When was weapons of mass destruction first used

In another posting on this website World War One propaganda was aired. Back in making use of wartime propaganda techniques that were largely a spur to the postwar advertising industry, by the way--and deploying then-cutting edge technology, a film history of St. Louis was produced that was intended to rally electoral support for what up to that time was the largest bond issue ever undertaken by a US city.

The film, titled, "The Spirit of St. Louis," essentially screened the vision of a city's past promoted by elite interests, and ended with a huge wedding celebration of descendants of 18th century French urban progenitors on the lawn of a sprawling Gothic estate, Alice Roosevelt in attendance by the way, and the program included young dancers in gauzy costumes performing modern dance.

The overwhelmingly working class audiences of St. Louis laughed at it. The bond issue passed mainly because of old-fashioned horse-trading among the local pols. It was still a sophisticated film for its day, and even had a touch that Karl Rove would find familiar and approve of: The town's leading plutocrat, standing on the steps of the local historical society, as an aeroplane landed nearby and an actor dressed as the city's alleged French founder leapt out of the cockpit and walked up the steps to shake hands with His Eminence.

Not quite our Bruckheimerian Bush on the carrier Lincoln, but an adumbration of the arrigance of things to come, to say the least.

Most ordinary folks get it, as they got it then. The difference is the impact of media concentration, the narrowing of public discourse, the dispersal of the old neighborhoods in which class solidarity could be sustained, and the transformation of elections into technical manipulation at the margins and legal machination.

I suspect ordinary folks "get" the character of difference between nukes and TNT. But there are no genuinely public or non-niche venues in which discussion would reveal this. Well, when Truman and Eisenhower were in charge, the truth of nuclear weapons was still unknown.

Someday someone may neutralize our nuclear threat, and we'll have to hope they don't consider us in need of liberating, and if we keep acting like this, we likely will be. Irony Note: Picasso's Guernica was covered, in deference to Republican Party interests, for certain announcements pertaining to Iraq. I guess they thought it would be too much of an insult to Picasso's spirit to read the announcement in front of the painting.

The great master would have been pleased. Imagine the rage if they just declared this monstrosity right before 'Guernica? Although much of its content is now dated, this book remains a valuable educational and historical resource. It includes chapters on WMD programs across the globe chapters 6—22 , providing analysis, maps, charts, and other materials regarding weapon and delivery system development. Croddy, Eric A.

Wirtz, eds. It also covers related concepts, individuals, institutions e. Volume 1 focuses on biological and chemical weapons; Volume 2, on nuclear weapons. Garrett, Benjamin, and John Hart, eds. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, This concise, informative work serves to orient quickly scholars new to WMD topics. It provides an extensive list of acronyms, a chronology of WMD history from BCE to the early 21st century, and a dictionary section that includes entries on specific types of WMD, national WMD programs, and relevant individuals and events e.

Larsen, Jeffrey A. Historical Dictionary of Arms Control and Disarmament. A valuable reference work for students and researchers, particularly those new to the history and unique language of arms control including many acronyms unfamiliar to laypersons and disarmament.

In addition to the dictionary of terms covering conventional, chemical, biological, and nuclear arms control, it also includes useful sections providing a historical chronology of arms control agreements and a glossary of acronyms from antiballistic missile [ABM] to weapons of mass destruction [WMD]. National Air and Space Intelligence Center. Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat. This unclassified edition of a periodic US Air Force report includes assessments of ballistic and cruise missile systems, many of which have a potential WMD delivery role, with a focus on systems developed by states that could represent adversaries to the United States.

Report includes extensive photographs and useful tables and charts providing range and other information on specific systems. The edition of this annual publication provides detailed entries, supplemented by technical details, photos, and schematics, on offensive and defensive missile systems cruise and ballistic and associated munitions from across the globe.

Reference Terms. The phrase entered popular usage in relation to the U. Related Stories. A new study says, Have We Detected Dark Energy? Scientists Say It's a Possibility. Their models could help researchers develop and test