Disarming the world

For centuries, following bloody conflicts, military leaders acknowledged that some weapons were simply too awful to be used, but those same militaries generally continued to use them. The first world war (WWI) saw the successful deployment of chemical weapons on a massive scale for the first time. The horror of millions of dead soldiers, in trenches and on battlefields, shocked nations into signing the Geneva Protocol pledging to refrain from the use of chemical and biological weapons in future wars. Over the past century, the weapons that cause "unjustifiable" suffering in an indiscriminate and "unpredictable" manner have been subject to multilateral treaties that aim to disarm countries that possess them and control or ban the use of these weapons altogether. While some may feel sceptical that these efforts to disarm the world are effective, and challenges to disarmament remain, the disarmament treaties serve a key role in the regulation and reduction in stockpiles, as well as in the testing and use of certain weapons in conflicts.