What Technologies Have Been Used to Kill People, and Why?
What technologies have been used to kill people, and why?
Killing technology has been on show during the major wars in the 20th century; and the killing rate increased drastically in the last century. During 20th century major developments took place in gas weapons, small arms, large guns and weapons of mass destruction which were in use during World War 1 and World War 2. Killing was not seen as an objective in war however, it was seen as being a more humane method and to make war shorter. The First World War was described as “chemists’ war” due to the improvement in gas warfare; the Second World War described as “physicists’ war” due to the development of weapons of mass destruction. Some technologies or practices that were developed for the purpose of killing during warfare have been introduced into capital punishment or personal protection. [1], [2]
During the Great War the poison gas was one of the most feared weapons even though it was machine guns that ultimately killed the largest number of people. These gases comprised of lethal elements like phosgene and chlorine; it was a major component in First World War and was very widespread which gave many people the view that it was “the chemists’ war”. One of the advantages of gas attack compared to the conventional artillery was that hiding in the trenches alone wasn’t an option anymore. Though there was no instant death with poisonous gases it would leave anyone in heavy contact with it in agony for days. In order to counter the poison gas effect many countries had come up with gas masks, it significantly reduced the number of casualties however, the soldiers who were not able to use the masks were often left in distress and they would eventually die. Poisonous gases was a terrifying weapon however its impact rather like the tank isn’t obvious, during the war it only caused 3% of the fatalities. The use of lethal gases would be further used in wars again for killing of civilians and also for capital
Killing technology has been on show during the major wars in the 20th century; and the killing rate increased drastically in the last century. During 20th century major developments took place in gas weapons, small arms, large guns and weapons of mass destruction which were in use during World War 1 and World War 2. Killing was not seen as an objective in war however, it was seen as being a more humane method and to make war shorter. The First World War was described as “chemists’ war” due to the improvement in gas warfare; the Second World War described as “physicists’ war” due to the development of weapons of mass destruction. Some technologies or practices that were developed for the purpose of killing during warfare have been introduced into capital punishment or personal protection. [1], [2]
During the Great War the poison gas was one of the most feared weapons even though it was machine guns that ultimately killed the largest number of people. These gases comprised of lethal elements like phosgene and chlorine; it was a major component in First World War and was very widespread which gave many people the view that it was “the chemists’ war”. One of the advantages of gas attack compared to the conventional artillery was that hiding in the trenches alone wasn’t an option anymore. Though there was no instant death with poisonous gases it would leave anyone in heavy contact with it in agony for days. In order to counter the poison gas effect many countries had come up with gas masks, it significantly reduced the number of casualties however, the soldiers who were not able to use the masks were often left in distress and they would eventually die. Poisonous gases was a terrifying weapon however its impact rather like the tank isn’t obvious, during the war it only caused 3% of the fatalities. The use of lethal gases would be further used in wars again for killing of civilians and also for capital