Poison - A Double-edged Civilizational Building Block: Volume I: Reexamining the History of Chemical and Biological Warfare (antiquity to 1899) traces the history of poison as a weapon of war starting at the dawn of modern humans through the 1899 Hague Peace Conference. The conception of poison has drastically altered from its initial definition to the one we understand today as technology and society have developed. This book analyzes the evolution of the use of poison as a weapon; civilizations' confrontation with the dual-use nature of poison; and technological developments that enable and constrain the use of poison as a weapon. The threads intertwine at different stages in history, creating dynamic fields of tension between opportunity and prohibition of poison warfare and between prohibition and technological progress. This strategy explains the ongoing ambivalence towards toxins, and why the norm against poison warfare remained ambiguous. Poison - A Double-edged Civilizational Building Block: Volume I: Reexamining the History of Chemical and Biological Warfare (antiquity to 1899) will be of interest to researchers and students interested in toxicology and chemical and biological warfare agents as well as policy makers, military historians, and people generally interested in scientific history. Outlines the social, political, and scientific development of the concept of poisonAnalyzes the technological developments that enable and constrain the use of poison as a weaponFrames the historic and scientific reasons for classifications of chemical and biological toxins within warfare INDICE: 1. The use of poison for hunting in human evolution 2. The application of poison from the dawn of civilization until the end of Antiquity 3. The application of poison from the Middle Ages up to early Modern Times 4. The 16th to the 19th century: Opposition to poison warfare 5. The rise of chemistry as a science throughout the 19th century
- ISBN: 978-0-12-812770-4
- Editorial: Academic Press
- Encuadernacion: Rústica
- Páginas: 185
- Fecha Publicación: 01/03/2018
- Nº Volúmenes: 1
- Idioma: Inglés