Название: Holding Their Breath: How the Allies Confronted the Threat of Chemical Warfare in World War II
Автор: M. Girard Dorsey
Издательство: Cornell University
Серия: Battlegrounds: Cornell Studies in Military History
Год: 2023
Страниц: 306
Язык: английский
Формат: pdf, epub (true)
Размер: 37.3 MB
Holding Their Breath uncovers just how close Britain, the United States, and Canada came to crossing the red line that restrained chemical weapon use during World War II. Unlike in World War I, belligerents did not release poison gas regularly during the Second World War. Yet, the looming threat of chemical warfare significantly affected the actions and attitudes of these three nations as they prepared their populations for war, mediated their diplomatic and military alliances, and attempted to defend their national identities and sovereignty. The story of chemical weapons and World War II begins in the interwar period as politicians and citizens alike advocated to ban, to resist, and eventually to prepare for gas use in the next war. M. Girard Dorsey reveals, through extensive research in multinational archives and historical literature, that although poison gas was rarely released on the battlefield in World War II, experts as well as lay people dedicated significant time and energy to the weapon's potential use; they did not view chemical warfare as obsolete or taboo.