Your audience may need to be reminded of the dangers of these and may not be familiar with
them. They include nuclear weapons, chemical agents and biological agents.
Chemical agents were used in World War 1—mustard gas, chlorine, and others. They killed an
estimated 100,000 soldiers. They were not used in World War 2, apparently because Hitler had
experience with gas in the First World War and feared Allied retaliation. Both sides had
preparations to use it but did not. Chemical agents –also called “poison gas”–were used by the
Italians in their invasion of Ethiopia in the 1930s and probably by Japan in China in the World
War. They were used by Syria in 2013 against rebels. They are local in impact and wind makes
them dangerous to both sides.
Biological agents. This means essentially, weaponizing diseases, and potentially are far worse
than nuclear weapons. The Allies had weaponized anthrax in World War 2 but never used it.
The infamous Japanese Unit 731 in Manchuria in WW 2 experimented with weaponizing
anthrax, typhus and bubonic plague. They exposed Chinese populations to some of the agents,
with an unknown death toll but some tens of thousands is generally considered to be accurate.
Nuclear weapons. Obviously used in 1945 against Hiroshima and Nagasaki and not used since.
Fallout and radiation exposure is dangerous, and long-lasting. However, plain old firebombing
on Tokyo killed just as many people as Hiroshima and almost as many in Hamburg in Germany.
Dirty bombs. This refers to radioactive material, such as waste from hospital x-ray or waste from
a reactor, wrapped in an explosive like dynamite. It is not a nuclear weapon but still may spread
radioactivity over parts of a city. This is the most likely for terrorists to use.
[The first link below is a good summary of weapons of mass destruction. The second is about
Japanese Unit 731, unpleasant reading but does indicate some of the issues].
https://www.army-technology.com/uncategorized/deadliest-weapons/
https://allthatsinteresting.com/unit-731
