Was versteht man unter Chemischen Waffen?

Together with nuclear and biological agents, chemical weapons make up the group of so-called weapons of mass destruction. Development, production and use have been prohibited since the international Biological Weapons Convention of 1971. As weapons of mass destruction, chemical weapons claim many fatalities and injured but are relatively cheap to produce. This is why, for a long time, they were considered the 'atomic bomb of the man on the street'. The first chemical weapons were developed during World War I.

Chemical weapons consist of a chemical agent and a delivery system that propels this agent to its target. Chemical agents can choke, disable or poison. There are toxins that damage skin, the lungs, nerves or the blood. The first chemical weapons simply consisted of toxic gases that were known from the production of chemicals, such as chlorine or phosgene. Later, new agents were produced synthetically, purely for the purpose of using them for military warfare. Mines, hand grenades, grenades, bombs, spray tanks or missile warheads are used as means of delivery.