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Holding Their Breath: How the Allies Confronted the Threat of Chemical Warfare in World War II

Holding Their Breath uncovers just how close Britain, the United States, and Canada came to crossing the red line that restrained chemical weapon use during World War II. Unlike in World War I, belligerents did not release poison gas regularly during the Second World War. Yet, the looming threat of chemical warfare significantly affected the actions and attitudes of these three nations as they prepared their populations for war, mediated their diplomatic and military alliances, and attempted to defend their national identities and sovereignty.

The story of chemical weapons and World War II begins in the interwar period as politicians and citizens alike advocated to ban, to resist, and eventually to prepare for gas use in the next war. M. Girard Dorsey reveals, through extensive research in multinational archives and historical literature, that although poison gas was rarely released on the battlefield in World War II, experts as well as lay people dedicated significant time and energy to the weapon's potential use; they did not view chemical warfare as obsolete or taboo.

Poison gas was an influential weapon in World War II, even if not deployed in a traditional way, and arms control, for various reasons, worked. Thus, what did not happen is just as important as what did. Holding Their Breath provides insight into these potentialities by untangling World War II diplomacy and chemical weapons use in a new way.

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Holding Their Breath: How the Allies Confronted the Threat of Chemical Warfare in World War II

Holding Their Breath uncovers just how close Britain, the United States, and Canada came to crossing the red line that restrained chemical weapon use during World War II. Unlike in World War I, belligerents did not release poison gas regularly during the Second World War. Yet, the looming threat of chemical warfare significantly affected the actions and attitudes of these three nations as they prepared their populations for war, mediated their diplomatic and military alliances, and attempted to defend their national identities and sovereignty.

The story of chemical weapons and World War II begins in the interwar period as politicians and citizens alike advocated to ban, to resist, and eventually to prepare for gas use in the next war. M. Girard Dorsey reveals, through extensive research in multinational archives and historical literature, that although poison gas was rarely released on the battlefield in World War II, experts as well as lay people dedicated significant time and energy to the weapon's potential use; they did not view chemical warfare as obsolete or taboo.

Poison gas was an influential weapon in World War II, even if not deployed in a traditional way, and arms control, for various reasons, worked. Thus, what did not happen is just as important as what did. Holding Their Breath provides insight into these potentialities by untangling World War II diplomacy and chemical weapons use in a new way.

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Holding Their Breath: How the Allies Confronted the Threat of Chemical Warfare in World War II

Holding Their Breath: How the Allies Confronted the Threat of Chemical Warfare in World War II

by Marion Girard Dorsey
Holding Their Breath: How the Allies Confronted the Threat of Chemical Warfare in World War II
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Holding Their Breath: How the Allies Confronted the Threat of Chemical Warfare in World War II

Holding Their Breath: How the Allies Confronted the Threat of Chemical Warfare in World War II

by Marion Girard Dorsey

Overview

Holding Their Breath uncovers just how close Britain, the United States, and Canada came to crossing the red line that restrained chemical weapon use during World War II. Unlike in World War I, belligerents did not release poison gas regularly during the Second World War. Yet, the looming threat of chemical warfare significantly affected the actions and attitudes of these three nations as they prepared their populations for war, mediated their diplomatic and military alliances, and attempted to defend their national identities and sovereignty.

The story of chemical weapons and World War II begins in the interwar period as politicians and citizens alike advocated to ban, to resist, and eventually to prepare for gas use in the next war. M. Girard Dorsey reveals, through extensive research in multinational archives and historical literature, that although poison gas was rarely released on the battlefield in World War II, experts as well as lay people dedicated significant time and energy to the weapon's potential use; they did not view chemical warfare as obsolete or taboo.

Poison gas was an influential weapon in World War II, even if not deployed in a traditional way, and arms control, for various reasons, worked. Thus, what did not happen is just as important as what did. Holding Their Breath provides insight into these potentialities by untangling World War II diplomacy and chemical weapons use in a new way.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781501768378
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Publication date: 03/15/2023
Series: Battlegrounds: Cornell Studies in Military History
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 306
File size: 31 MB
Note: This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

M. Girard Dorsey is Professor of History, Program Coordinator of Justice Studies, and core faculty of Medical Humanities, Society,&Ethics at the University of New Hampshire, focusing on military and medical history. Under the name Marion Girard, she is author of A Strange and Formidable Weapon.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Where the Story of Chemical Warfare and World War II Began
1. Chain, Tool, Shield: The Role of an International Treaty in Chemical Weapons Arms Control before World War II
2. Is There Any Hope? Defensive Preparations against the Dreaded and Expected Gas War
3. The Sole Exception to the Rule: There Will Be No Chemical Conflicts, but Just in Case...
4. The Limits of Friendship: The Influence of Chemical Weapons on Alliances as World War II Expanded
5. Rolling the Dice: Risking Gas Warfare in Europe
6. Critical Timing: The Increasing Likelihood of Chemical Warfare in the Pacific
Epilogue: "I Am Fear": Legacies of Silent Chemical Warfare

What People are Saying About This

Susan Grayzel

Holding Their Breath provides an important overview of military and political debates about the possible Allied use of chemical weapons during the Second World War and thus makes a significant contribution to the scholarship on that war, as well as the history of chemical warfare and weapons of mass destruction.

Thomas Faith

Holding Their Breath is a remarkable analysis of international wartime military partnerships. Dorsey thoroughly explores the Allies' reluctance to use chemical weapons—one of the great unsolved mysteries of World War II—and provides a timely discussion of both the achievements and limitations of prohibitions against chemical warfare.

Tim Cook

Through an insightful transnational study, M. Girard Dorsey offers new ways to understand the complexities behind this weapon system. Holding Their Breath is an important book that fills a historiographical gap, uncovering the challenges of cooperation and strain among Allies as they dealt with the vexing issue of chemical warfare.

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Related Subjects

History
Military History
Strategy & Weapons of War
Military - Biological & Chemical Warfare
History
Military History
Strategy & Weapons of War
Military - Biological & Chemical Warfare

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