Cold War/Korean War

[turin]

Korea was the first war where the antagonists limited the use of weapons out of fear of their destructive power, ie nukes. It was the first war of the nuclear age, at least the first where both sides had them.

Actually WW2 was the first such war concerning the avoidance of certain weapons due to fear of their power, since chemical warfare was known for its destructivness in WW1 and therefore not used by the opponents, esp. Germany which feared an escalation in this regard. It is said that Hitler opposed chemical warfare due to personal experiences from WW1, however I cannot say wether that holds true.

Concerning the use of nukes you are right of course, since the Korean War actually was the next war after the first use of this kind of WMD.

[Rich]

Chemical weapons are lethal but not of the destructive order of magnitude of nuclear weapons. I also believe they didn't have the psychological impact of nuclear weapons. Also, the only real weapon that could have made any difference in WW-2 was the nerve agent sarin. It was discovered in 1939 but was never synthesized in "great" quantities due to problems stabilizing the gas and developing dispersal means. Soman wasnt discovered until 1944 and was never weaponized. They made a lot of Tabun, and while no-where near as lethal as the first two, was still a weapon of great potential.

Still...you make a valid point. I wonder if Hitler regretted not using his nerve gases as he was blowing his head off in the Chancellery? He would have had he discovered German Intelligence has vastly over-stated the Allied conter-capability.

[chinawhite]

I read a book about secret weapons of WW2 and the chemical weapons came up. Apparently the germans had enough chemical weapons to kill everyone in europe. IT wasn't just mustard gas but was sarin and i think predecessor of VX. turin or something like that. Even though hitler was thinking of operations like warewolf he couldn't bare to use chemical weapons.

The germans also developed a small nuke type weapon like a massive FAE.