Riddle of the Rhine | Page 7

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what precautions are available and consistent with our plans for world
peace.
A Critical Point in Disarmament.--Probably never before in the history
of man has Disarmament figured as such a vitally urgent national and
international measure. Discussions and official utterances reveal a very
disquieting tendency.
When compared with the methods, armament and materials of the war
in 1914, those of 1918 reveal basic changes which a hundred years of
former peace could not have brought about. These developments are
not merely of fact, but they represent the opening of new fields, visions
of possibilities previously undreamed of by the practical soldier. By the
concentrated application of electricity, chemistry, and other sciences to
war two dominating factors have emerged, whose importance to war,
and danger for world peace, can only gain momentum with time. The
scientific or technical initiative, the invention of a deadly new chemical,
wireless-directed aeroplane, or other war appliance and their incidence

on war through large scale production in the convertible industries of
peace constitute a challenge which, if unanswered by practical schemes
for world disarmament, will render the latter worse than useless, by
aggravating the danger of sudden decisive attack in an otherwise
disarmed world.
There is a tendency to ignore this aspect of disarmament. We appear to
be thinking in terms of a world still organised for war on 1914 lines.
The disbanding of the German army and semi-military organisations,
and the reduction of her artillery and small arms seem to occupy all our
attention. Such, it might be urged, is the immediate need; we can leave
the future to find answers to the other problems. This answer is
dangerous, for it ignores the disarmament aspect of what is perhaps the
most important development in the modern offensive campaign. We
refer to poison gas or chemical warfare. This, the crux of all
disarmament, is dealt with at some length in the chapters which follow.
A curiously illogical attitude of mind has arisen in certain quarters.
There is a tendency among strong adherents to the ideal of world peace
to regard themselves as its sole possessors. Every thinking civilian and
soldier must adhere to such an ideal; the only point at issue is the
method of approaching it. The mere fact that a League of Nations is
called into being to attain world peace implies recognition of the fact
that a definite mechanism and definite measures are required for the
purpose; this is self-evident. There are those who, having established
their League of Nations, feel that they can attain chemical peace by
merely prohibiting chemical war, in other words, they expect their
mechanism to achieve its object without functioning, to attain peace by
its mere existence. Just as special measures are required to control
disarmament in the older branches of warfare, in the same way special
measures, but not the same measures, are required to control the
chemical peace. Chemical peace guaranteed by a mere signature is no
peace at all.
In a recent Press utterance we find an appeal to prohibit chemical
warfare and to "trust the general sentiment of the civilised world to say
that the lesson has been learnt in that sense." "There is the League of

Nations to furnish that sentiment with a mouthpiece and a sanction."
We agree, but to stop there is dangerous, the most important thing
which it must furnish is a mechanism of control, a check, or guarantee.
This question is one of the most important which confronts us for world
peace. It merits the most careful consideration.
Even responsible and relevant officials who admit that their League
must do more than issue edicts, that their mechanism must function, are
ignoring the specific technical aspect of the war methods whose use we
wish to limit. This matter will receive later attention.
The following pages, therefore, are an attempt to represent the salient
points in the development of chemical warfare, its causes, results, and
future. Such an attempt cannot limit itself to merely British
developments, and this is not a final detailed memoir of British
chemical warfare. Further, in considering the future, we examine
another aspect of chemical warfare. Facts lead us to believe that it was
purely the most open and obvious activity in a whole campaign of
chemical aggression which had effective unity of conception and
direction long before the war started.
Need for a Balanced View of Chemical Warfare.--The facts of
chemical warfare have probably been less ventilated than those of any
other important war development. Yet no subject has aroused more
general and intense feeling. Tanks, aircraft, the different campaigns,
enemy memoirs, and a variety of war subjects, have received a
considerable measure of publicity, some more than full measure. Grave
questions are pending in which the chemical aspect of national defence
is a prominent factor. However