Episode 16: U.S. Pre-War Doubts on the Success of Biological Warfare

After the horrors of what chemical warfare had applied to humans in World War I, several countries took upon matters to discuss about the prohibition to use such measures in war. As one of the leading forces behind the 1925 Geneva Protocol agreement, the United States strongly opposed any usage of biological or chemical warfare. Despite the fact that the U.S. failed to ratify the agreement until the year of 1975, their negative attitude concerning chemical warfare continued all the way up to the outbreak of World War II, when it became evident that some of the participant countries of the war had begun to take measures on both biological and chemical warfare. References 1. https://2009-2017.state.gov/t/isn/4784.htm#treaty 2. National Archives and Records Administration. Box 6 (6) p. 37-39 3. Lee, Nancy. “Introduction to Wang Xuan” in Seeking Justice for Biological Warfare Victims of Unit 731, 2020. 4. Jeans Jr., Roger B. “Alarm in Washington: A Wartime ‘Exposé’ of Japan’s Biological Warfare Program.” Journal of Military History, vol. 71, no. 2, Apr. 2007, pp. 411–439. EBSCOhost, DOI:10.1353/jmh.2007.0126. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pacific-atrocities-education/support