How Makers Of Deadly Weapons Felt

The Swedish inventor.Alfred Nobel patented the formula for dynamite, a new explosive, in 1867. This patent, along with others, made him wealthy. Nobel used his money to fund the Nobel Prize.Alfred Nobel patented the formula for dynamite, a new explosive, in 1867. This patent, and others, made him a wealthy man. He used his fortune to endow the Nobel Prize.The Nobel Prize.The primary use of dynamite was in construction. However, its wartime use was not ignored. The explosive first appeared in destructive applications during the Franco-Prussian War.The primary application of dynamite was in construction.The explosive was used in construction. Its wartime use was not ignored. The explosive first appeared in destructive applications during the Franco-Prussian War.

Nobel wrote.Nobel wrote to Austrian Countess Bertha von Suttner, who championed the international peace movement.

Perhaps my factories will end war sooner than your congresses. On the day two army corps can destroy each other in a second, all civilized nations will recoil in horror and disband their troops.

Nobel's words might sound naive given the conflicts ahead. What he expressed, however, was essentially mutual assured destruction.Mutual assured destruction, the deterrence doctrine that supported Cold War geopolitics for decades.Mutual assured destruction was the deterrence doctrine that supported Cold War geopolitics for decades.

The Wright Brothers achieved powered flight in 1903. By 1909, the US Army ordered a "military flyer" design from them."military flyer"Five years later, World War I began. Military aviation advanced quickly during that war.Military aviation advanced by leaps and bounds.Two decades after that, aircraft gained great destructive power in World War II.

Orville Wright initially believed airplane reconnaissance could lower war interest. In 1917, he stated:

We thought governments would see the impossibility of winning by surprise attacks. We thought no country would fight another of equal size if it knew it had to win by wearing out its enemy.

Years later, after the horrors of WWII, an elderly Wright gave an interview.The elderly Wright gave an interview in which he seemed quite chastened.The elderly Wright gave an interview where he seemed quite chastened.

We dared to hope we had invented something that would bring lasting peace to the earth. We were wrong. We underestimated man's ability to hate and corrupt good means for an evil end.

Modern warfare is all but unthinkable.Modern warfare is all but unthinkable.The airplane makes modern warfare all but unthinkable.

J. Robert Oppenheimer.J. Robert Oppenheimer directed the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico during the top-secret Manhattan Project. The US developed the atomic bomb during World War II. His scientific and management skills drove the project's success, which ended the war in Japan with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and started the atomic age.

Oppenheimer was.Oppenheimer was famously ambivalent about the device he created.Receiving a commendation in October 1945, Oppenheimer said:

If atomic bombs are added as new weapons to the arsenals of a warring world, or to the arsenals of nations preparing for war, then mankind will curse the names of Los Alamos and Hiroshima.

Not long after, Oppenheimer visited President Harry S. Truman at the White House. When he told the president he felt he had blood on his hands, Truman replied, "The blood is on my hands; let me worry about that."

Oppenheimer opposed building the next nuclear weapon step: the hydrogen bomb.

The Hungarian-born physicist was Edward Teller.Edward Teller immigrated to the US in the 1930s. He worked on the Manhattan Project, helping build the first atomic bomb. Afterward, Teller became a key designer for the far more powerful hydrogen bomb. He co-invented the "Teller-Ulam" design.Edward Teller moved to the US in the 1930s. He worked on the Manhattan Project, helping build the first atomic bomb. Later, he became a major figure in designing the much stronger hydrogen bomb. He co-invented the "Teller-Ulam" design."Teller-Ulam" designThis design shows the principle behind modern nuclear weapons. Teller is known as the "father of the H-Bomb."

Teller stated, "If we stay strong, we can stabilize the world and have peace based on force." He added, "Peace based on force is not as good as peace based on agreement. In the terrible world where Russians have enslaved millions and killed men, the only peace we can have now is peace based on force."Italian physicist Enrico Fermi was one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century. Fermi actively participated in the Manhattan Project to create the first atomic bomb.American scientist Enrico Fermi led one movement.Linus PaulingThe addendum stated, "Necessarily, such a weapon goes beyond any military goal and enters the range of huge natural catastrophes. It cannot stay confined to a military goal; it becomes a weapon that acts like almost one of genocide."Linus Pauling debated Teller in 1958.Teller argued that a strong defense ensures world peace, just as Pauling did. Teller wanted world peace, but he also felt a strong defense was the best way to achieve it.

If we stay strong, we can stabilize the world and have peace through force. Peace based on force is not as good as peace based on agreement. But in this world, where Russians enslave millions and kill people, the only peace we have now is peace based on force.

Italian physicistEnrico FermiEnrico Fermi was one of the 20th century's greatest scientists. He also participated in the Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bomb.

After World War II, Fermi served on the Atomic Energy Commission's General Advisory Committee. He debated whether research should advance on the H-bomb, which was theoretically possible while the A-bomb was still being developed.

With fellow physicist I.I. Rabi, Fermico-authored an addendumto the committee's report, stating:

[N]ecessarily such a weapon goes past any military goal and enters the scope of huge natural disasters. It cannot stay limited to a military goal; it becomes a weapon that acts almost like genocide.

The committee advised against pursuing H-bomb development. President Harry S. Truman and his advisors overruled them. The first hydrogen bomb detonated.successfullyon November 1, 1952.

German chemist Fritz Haber has a complex history. As a co-inventor of theHaber-Bosch processThis process allowed mass production of ammonia for agricultural fertilizer. Haber vastly increased how many people could feed themselves. Some suggest that3 billion peopleliving todayowe their existenceto the Haber-Bosch process. However, Fritz Haber is better known as the "father of chemical warfare" because of his work weaponizing chlorine gas.

Fritz Haber supported the German cause in World War I. He felt it was his patriotic duty to create weapons that would help his country defeat its enemies. In a 1920 speech,Haber justified his work.He argued that gas was no less humane than other weapons:

Gas as a weapon is not more cruel than flying metal pieces. The partition of fatal diseases is small. There are no mutilations. We cannot yet provide statistical material on illnesses that might follow, but nothing suggests a high frequency. Based on these facts, people would not easily ban gas warfare.

Others.disagreed.In 1925, theGeneva Protocol, was signed, banning chemical weapons. Haber's wife, Clara Immerwahr, the chemist, called weaponized gas "a perversion of science" and ended her life in 1915, possibly because of gas deployment at theHe signed a ban on chemical weapons. Haber's wife, chemist Clara Immerwahr, called weaponized gas "a perversion of science" and ended her life in 1915. This happened possibly because gas was deployed at the Second Battle of Ypres.Second Battle of YpresThe World War I poet Wilfred Owen

World War I poet Wilfred OwenGas! GAS! Quick, boys! - An ecstasy of fumblingwrote his antiwar poem "Dulce et Decorum Est":

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime. -

Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

The use of gas accounted for

91,000 deaths in WWI.

The Harvard chemist Louis Fieser was contracted by the US military in 1940 to work in secret on new weapons. In 1942, during World War II, he focused his work on incendiary substances. He found that a jelled compound of naphthenate and aluminum palmitate worked better than the existing incendiary, thermite. Fieser shortened its name to "napalm."91,000 deathsoccurred in WWI.

Harvard chemist Louis Fieser had beencontracted by the US military in 1940He worked in secret on new weapons. During World War II, Fieser focused his work on incendiary substances. He found that a jelled compound of naphthenate and aluminum palmitate worked better than the existing incendiary, thermite. Fieser shortened the name to "napalm."

The US deployed napalm during World War II, most notably in theMarch 1945 firebombing of TokyoThis bombing claimed about 100,000 Japanese lives, mostly civilians. Two decades later, American troops used napalm in the Vietnam War.

Fieser worried about the chemical's use against people. He insisted he designed it only for use against structures. During Vietnam, he wrote to President Richard Nixon, stating, "It seems to me desirable to try to promote an international agreement to outlaw further use of naplam or naplam-type munitions."

In the early 1970s, Fieserspoke to the HarvardCrimsonHe felt his role as napalm's inventor did not give him special authority to decide its ethical uses:

I found that a jelled fuel burns more efficiently than a free fuel. I do not think I must feel ashamed of making that discovery. I would be the first to suggest outlawing antipersonnel use. But how do you make the difference? Why should the investigator rule on the uses?

By 1944, the US won the conflict with Japan. The massive gap in manpower, resources, and industry meant a Japanese World War II win needed a miracle. Japanese leaders knew this; they hoped inflicting huge American casualties would break the US will to fight.

Japanese naval captain Motoharu Okamura pushed for usingThe man behind the kamikaze attacks stated, ‘Give me 300 planes and I will turn the tide of war.’This meant turning an airplane into a guided missile by having the pilot crash into an enemy ship. In 1944, Okamurapresented this argumentHe said this to his commanders.

I think the only way to win the war is to use crash-dive attacks with our planes. That is the only way. Give me 300 planes and I will turn the tide of war.

The kamikaze program started, andcaused heavy casualtieson Americans late in WWII, but it did not change the outcome.