Insecticide use in World War I and II warfare

¶ … insect and human warfare. There is one reference used for this paper.

There have been a number of innovations during early twentieth century in terms of science and warfare. It is important to examine an article concerning the use of insecticides in both military and commercial venues in order to gain a better insight of how these chemicals can be both beneficial and harmful.

World War I

World War I saw the first use of chemicals in a military action when the German troops released a "greenish yellow cloud of chlorine gas on the Allied troops. This experiment led to civilian science and industry being turned to military research and production, in not only Germany, but other nations as well (Russell, 1510)." The production and use of these chemical gases were the first known instances of chemical warfare and contributed to the deaths of thousands throughout Europe.

The introduction of chemicals to kill was not a new concept, as many laboratories had already developed insecticides to eliminate pests. The upside of utilizing these insecticides in combat was many disease carrying pests were destroyed, thus saving lives of military personal. It was during this time that the foe began to be called names such as insect pests in order to eliminate the humanity factor.

World War II

Germany did not look upon the Jewish people as human, but instead as pests which needed to be exterminated. They referred to them as "pestilence, typical parasites, and carriers of bacilli worse than Black Death (Russell, 1520)." The continual use of terms such as these, and the denouncing of the Jews as human had a negative affect on the people over time. This in effect created a sense among military personal that people were not being killed, and therefore it was not morally wrong.

During this time, the American forces were using chemical warfare, but in a different sense. Insecticides were used in the Pacific Theater as a means to kill deadly, disease carrying pests. While the United States mainly used chemicals in this form, they did consider chemical warfare against the Japanese forces and morally excused this by dehumanizing the race; much like the Germans had done to the Jews.

Conclusion

Insecticides have been used similarly for two different wars- the war on pests and the war on humans. While each is seen as a threat in their own respect, the way to eliminate each is referred to as extermination. Over the years, the news media has helped to blur the line between humans and insects through the use of cartoons and articles. While military personal try to make peace with their consciences by dehumanizing their victims and calling them pests, the fact remains that these are actually humans being killed.