest.ru you can find an interesting article about the largest battles of the Second World War.
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Panji Sticks
You must be thinking that there are many more deadly and technically sophisticated weapons in the world that are not prohibited by the international protocol. Why exactly panji sticks? This type of weapon has a long history, mixed up with terrible pain, accompanied by the agony of all who fall into the trap. As a rule, panji sticks injured in the lower leg, causing serious injuries to the victim.
Panji are pointed sticks and bamboo that burst into the ground at an acute angle and mask. A soldier who jumps on a stick receives terrible injuries to his legs, which often lead to amputation, however, deaths are quite rare. Now do you understand why they are so scary? They are not intended for murder, but with the goal of incapacitating the enemy with particular cruelty. Their use during military conflicts was prohibited at the 1989 Geneva Convention.
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Anti-personnel landmines
Unlike anti-tank mines, land anti-personnel mines are specially designed for use against personnel or civilians. The vast majority of these mines do not kill, but cripple the victim. Despite the fact that officially they should be used only against the military, hundreds of cases have been recorded when they were installed in the vicinity of cities to injure civilians.
Over the past 40 years, the world community has repeatedly tried to ban the use of anti-personnel mines, in particular, the 1977 Convention (Ottawa Treaty) and 1992 were able to convince some countries to abandon the use of these weapons. However, the leading military powers refused to sign the agreements, guided by security considerations and the inability to control their manufacture.
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Biological weapons
The bubonic plague or Black Death at one time terrified people, taking with them half of the world's population. Every year, several thousand cases of plague are recorded in the world, which reminds people of the possibility of the re-development of the epidemic. However, scientists are not concerned at all with the natural process of the development of the disease, they are afraid that the deadly virus can be used by terrorist organizations as an effective biological weapon.
If any criminal group can develop a new strain of bacteria Yersinia pestis that causes bubonic plague, which cannot be cured by known antibacterial agents, which has happened more than once during epidemics, humanity may be on the verge of complete destruction.
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Phosphor Ammunition
The use of phosphorus munitions was first recorded during the First World War. Such weapons were used by British and American troops, as well as, to a much lesser extent, the Japanese army. Ammunition was “stuffed” with air bombs and mortar shells. In different periods of history, these ammunition was used against the civilian population of cities such as Tokyo, Hamburg and London.
White phosphorus is often an allotropic form of phosphorus used in smoke grenades and incendiary type ammunition. A certain amount of white phosphorus can leave third-degree burns on the skin of a person, cause kidney and heart failure, which ultimately leads to death. The use of ammunition from white phosphorus against the civilian population was banned in 1980 by signing an agreement. Since then, the implementation of the rules of the convention has been strictly regulated by the military anywhere in the world.
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Doom-Doom Bullets
The expansive bullet is made with a special design with a cavity inside. Its feature is that after hitting the target, the bullet is flattened, expanding the front part. Typically, such bullets are characterized by higher accuracy and fewer harmful emissions, while they penetrate soft tissues at a lower speed than conventional bullets. Expanding inside, bullets do more harm to the victim. For the first time the use of such bullets was prohibited by the Hague Convention, held in 1899.
Despite this prohibition, such bullets are widely used by civilians for self-defense. They are also used by special police units and hunters. This is motivated by a lower risk of defeating innocent people nearby and the possibility of quickly incapacitating a criminal. Recently, the government of some countries, in particular the United States, has been discussing the possibility of producing unfolding bullets for personal weapons.
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Cluster bombs
Cluster bomb is a "designer" of several smaller ammunition, assembled in one shell. As a rule, bomb cartridges are sent to military targets by dropping projectiles by aircraft bombers. Despite the fact that cluster bombs are actively used in many military conflicts, they pose a rather serious threat to the population of peaceful areas. For example, during the Vietnam War, about 7,000 civilians were seriously injured. Until now, explosive remnants of cluster bombs scattered throughout all parts of the country can be found there. Such bombs were used by the US Army relatively recently during the Iraq war. Their use was caused by many casualties among the civilian population stumbling upon unexploded parts of shells.
As a result of the Ottawa Treaty, many countries abandoned the use of bomb cartridges, and signed an obligation to clean the war zones from active ammunition particles. The greatest accumulation of cassette “garbage” is observed in West Asia; today, cleaning up this area is not possible.
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Herd
The herd is one of the nerve weapons of category G. It can be called the first weapon of this type. The substance was first developed by German scientist Gerhard Schrader in 1936. Its toxicity is so strong that it can kill a person by acting on the nervous system.
After the opening of the herd, it was actively used during the Second World War by the troops of the Third Reich. Despite the invention of more advanced types of nerve weapons, the herd was used even in the 80s during the Iran-Iraq war. It, along with sarin and mustard gas, was used by the Iraqi army against the Iranians. As mentioned, the extreme degree of poisoning by the substance will be fatal, among other symptoms: miosis, slow heartbeat, shortness of breath, loss of consciousness and problems with the intestines. The production and storage of herds was prohibited by the results of a 1993 convention examining the issue of refusing to use chemical weapons.
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Mustard gas
There is no more terrifying sight than a man dying before your eyes, covered in terrible blisters and open wounds. However, it is precisely this action that a chemical weapon called mustard gas has. For the first time, mustard gas (another name for mustard gas) was used during the First World War by the forces of the German Empire against the Belgian forces. Later, the Germans themselves suffered from mustard gas when they were attacked by the French army, which recaptured its reserves in 1917.
Since then, mustard gas has been used in several military conflicts, including the war in Syria, when ISIS fighters sent mustard gas to the Syrian army. Its use was banned in 1993, by the same convention that prohibited the herd (signed by more than 160 countries). According to estimates, in 2016, about 90% of the world's reserves of the substance were destroyed.
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Zarin
Surely you've heard at least once about this poisonous substance. Zarin, without a doubt, is one of the most deadly and toxic nerve agents. The effect of gas on the human body leads to suffocation, muscle failure and death, if the antidote is not administered on time.
Sarin left the greatest trace during the Iran-Iraq war (the capture of the Fao Peninsula), when Iraqi forces used gas four times against the Iranian military. Also known cases of sarin use: the attack on the metro in Tokyo (1995) and chemical attacks on Guta (2013).
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Poison VX
VX is a chemical deadly weapon of nerve action. Unlike sarin and herd, it is a type V agent. The substance was developed by Ranajit Ghosh and J. F. Newman in the early 50s of the 20th century. It was recognized as a weapon of mass destruction and was banned from being used in 1993 by the Chemical Weapons Convention. However, over the following years, the use of XV was recorded in several military conflicts. For example, in 1988, Iraq used an agent against Kurdish rebels. VX traces were discovered in 2017 during the murder of the brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
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Newbie
Poisonant Novice is our VX counterpart. It was made in the second half of the 20th century by Soviet chemists for military use. It is believed that this agent is the most deadly known to mankind, but no evidence or rebuttal was found.
Completion
So our list of very scary and inhuman types of weapons has come to an end. We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments to this article. What weapons do you think we need to add to this list, and which ones are obviously superfluous?
Author: Altenko Sergey