Weapons have caused massive damage towards enormous amount of civilians over the past years. About 33 833 000 innocent casualties were killed by weapons during WWII. In this section of the website, you can see some of the weapons used in wars, how many civilians have died from them and the effects of each weapon on the civilians.
In Syria, many civilian casualties were killed. This included 411 civilians, 114 children and 42 women a number which is still growing. The second largest portion of civilian casualties who were killed were due to the Russian forces. A total of 358 civilians, including 13 women and 39 children were killed with the Russian forces. Because of ISIS, 47 victims were killed. This included 7 children and 5 women. In the war in Yemen, about 28 percent of the civilians killed were children. In the 2014 Gaza war, the United Nations has estimated 35 percent of civilians killed were children. As you can see, A lot of civilians are being killed around the war.
In Syria, many civilian casualties were killed. This included 411 civilians, 114 children and 42 women a number which is still growing. The second largest portion of civilian casualties who were killed were due to the Russian forces. A total of 358 civilians, including 13 women and 39 children were killed with the Russian forces. Because of ISIS, 47 victims were killed. This included 7 children and 5 women. In the war in Yemen, about 28 percent of the civilians killed were children. In the 2014 Gaza war, the United Nations has estimated 35 percent of civilians killed were children. As you can see, A lot of civilians are being killed around the war.
Rifles a type of fireman, were used a lot in the WWI, and it is still being used today. Rifles are used in wars today and they have created massive damage towards civilians lives. In a year, there are about 1,500 children younger than 18 years of age die from these rifles. As years go by, rifles are becoming lightweight and simpler and even young children can use it easily if they come in contact with it. They are also very cheap and they are being passed down and are in people’s houses. In USA, children can easily use these rifles and hurt themselves with it since they are easily accessible.
Machine guns were very powerful and were used in WWI a lot. Some people thought they can even replace rifles. Machine guns were used in a lot of battles as a primary source. In the Battle of the Somme which happened in WWI, machine guns killed 60,000 civilian casualties alone. Machine guns are still being used today in wars and they kill many civilians as well.
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Poison Gas: On April 22, 1915, near the beginning of WWI, the German army fired cylinders containing chlorine gas in the Ypres area where the battle of Ypres took place. Chlorine gas has many effects in the human body if it comes in contact with the skin, eyes, lungs etc. Although some masks protect against this type of gas, they can still cause harm. Of the 90,000 soldiers killed by gas on all sides, more than half were Russian, many of whom may not even have been equipped with masks. The first effect of inhalation of chlorine is a burning pain in the throat and eyes, accompanied by a sense of suffocation. Respiration can become painful, rapid, and difficult, coughing and the irritation of the eyes can occur. Some countries during war throw poisonous gas at the other countries killing many civilians lives. Although it is said that poisonous gas has been made illegal, some countries still use it.
Anthony Fokker came up with a method to coordinate the machine gun’s fire with the rotation of the propeller, making aircrafts a useable weapon for the WWI. Aircrafts drop bombs in war and can cause deaths for many civilian casualties. Aircrafts killed 293 civilians and injured 691 people in 1916.
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War drones are unmanned aerial vehicles that drop bombs. These modern technology equipments kill tons of civilians in countries specially in syria, iraq and afghanistan. Between September 2014 and 31st March 2016 the UK flew 869 drones in Iraq with 342 weapons fired. In Syria there was 365 drones were flown in 22 weapons fired. The US drone strikes in Pakistan that had just targeted 41 named individuals had killed 1,147 civilians and in Afghanistan the drone strikes have caused 10 times more civilian casualties deaths than Pakistan. The lives of many children were taken by these weapons and over 200 children have already been killed with these strikes since 2004.
This website shows how many children died with drones. http://www.loonwatch.com/2013/01/list-of-children-killed-by-drone-strikes-in-pakistan-and-yemen/
This website shows how many children died with drones. http://www.loonwatch.com/2013/01/list-of-children-killed-by-drone-strikes-in-pakistan-and-yemen/
Tanks first started being in use in ww2. The name “Tank” was given to this weapon by England. In the battle of cambrai on november 20th 1917 the british used 470 tanks in this war. Thousands of civilians were killed by tanks however they broke down easily since they were new.
Flamethrowers have a long history, they go back 'till ancient China as well. During american civil war, some americans claimed that Abraham Lincoln tested flamethrowers. February 26, 1915, when the Germans deployed the weapon at Malancourt, near Verdun. Germany utilized 3,000 Flammenwerfer troops; over 650 flamethrower attacks were made. The British and French both developed flamethrowing weapons but did not make such extensive use of them.
Nuclear weapons: On Aug. 6, 1945, during World War II, the United States dropped an atomic bomb B-29 “Enola Gay” on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, the United States bombed Japan once again, this time on Nagasaki in order to make the WWII stop. Nuclear weapons are way more dangerous than bombs as it can kill many people within seconds. The Hiroshima bomb killed about 75000 civilians and 3 days later 40,000 other civilians died from the Nagasaki bomb making the total death go up to 140,000 civilians by 1950. Radiation causes massive damage towards many civilians physically and mentally. Here are some of the effects of nuclear weapons on civilians.
Cancer risk: Due to radiation, there is a high risk of cancer. An individual’s life can get altered also the people’s children can also get cancer.
Birth defects: Children being born from mothers who received radiation can be born with a disability.
Mental retardation: Some of the children who were born from mothers who received radiation have a head circumference below average (less brain development) Within a week symptoms: high fever, dizziness, nausea, headaches, diarrhea, bloody stools, nosebleeds and whole-body weakness. Within a few days of these symptoms, many people lost consciousness, and died in severe pain. In Nagasaki, newborn death rates increased greatly in the nine months after the bombing: 43% of pregnancies resulted in abortion, stillbirth or infant death. Infants being born during the time of the nuclear weapon explosion, later faced many mental and physical problems when they grew up.
Cancer rates for hibakusha adults and children increased greatly due to the massive radiation that was in the air from the nuclear weapons. Of the civilians who survived some developed liver, endocrine, blood and skin diseases, and damage of the central nervous system and some survivors experienced violent dizziness and a decrease of energy. Genetic effects from radiation scared many people for years. Even thirty years after the war, high rates of leukemia (blood cancer) as well as stomach and colon cancer persisted.
In conclusion, weapons can cause massive destruction for civilian casualties. In this section of the website you can see statistics on how many people died with each weapon in WWII, how war affected civilian casualties mentally and physically, and information about each weapon. Weapons can cause many physical and emotional effects on innocent children that could have lived a longer brighter life. If weapons were never created in the first place, there would have never been that many civilian casualties that lost their lives in the first place. In conclusion, we believe that weapons should be banned because some of them like nuclear weapons can have many harmful effects on civilians even after many years that the war happened.
"Wars, despite numerous advancements in technology and society, have probably become more threatening to civilians over time. Wars in medieval times tended to involve fewer soldiers and deaths, and always involved less advanced technology than wars of today. Modern wars involve large numbers of soldiers put forth by large nations, as well as newer technology such as bombs and nuclear advancements that is indisputably capable of killing more people. Often, those people are civilians, since the accuracy of older weapons such as swords is far greater than the accuracy of even a "smart bomb." These "advancements" in the way society is structured and the methods it uses to fight its wars have resulted in modern wars that cause more civilian deaths than previous wars ever did." (Worden)
Websites used for images in MLA format:
Arbuckle, Alex. "The Birth of the Modern Flamethrower, a Psychological Weapon of WWI."Mashable. Mashable, 04 Feb. 2016. Web. 21 Jan. 2017.
Japanese naval infantry aiming with their arisaka rifles (china 1939). Digital image. WWII in Color. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2017.
Phillips, Michael. "World War 1 Weapons | Publish with Glogster!" Pinterest. N.p., 10 Apr. 2014. Web. 21 Jan. 2017.
"Trenches on the Web - Photo Archive: Big Guns of the Great War." Trenches on the Web - Photo Archive: Big Guns of the Great War. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2017.
"WWI British Tanks and Armored Cars (1914-1918)." Tanks Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2017.
"World War One Machine Gunners." David Doughty - Australian Stories - Tribute To ANZACs. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2017.
"WW1 Planes & Pilots." Pinterest. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2017.
Arbuckle, Alex. "The Birth of the Modern Flamethrower, a Psychological Weapon of WWI."Mashable. Mashable, 04 Feb. 2016. Web. 21 Jan. 2017.
Japanese naval infantry aiming with their arisaka rifles (china 1939). Digital image. WWII in Color. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2017.
Phillips, Michael. "World War 1 Weapons | Publish with Glogster!" Pinterest. N.p., 10 Apr. 2014. Web. 21 Jan. 2017.
"Trenches on the Web - Photo Archive: Big Guns of the Great War." Trenches on the Web - Photo Archive: Big Guns of the Great War. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2017.
"WWI British Tanks and Armored Cars (1914-1918)." Tanks Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2017.
"World War One Machine Gunners." David Doughty - Australian Stories - Tribute To ANZACs. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2017.
"WW1 Planes & Pilots." Pinterest. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2017.
Youtube video link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNhR4ZhGOEw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNhR4ZhGOEw