ABSTRACT
Munitions containing White Phosphorus, burning smoke, riot control agents, and other fillers involving complex chemical compositions such as the Tri-Ethyl Aluminum filled rocket are often classified under “chemical” ordnance. “Chemical ordnance” includes munitions containing a chemical substance designed to kill, injure, or incapacitate through physiological effects, such as nerve, blister, blood, choking, and incapacitating agents. The wartime deployment of chemicals as weapons came a thousand years before the discovery of black powder. By the mid-1800s scientists were producing deadly chemical agents, and facing the same moral questions heard. During the Crimean War, Sir Lyon Playfair requested permission to use cyanide-filled projectiles to break the siege of Sebastopol. The first multinational attempt to limit the use of chemical weapons took place at the Brussels Convention in 1874, followed by conventions in 1899 and 1907. The tactical deployment of chemical weapons reached its operational peak during World War I.
