Biological vs. Chemical Weapons
In the modern world of warfare, technology has progressed to the point where certain weapons have been banned due to their effectiveness at mass annihilation. Two of those weapons include chemical and biological weapons. These weapons are constructed solely to kill mass populations in the quickest amount of time as possible. Their most startling aspect is the cruelty in which lives are extinguished and brutalized. However, these two weapons are latently different. The definition of a chemical weapon is a weapon that uses any amount of toxic properties or chemical substances and that is intended to kill as an act of war. Biological weapons, however, are defined as the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi with intent to kill or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war. Chemical and biological weapons, although both extremely dangerous, actually have distinctive differences that define them in various different categories and levels of destruction. The first difference that can be exposed when looking at biological and chemical weapons are their histories, their creation, and their use in society today. The first account of biological warfare dated back to 1346, when countless numbers of Tartars and Saracens were struck down by a mysterious illness that brought sudden death. The Tartars placed the disease ridden bodies in catapults that flung the deceased into fortified castles and towns, eventually killing the inhabitants in less than a month (Mark). Chemical weapons on the other hand were first truly introduced into warfare during WWI by the French, who used numerous versions of tear gases, ethyl bromoacetate, and chloroacetone. As a result all of these chemical agents disables, incapacitates, or kills humans in the masses with extreme efficiency and ease. This is precisely why in 1922, after chemical and biological weapons were beginning to be utilized frequently, such use of these weapons was