Innocence Slaughtered: Gas and the Transformation of Warfare and Society - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1910500410 ISBN 13: 9781910500415

Publisher: Uniform, 2015

Synopsis

This collaborative work investigates the unfolding catastrophe that the unleashing of chlorine against the Allied positions meant for individual soldiers and civilians. It describes the hesitation on the German side about the effectiveness, and hence impact on combat operations of the weapon whilst reflecting on the lack of Allied response to the many intelligence pointers that something significant was afoot.It goes on to describe the massive transformation that societies were undergoing as a consequence of industrialisation, science and technology, and the impact these trends were to have on the emergence of what we know today as 'total war'. Chemical warfare pitted the brightest minds from the various belligerents against each other and in some ways this competition revealed early thinking about intellectual superiority that was to define the decades after the Armistice. The ability to survive in a chemically contaminated environment was proof of a higher level of achievement. In simple terms, chemical defence equalled survival of the fittest.* Published 100 years after the first gas attacks* Topical content with current affairs* Discusses the sociology of science and war* Introduction by Ahmet Uzumcu, Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)* Contributions from eleven historians and expertson Gas warfare and chemical weapons* Edited by Dr Jean Pascal Zanders, an independent consultant on disarmament and security

About this title

Review:

"This remarkably documented historical account of the first large-scale use of chemical weapons a century ago comes as a timely reminder of the horrors and human sufferings caused by such an inhumane weapon. Indeed, after recent cases of chemical attacks in the Middle East, the already substantial international efforts to prohibit the use and possession of this weapon of mass destruction and eliminate it forever must reach their ultimate phase. This volume should help decision makers to preserve humanity from this scourge in the future." --Marc Finaud - Senior Programme Advisor, Geneva Centre for Security Policy

"In a centennial year that commemorates the first use of chemical weapons on the Western Front, few would deny its persistent presence in modern memory. For many years, historians have tended to view the subject in national terms. Now, in this seminal collection, Professor Zanders and colleagues deepen and connect these narratives, and show how chemical warfare, shaped by industrial science, fostered new discourses of terror, shock and fear across the world. From shared experiences, lessons were learned, and norms were established, but a century later, the world has yet to see its abolition. This book is a salutary reminder of the horrors of chemical warfare and the challenge they present to mankind." --Roy MacLeod - School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry, University of Sydney

"As we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first major use of chemical weapons in warfare in WWI, the new volume, Innocence Slaughtered by Jean Pascal Zanders and colleagues importantly documents the inhumane and indiscriminate nature of these weapons of mass destruction. This historic volume is a timely reminder, while chlorine is being used in Syria, of the ghastly nature of gas warfare and why we need to abolish these weapons." --Paul F. Walker, Ph.D. - Director, Environmental Security and Sustainability, Green Cross International

About the Author:

Jean Pascal Zanders is an independent consultant on disarmament and security. "

About this edition

• Publisher: Uniform
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1910500410
• ISBN 13: 9781910500415
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272
• Editor: Zanders Jean Pascal