The first caliph of the Arab state. The World History

Introduction.

TSB gives the following concept to war: “War is an organized armed struggle between states, classes or nations. War is a continuation of politics using violent methods. In war, the armed forces are used as the main and decisive means...” War happens both within a country between citizens - civil war, and between countries, for example, the Great Patriotic War. But no matter what the war is, it is still terrible. No matter how sad it is, war is a concomitant of economic development. The higher the level of economic development, the more powerful and sophisticated the weapons used by the warring states. Thus, when the economic development of any state reaches such a point in the economy that the country considers itself a combat-ready country, stronger than other countries, this will lead to war between these countries.

The disastrous impact of wars on the environment.

Any military action leads to destruction environment. Since, for example, high-explosive weapons can cause great damage to both the soil and vegetation cover and the inhabitants of forests and fields. Also, chemical, incendiary, and gas weapons fundamentally harm the environment. All these impacts on the environment, which are increasing as human economic power increases, lead to the fact that nature does not have time to compensate for the destructive consequences of human economic activity.

The use of natural objects for military purposes is their use to defeat the enemy. The simplest common methods are poisoning water sources and fires. The first method is the most common due to its simplicity and effectiveness. Another method - fires - was also often used in war. The inhabitants of the steppes had a special passion for this method: this is understandable - in the steppe the fire quickly spreads to huge territories, and even if the enemy does not die in the fire, he will be destroyed by the lack of water, food and feed for livestock. Of course, they also burned forests, but this was less effective from the point of view of defeating the enemy, and was usually used for other purposes, which will be discussed below.

Another reason is the huge graves remaining at the sites of major battles (for example, 120,000 people died during the Battle of Kulikovo Field). When a huge number of corpses decompose, poisons are formed, which fall into water bodies with rain or groundwater, poisoning them. The same poisons destroy animals at the burial site. They are all the more dangerous because their effect can begin either immediately or only after many years.

But all of the above is the destruction of natural objects as a means of destruction or a consequence of battles (of ancient eras). In war, nature and, first of all, forests are purposefully destroyed. This is done for a trivial purpose: to deprive the enemy of shelters and livelihoods. The first goal is the simplest and most understandable - after all, forests have at all times served as a reliable refuge for troops, primarily for small detachments waging guerrilla warfare. Example similar attitude nature can be attributed to the so-called green crescent - the territories stretching from the Nile Delta through Palestine and Mesopotamia to India, as well as the Balkan Peninsula. During all the wars, forests were cut down as the basis of the country's economy. As a result, these lands have now turned, for the most part, into deserts. Only in our years did the forests in these territories begin to be restored, and even then with great difficulty (an example of such work is Israel, whose territory once had huge forests that completely covered the mountains, and were heavily cut down by the Assyrians and almost completely cut down by the Romans). In general, it must be admitted that the Romans had extensive experience in destroying nature; for example, after the defeat of Carthage, they covered all the fertile lands in its vicinity with salt, making them unsuitable not only for agriculture, but also for the growth of most species of plants.

Next factor the impact of wars on nature - the movement of significant masses of people, equipment and weapons. This began to manifest itself especially strongly only in the 20th century, when the feet of millions of soldiers, the wheels and especially the tracks of tens of thousands of vehicles began to grind the earth into dust, and their noise and waste polluted the area for many kilometers around (and also on a wide front, i.e. e. actually a continuous strip). Also in the twentieth century, new powerful projectiles and engines appeared.

First about the shells. Firstly, the strength of the new projectiles was determined by the fact that new types of explosives produced explosions of much greater power than black powder - 20 times more powerful, or even more. Secondly, the guns changed - they began to send shells at much greater angles, so that the shells fell to the ground at a large angle and penetrated deeply into the soil. Thirdly, the main thing in the progress of artillery was the increase in firing range. The range of the guns increased so much that they began to fire beyond the horizon, at an invisible target. Coupled with the inevitable increase in the dispersion of shells, this led to shooting not at targets, but over areas.

In connection with the change in the combat formations of the troops, the explosive bombs of smooth-bore guns were replaced by shrapnel and grenades (artillery, hand-held, rifle, etc.). And ordinary land mines produce a lot of fragments - this is another damaging factor that affects both the enemy and nature.

Aviation has also been added to artillery guns: bombs also have a large dispersion and penetrate deep into the ground, even deeper than shells of the same weight. Moreover, the charge of bombs is much greater than in artillery shells. In addition to the destruction of soil and the destruction of animals directly by explosions and shell fragments (in the broad sense of the word), new ammunition causes forest and steppe fires. To all this it is necessary to add such types of pollution as acoustic, chemical pollution, such as explosion products and powder gases, products of combustion caused by explosions.

Another class of negative environmental impacts is associated with the use of engines. The first engines - they were steam engines - did not cause much damage, unless, of course, you count the huge amount of soot they emitted. But in late XIX century they were replaced by turbines and engines internal combustion operating on oil. The first military engines in general and oil engines in particular appeared in the navy. And if the damage from coal-fired steam engines was limited to soot and slag thrown into the sea, quietly lying on the bottom, then oil engines not only did not reduce the soot, but also made it more harmful, fatal to the flora and fauna of water bodies. On land, the damage from motors was, in principle, limited to only exhaust and small (compared to the sea) spots of land flooded with petroleum products. Another thing is that wounds on the ground, which sometimes take a long time to heal, are left by machines driven by these motors. But that's not so bad. The above pollution is not specifically military, it is typical for all ships. But the main feature of warships in particular and war at sea in general is the loss of ships. And if the wooden ships of the sailing era, going to the bottom, left behind only a few chips on the surface, which quietly rotted on the bottom, providing food for shellfish, then new ships leave huge stains of oil on the surface and poison the bottom fauna with a mass of toxic synthetic substances and lead-containing paints . So, in May 1941. After the sinking of Bismarck, 2,000 tons of oil spilled. During World War II alone, more than 10 thousand ships and vessels were sunk. Most of them had oil heating.

To this we must also add the fact that both in peacetime and in war time Huge tankers carry oil and petroleum products across the sea. And if in peacetime they face no greater danger than other ships, then in wartime they are sunk first, because without fuel the most formidable equipment turns into scrap metal.

Tankers are the most the main objective all types of weapons at sea in World War II.

In addition to this, war at sea has another specific danger for all living things associated with the characteristics aquatic environment. Any modern war uses the force of explosion of various substances. Their main task is to impart high speed to projectiles (from rockets and artillery shells to their fragments and bullets) or create a blast wave. But on land, the last damaging factor is, in general, secondary, because blast wave in the air, is not so strong due to the low density of the air, and secondly, due to the fact that it quickly fades, but in water shock wave has crushing power.

Fishing with dynamite is considered a terrible barbarity. In all civilized countries, this is considered poaching and is prohibited, and underdeveloped countries, in which such fishing is widespread, get a fair dose from environmentalists from more prosperous countries. But if the explosion of one bomb of several tens of grams is considered barbaric, then what do we call tens and hundreds of thousands of ammunition exploding in water? Unless it's a crime against all living things...

In the 20th century, all types of weapons received their development. New ones also appeared: tanks, aircraft, missiles. And although their strength was disproportionately higher than that of the older species, they also affected one or more people at a time. The most significant thing in the development of weapons in the 20th century is that qualitatively new types of weapons appeared - those that are called weapons of mass destruction. It is chemical, bacteriological and atomic weapons. There is no need to talk about the impact of their combat use - its consequences are clear as it is. But unlike conventional weapons, weapons of mass destruction must be tested not only before, but also after adoption, the consequences are approaching combat use of these weapons The number of tests of chemical and atomic weapons cannot be compared with the number of facts of their combat use. Thus, atomic weapons were used only twice, and there were more than 2,100 tests. About 740 of them were carried out in the USSR alone.

"Modern problems of humanity"- The attraction of the ocean. The problem of the World Ocean. Ecology developing countries. Global community. Geography of mineral resources. The problem of the demographic crisis in developed countries. Food problem. Population census. Opportunities for solving the problem of the World Ocean. Deadly weapon. Fish resources of the World Ocean.

"The essence of global problems of humanity"- Demographic problem. Basic concepts of the topic. Lesson objectives. Stages of global warming. The problem of backwardness of developing countries. Ecological problem. Food problem. Energy and raw materials problem. The problem of the world's oceans. Epigraph. The problem of peaceful space exploration. Global problem of peace and disarmament.

"Global problems and prospects for humanity"- Expert opinion. Try to reduce waste. The meaning of our lesson. Improve your household waste management system. Ways to dispose of waste in cities. Demographic problem. What can each of us do to solve the problem of household waste? Solid waste problem. Global problems of humanity.

"Modern global problems of humanity" - Economic problems. The Earth's atmosphere acts as a kind of glass in a greenhouse. Population share of developing countries. Global problems of our time. The most favorable conditions for growing crops. The essence of the food problem. Food problem in the world. Food problem.

"Classification of global problems"- Demography records a decline in the indigenous population in developed countries. Peculiarities. Energy problem. Classification of global problems. Ecological problems. Nuclear threat. Causes of global problems. Ways to resolve global problems. Demographic problem. Global problems of humanity.

"Food problem in the world"- Current food situation. World hunger. The above does not mean that the food issue has been resolved in developed countries. The global nature of the problem is also manifested from another side. Can the Earth feed its inhabitants? The hand of a hungry boy in the palm of a European. Insufficient and unbalanced nutrition is also the cause of high mortality, especially among children.

There are a total of 34 presentations in the topic

Environmental consequences of war - page No. 1/2

Non-state Educational Institution

middle School of General education

Educational Center of OJSC Gazprom

Project work on ecology

on the topic “Ecological consequences of war.”

Completed by a student of grade 8 “B”

Arabajyan Anastasia

Head: Mednikova I. V.

Consultant: Zaitseva V.L.

Moscow

Introduction

(Ecological crisis, prevention of a new world war).
The impact of war on nature.
Generations of wars.
Features of wars of the 20th century (The first step in the 20th century (shells engines).
Wars of the 20th century.
1. I World War.
2. World War II.
3. Cold War.
4. The Vietnam War.
5. Gulf Wars
Conclusion.
Application.

Introduction.

War is an experiment that accelerates disastrous processes.

And for the sake of solving one economic problem

People's lives and our entire nature are at stake.

There is a chance that people will talk about us

like the Mesopotamians who disappeared due to the environmental consequences of war.

Environmental problems during military operations arose as early as 512 BC, when the Scythians used scorched earth tactics in their campaigns. This tactic was then used American troops in Vietnam. By and large, over the last 5-plus thousand years of human existence, our planet has lived in peace for only 292 years. And during this period, the technology of warfare has mainly changed, but the methods of warfare remain constant. (Fires, poisoning of water sources.)

Since ancient times, wars have had the most negative impact on the world around us and on ourselves. As human society develops and technical progress wars became more and more fierce and had a greater impact on nature. At first, the losses of nature due to the small capabilities of man were small, but gradually they became first noticeable and then catastrophic.

As society developed, armies grew - from a few club-wielding primitive hunters to the multimillion-dollar armies of the 20th century, and the healthiest men died or became crippled, and offspring were sired by sicker men who were not fit for war. In addition, the companions of war are epidemics, which are also not very beneficial for the health of each person individually and of all humanity as a whole.

Global problems of our time (ecological crisis, prevention of a new world war).

As we approach the end of the 20th century, the world is increasingly faced with a range of global challenges. These problems special kind. They affect not only the life of any particular state, but also the interests of all humanity. The significance of these problems for the fate of our civilization is so great that their failure to resolve creates a threat to future generations of people. But they cannot be solved in isolation: this requires the united efforts of all humanity.

It is global problems that in the future will have an increasingly noticeable impact on the life of every nation, on the entire system of international relations. One of these problems is security surrounding a person environment.
The great harmful impact on it lies in the existence and accumulation of reserves common species weapons; Weapons of mass destruction, especially nuclear ones, pose an even greater danger. Wars, primarily involving the use of these weapons, pose a threat environmental disaster.
The destructive impact of military activity on the human environment has many faces. The development, production, manufacturing, testing and storage of weapons pose a serious danger to the nature of the earth. Maneuvers, movement military equipment they disfigure the landscape, destroy the soil, poison the atmosphere, and remove vast territories from the sphere of useful human activity. Wars cause severe damage to nature, leaving wounds that take a long time to heal.
The environmental problem itself did not emerge on a sufficiently noticeable scale until the end of the 60s of the 20th century. Protection of Nature for a long time was reduced to the contemplation of natural processes in the biosphere. Only recently has humanity come face to face with anthropogenic factors. Among them, factors directly or indirectly related to military activity are gaining increasing weight.
Interest in the “war-environment” problem among scientists and the public became noticeable in the mid-80s and continues to expand. This was facilitated by the revelation of the secret ecological war the United States in Vietnam, during which attempts were made to modify certain natural processes for military purposes; the struggle of the world community against these actions. This was facilitated by the awareness of both the public and government officials in various countries of the seriousness of the environmental problem and the associated negative problems for humanity as a whole.
Explaining the extent of the negative impact on the nature of military activity mobilizes public opinion in favor of disarmament. Finally, drawing attention to the dangerous environmental consequences of the use of weapons of mass destruction further emphasizes the special need to ban them. This problem has become urgent because nuclear war, if it were unleashed, it would become a catastrophe on a global scale, and, as far as one can judge Scientific research about its consequences, the end of human civilization as we understand it.
The impact of wars on the environment.

If you ask a person on the street when wars began to have a harmful effect on nature, most people will name the 20th century, or at most the 19th century. If only it were so! The history of wars is also the history of the destruction of nature.

The wars that were fought before the beginning of the 20th century did not have a significant impact on nature. Therefore, for a long time, the environmental aspects of wars were not studied, although “fragmentary” excursions into this problem observed, especially among military historians.

With the development of means of warfare, more and more serious and spatially widespread damage began to be inflicted on nature. As a result, it appears scientific direction"War and Ecology". The most famous study was the rationale for “nuclear winter”, according to which, as a result of large-scale use nuclear weapons, in particular, “nuclear night”, “nuclear winter” and “nuclear summer” will be established (the temperature in the Northern Hemisphere will drop to –23 ° C). Obviously, nuclear weapons will have a lasting deterrent effect at the “strategic level.” Overhanging nuclear threat will limit not only the use of new capabilities of conventional weapons, but also the development of new forms of strategic action. Nuclear weapons can be replaced by non-nuclear long-range precision weapons, space systems or deadly biological weapons. The arsenal of weapons is growing at a faster rate than other macro indicators of the development of the social component of the planet - approximately two orders of magnitude higher.

Due to the serious environmental consequences of two world wars and hundreds of local and regional wars of the 20th century. Along with the concept of “genocide,” the concept of “ecocide” entered scientific and social terminology. The latter means direct and indirect impact military operations on geosystems, including both organisms and inanimate matter, equally important for life on Earth.

Specifically, these impacts are expressed mainly in such aspects as:

exceeding usage limits natural conditions and resources of the territory;
the use of the environment (in this case the theater of war) as a receptacle for the “waste” and by-products of war;
threat natural foundations life of humans and other organisms.

Genocide and ecocide are interconnected.

XX century will be remembered not only as a century of technological progress, but also as a century of genocide and ecocide. If we assume that all elements of the geosystem are equally important for the development of the Earth, then the destruction of one of its most important components is Homo sapiens- or bad influence it will have a detrimental effect on the present and future state of the Earth's biosphere. For example, over the past 10 years, about 2 million children died during hostilities, another 1 million children became orphans, and 5 million became disabled.

Just as child and infant mortality is the most important indicator in calculating the future life expectancy of the population and its size, the data presented in their own way reflect future negative consequences in the balance of biogeospheric processes on the planet. These data give rise to great concern for the economic, political and humanitarian future of the Earth. At the same time, it has not yet been taken into account how many children and adults die simply from hunger as a result of modern local and regional conflicts.

In addition to the concept of “ecocide,” scientific literature also uses such terms as “terracide,” “biocide,” “ecological war,” “geophysical war,” and “meteorological war” to denote the negative impact of wars on the environment.

Among these terms, “ecological war” perhaps most fully reflects the essence of the process. This term is widely used after vietnam war, during which the United States was the first in the world to use the most wide range conducting ecocide. Data on this war are the most accessible and, in our opinion, reflect the features of modern ecocide in local wars.

Environmental warfare, as events in Vietnam have shown, is a war with very diverse means, subordinate to goals destruction of forest and agro-ecological systems, liquidation of farming and conditions Everyday life over large spaces. Environmental warfare sometimes leads to the transformation of territories into barren deserts.

In addition, the companions of war are various epidemics, famine, mass migrations and the emergence of refugee camps. It should be noted here that the number of refugees is growing every year. According to UN estimates, there are now more than 21 million refugees and displaced persons in the world, 80% of them are women and children. More than 55 million people are internally displaced, approximately half of them were forced to leave their homes as a result of military conflicts. Afghanistan accounts for the largest share - 3.9 million people

According to research by S.V. and I.S. Zonn can distinguish the following types of environmental consequences of armed conflicts.

The nature of the environmental consequences of military actions (the XX century war)
Actions of the armed forces	Environmental consequences
Actions of the armed forces	straight	indirect
1. Movement of armed forces in connection with military operations	Disorganized, spontaneous, linear and striped destruction of soil and vegetation cover, destruction of grasses, small shrubs, etc.	The emergence of deflation centers, expansion of bare areas, water and salt accumulation, local contamination of soils and surface water sources.
2. Military engineering (earth) work on the construction of defensive and other facilities (trenches, checkpoints, dugouts, etc.), placement of military equipment	Changes in relief, formation of artificial excavations and dumps, movement of soil, surface and deep effects on the soil, underlying rocks and vegetation, destruction of vegetation cover	Wind and water erosion, change in the water-air regime of soils, disruption of the natural soil process, growth of buried soils
3. Temporary and permanent deployment of armed forces	Disturbance of soil and vegetation cover, thinning of vegetation, cutting down of tree species, contamination of soil, surface and groundwater fuels and lubricants, sewage, waste	Areal, surface and near-surface changes in the conditions of development of soils and vegetation cover
4. Military actions: a) by destroying the enemy, his military equipment, defensive facilities, warehouses, etc.; b) for the destruction or destruction of economic facilities, infrastructure , natural objects *	Destruction of soil and vegetation cover, death of fauna, loss of biodiversity, reduction in the number of microorganisms, soil deformation, increase in soil density, reduction in porosity and humidity, modification of relief, transformation of soil properties and rocks(in the foothills and mountains), destruction of forests, air pollution, surface and ground water	Accumulation of heavy metals, leaching of nutrients from soils and their depletion, increase in water turbidity, salinization, waterlogging, increase in landslides, development of gully networks, profound changes in various soil properties, soil salinization, desertification
* In the case of so-called “ecological wars”. ** May be destroyed unintentionally in low-intensity conflicts.

So, having mastered the tools of labor, man stood out from all other animals. Alas, from the very beginning, the tools of labor included not only a stick - a digger and a sewing needle, but also an ax - the first example of dual technologies, and a spear, which is the only weapon, that is, an instrument not of labor, but of destruction. Having barely stood out as a special species of animals, people immediately began to compete with each other for best territory with purely human brutality, killing all their own kind. However, for the first hundreds of thousands of years they were not original, only improving the methods of their four-legged neighbors. At the same time, inter-tribal, or more precisely inter-herd, wars were very environmentally friendly - in this regard primitive people They were smarter than modern people and did not cut the branch on which they were going to sit.

But gradually the means of production improved, and people, ceasing to be completely dependent on wealth wildlife, began to fight not for food resources, but for territories, often very barren and valuable, for example, deposits

our gold or our strategic position. At this time, nature began to suffer greatly from human conflicts.

Firstly, people began to strengthen their settlements, and the simplest fortification structures are ditches, trapping pits and abatis. The ditches destroyed the soil structure and violated the territorial areas of its inhabitants; In addition, damage to the integrity of the turf caused increased soil erosion. Finally, the ditches long distance
(related, however, to more later eras, rather than the end of the Neolithic) could disrupt the migration routes of some animal species. In trapping pits, prepared for an adversary who would never come, animals died in the intervals between such routine situations, especially when these traps were located on forest paths. In territories of hundreds and thousands square kilometers The entire forest ecosystem was completely destroyed.
Secondly, people began to use natural objects- First of all, forests are like weapons. The easiest way is to turn a certain territory into a trap.
Example:

Julius Frontius, a Roman historian of the 1st century, describes how someone’s soldiers (it’s a pity he didn’t bother to specify which ones) cut down trees in an entire forest and
they felled when the Roman army entered the forest.

Despite the primitiveness of this method, it was used later - right up to

Wars. Only in our century trees are not used for damage
the enemy's manpower - there are more reliable and effective ways to detain him in the affected area, and now they are not cut down at the right moment (it is doubtful that this made the forest and its inhabitants feel any better).

Third- the use of natural objects for military purposes is their use to defeat the enemy. The simplest and most common methods are poisoning water sources and fires. The first method is the most common due to its simplicity and effectiveness.
Example:

Cleisthenes of Sikyon poisoned the water in the spring that fed the Chrises besieged by him. The Russians and other peoples did the same repeatedly. Prince Vasily Golitsyn, the favorite of Princess Sofia Alekseevna, fought with the Crimean Tatars, who filled all sources of drinking water with carrion.

Fourthly- fires - also often used in war. The inhabitants of the steppes had a particular passion for this method: this is understandable - in the steppe, fire quickly spreads over vast territories, and even if the enemy does not die in the fire, he will be destroyed by the lack of water, food and feed for livestock. Of course, they also burned forests, but this was less effective from the point of view of defeating the enemy, and was usually used for other purposes, which will be discussed below.

Fifthly- huge graves remaining at the sites of major battles (for example, during the Battle of Kulikovo Field, 120,000 people died). When a huge number of corpses decompose, poisons are formed, which fall into water bodies with rain or groundwater, poisoning them. The same poisons destroy animals at the burial site. They are all the more dangerous because their effect can begin either immediately or only after many years.

All of the above is the destruction of natural objects as a means of destruction or a consequence of battles (of ancient eras). In war, nature and, first of all, forests are purposefully destroyed. This is done for a trivial purpose: to deprive the enemy of shelters and livelihoods. The first goal is the simplest and most understandable - after all, forests have at all times served as a reliable refuge for troops, primarily for small detachments waging guerrilla warfare.

Example:

An example of such an attitude towards nature is
so-called green crescent - territories stretching from the Nile Delta through Palestine and Mesopotamia to India, as well as the Balkan Peninsula. Of course, forests there were destroyed not only during wars, but also in peacetime for economic purposes. However, during all the wars, forests were cut down as the basis of the country's economy. As a result, these lands have now turned, for the most part, into deserts. Only in our years did the forests in these territories begin to be restored, and even then with great difficulty (an example of such work is Israel, whose territory once had huge forests that completely covered the mountains, and were heavily cut down by the Assyrians and almost completely cut down by the Romans).
In general, it must be admitted that the Romans had extensive experience in destroying nature: it was not for nothing that they were the inventors of the so-called. ecological war - after the defeat of Carthage, they covered all the fertile lands in its vicinity with salt, making them unsuitable not only for agriculture, but also for the growth of most plant species, which, taking into account the proximity of the Sahara, and simply a hot climate with little rainfall, leads to desertification (what we
and we see it now in the vicinity of Tunisia).

At sixth- the next factor in the impact of wars on nature is the movement of significant masses of people, equipment and weapons. This began to manifest itself especially strongly only in the 20th century, when the feet of millions of soldiers, the wheels and especially the tracks of tens of thousands of vehicles began to grind the earth into dust, and their noise and waste polluted the area for many kilometers around (and also on a wide front, i.e. e. actually a continuous strip). But even in ancient times, the passage of a particularly large army did not go unnoticed by nature. Herodotus writes that the army of Xerxes, having arrived in Greece, drank rivers and lakes dry, and this in a country that often suffers from drought. The Persian army brought a huge number of cattle, which trampled and ate all the greenery, which was especially harmful in the mountains.

Generations of wars.

From all of the above, several generations of wars can be distinguished.

First generation wars despite the primitiveness of the weapons used, the methods of their preparation and use, they were already a means of implementing the policies of the ruling classes. The destruction of man by man was a natural necessity. For more than two thousand years, humanity existed on the idea of Heraclitus that war is the creator, the beginning of all things, and Aristotle considered war a normal means for acquiring property. Apparently these arguments were the basis for the fact that wars have acquired a regular, stable function in people’s life, although it is difficult to agree with such arguments both in historical times and in our time.

Forms and methods of conducting second generation wars were caused by the development of material production, the advent of gunpowder and smooth-bore weapons.

Rifled small arms and rifled artillery, with their long range, rate of fire and accuracy, led to the emergence of third generation wars (up to World War 1 inclusive).

The adoption of automatic weapons, tanks, combat aircraft, the emergence of new powerful vehicles and technical means connections influenced the formation and further development of the now ongoing fourth generation wars . The concept of wars of this generation, which is based on actions ground forces, has been around for almost 80 years.

A continuation of the scientific and technological revolution of the last 40 - 50 years in military affairs was nuclear missile weapons, which became the basis fifth generation wars , which, with the exception of the atomic bombing of two Japanese cities at the end of World War II in 1945, fortunately have not yet arisen.

P GENERATIONS OF WARS

Features of wars of the 20th century.
The first step in the 20th century.

But still greatest damage nature was damaged in the wars of the 20th century, which is quite natural.

The two most important circumstances that predetermined this were new powerful projectiles and engines.
Shells.

Firstly, the strength of the new projectiles was determined by the fact that new types of explosives gave explosions of much greater power than black powder - 20 times more powerful, and
then and more.
Secondly, the guns changed - they began to send shells at much greater angles, so that the shells fell to the ground at a large angle and penetrated deeply into the soil.
Thirdly, the main thing in the progress of artillery was the increase in firing range. The range of the guns increased so much that they began to fire beyond the horizon, at an invisible target. Coupled with the inevitable increase in the dispersion of shells, this led to shooting not at targets, but over areas.
In connection with the change in the combat formations of the troops, the explosive bombs of smooth-bore guns were replaced by shrapnel and grenades (artillery, hand-held, rifle, etc.). And ordinary land mines produce a lot of fragments - this is another damaging factor that affects both the enemy and nature.

In addition to the destruction of soil and the destruction of animals directly by explosions and shell fragments (in the broad sense of the word), new ammunition causes forest and steppe fires. To all this it is necessary to add such types of pollution as: acoustic; chemical contamination, both by explosion products (and without exception, all modern explosives produce a large amount of toxic gases during combustion, i.e., during an explosion) and powder gases (which are also explosives), and by combustion products caused by explosions.

Engines.

Another class of negative environmental impacts is associated with the use of engines.

The first engines - they were steam engines - did not cause much damage, unless, of course, you count the huge amount of soot they emitted. But at the end of the 19th century they were replaced by turbines and internal combustion engines running on oil. The first military engines in general and oil engines in particular appeared in the navy. And if the damage from coal-powered steam engines was limited to soot and slag thrown into the sea, quietly lying on the bottom, then oil engines not only did not reduce the soot, but also made it more harmful, and what ends up in the sea is not like coal. On land, the damage from engines was, in principle, limited to only exhaust and small (compared to the sea) spots of land flooded with petroleum products. Another thing is that wounds on the ground, which sometimes take a long time to heal, are left by machines driven by these motors.

But that's not so bad. The above pollution is not specifically military, it is typical for all ships. But the main feature of warships in particular and war at sea in general is the loss of ships. And if the wooden ships of the sailing era, going to the bottom, left behind only a few centners (or tons, which is not too different in consequences) of chips on the surface and quietly rotted at the bottom, providing food for mollusks, then new ships leave huge stains of oil on the surface And

they poison the bottom fauna with a mass of toxic synthetic substances and lead-containing paints.
Example:

In May 1941, the British fleet Bismarck; It was possible to sink it only after the English battleship Prince of Wales pierced Bismarck's fuel tank, otherwise the raider would have been lost in the vastness of the Atlantic. About 2,000 tons of fuel oil spilled into the sea. After the sinking of Bismarck, of course, the rest of the fuel spilled out - several thousand tons more. During World War II alone, more than 10 thousand ships and vessels were sunk. Most of them had oil heating.
To this we must also add the fact that, both in peacetime and in wartime, huge tankers transport oil and petroleum products by sea. And if in peacetime they are in no greater danger than other ships, then in wartime they are sunk first,
because without fuel, the most formidable equipment turns into scrap metal. Tankers are the most important target of all types of weapons at sea in World War II.

In addition to this, war at sea has another specific danger for all living things associated with the characteristics of the aquatic environment. Any modern war uses the force of explosion of various substances. Their main task is to impart high speed to projectiles (from rockets and artillery shells to their fragments and bullets) or create a blast wave. But on land, the last damaging factor is, in general, secondary, since the blast wave in the air is not so strong due to the low density of the air, and secondly, due to the fact that it quickly fades. But in water the shock wave has a crushing force.

chemical,
bacteriological
atomic weapons.

Chemical weapon.

Chemical weapons have been used for a long time. During the Peloponnesian War, the Spartans set fire to sulfur under the city walls of Plataea in an attempt to poison the besieged inhabitants; Arsenic-based poisonous smoke was used in ancient China during the Song Dynasty. For the first time in on a massive scale poison gases were used during the First World War, when more than a million soldiers were exposed to phosgene and mustard gas; of these, 100 thousand died. A few years later, chemical weapons were revived by Nazi Germany, which was preparing for the widespread use of highly toxic nerve-paralytic compounds, and only fear of retaliation prevented their use during the Second World War.

Lethal in microscopic doses, chemical weapons are available for production by a wide range of states, which makes them even more dangerous. Mass application modern chemical agents, neither color nor odor, would not only be accompanied by the death of millions of people, but would also bring the planet to the brink of environmental disaster.
The lethal effects of modern chemical warfare agents on humans are well known. The impact of chemical weapons on nature is less clear. Its use on a large scale can lead, in addition to massive loss of life, to irreversible consequences for the balance of the environment. On the difficulties of predicting possible environmental consequences chemical warfare referred to by many scientists, who, however, agree that it will be accompanied by the degradation of nature. These consequences will inevitably be exacerbated by the difficult to control and indiscriminate nature of chemical weapons.

Example:

Depending on meteorological conditions, one aircraft can spray a chemical agent in a concentration lethal to humans over an area of 400 to 4 thousand hectares. The use of certain compounds, for example the so-called V-agents, as weapons will immediately lead to the extinction of the animal world. Although some experts believe that their environmental impact will not be long-lasting, the facts contradict this.
In the summer of 1976, as a result of overheating of a reactor at the Ekmeza chemical plant not far from Milan, Seveso (Italy), dioxin was formed, which infected large territory. The exceptional persistence of dioxin (it does not dissolve in water and is destroyed only at a temperature of 1000 degrees Celsius) made degassing Segeso almost impossible.

Experts cannot say how many years later thousands of residents of a completely evacuated town will be able to return to their homes. Household home remedies - insecticides, which include orthanophosphorus compounds, give an idea of the speed of action and the damaging ability of modern chemical agents on living organisms.

In an area where chemical weapons are used, most animals will die immediately; those that remain alive will die or weaken within a short period of time, as they will be forced to eat contaminated foliage and grass and drink water from contaminated bodies of water.
The transportation, storage and destruction of chemical weapons pose a serious problem.
Chemical warfare agents are typically highly corrosive. They cannot be stored for long periods of time: the shell of the chemical projectile corrodes over time and the containers leak. Typically, obsolete chemicals and munitions containing them are disposed of in the ocean, deep lakes, and underground. Not all of these methods are safe and reliable.

Whatever the precautions, such chemical dumps in certain areas of the World Ocean pose a serious threat to the biosphere.

Firstly, there is no guarantee that containers will not be destroyed as a result of tectonic activity.

Secondly, The service life of containers is often shorter than the period of natural neutralization of the chemicals contained in them.

Third, chemicals behave differently in water. Sarin, although it quickly breaks down into relatively non-toxic components, dissolves well and immediately kills all living things around. Mustard gas is an oily liquid with a heavier specific gravity than water. Once it leaks out of the container, it will accumulate at the bottom, where it will poison marine life for an indefinite period of time.
Burying ammunition filled with chemical agents is even more dangerous: an unexpected explosion is possible.

Biological weapons

Bacteriological (or biological) weapons operate by infecting people, animals, and plants with organisms causing diseases. These organisms are similar to those found in nature, however they can be selected and bred to be more poisonous and persistent. Some of them may become resistant to drugs and antibiotics. Bacteriological weapons are very suitable for covert use and sabotage. It acts slowly. It is enough to have it in small quantities. Because biological agents are invisible, odorless, tasteless, and generally do not cause direct physiological harm, their timely detection is nearly impossible.

As a means of bacteriological warfare, it is possible to use the viruses of smallpox, yellow fever, dengue fever, etc. Usually these diseases are transmitted to humans and warm-blooded vertebrates through mosquitoes, but viruses can easily disperse over the area in aerosol form. Some of the viruses (yellow fever, for example) are extremely dangerous and lead to the death of 30-40% of unvaccinated people.

If biological weapons are ever used on a large scale, no one can predict how long-lasting the consequences will be or what impact they will have on the environment.

Environmental consequences can range from minor to catastrophic. Experts believe that the use of harmful microorganisms will lead to the emergence of new epidemic diseases or the return of old ones. The scale of mortality will not be inferior, perhaps, to losses as a result of the plague epidemic in the Middle Ages. The use of bacteriological weapons can also lead to the creation of new natural foci in which the infection will persist for many years.
Harmful microorganisms will invade local ecosystems, thereby creating permanent hotbeds of disease. bacilli anthrax, for example, remain in the soil for 60 years. The introduction of new microorganisms into hot and humid areas is especially dangerous. Dispersal of the yellow fever virus from the air (one plane can pollinate 60 hectares) in the tropics will create a permanent source of the disease and introduce it into the local ecosystem. Research shows that eradicating yellow fever outbreaks from tropical forests is an almost impossible task. As a result they will die individual species primates that will leave behind gaping ecological niches.

Bacteriological weapons were used by the Japanese in this war against the USSR, Mongolia and China. Active development of bacteriological weapons was carried out in the 50-60s in the USA. Studies have been conducted using mock microbes, as well as field trials. In 1969, the USSR put forward a draft convention on the prohibition of chemical and bacteriological weapons. Largely thanks to his efforts, the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction was signed in 1972 and entered into force in 1975.

Nuclear weapon.

Some idea of the damage that can be caused to the natural environment as a result of the use of the most powerful weapons mass destruction - nuclear, its tests reveal.

When nuclear warheads explode, substances are formed that have high radioactivity. Immediately after the explosion, radioactive products rush upward in the form of hot gases. As they rise, they cool and condense. Their particles settle on drops of moisture or dust. Then the process of gradual fall of radioactive fallout on the surface of the earth in the form of rain or snow begins. Falling on the ground or water surface, radioactive products enter the food chain: being initially absorbed by plants and algae, they pass into the body of animals. From there, through the meat, milk, and fish consumed by a person, they enter his body.
After 1945, radioactive contamination of our planet began to gradually increase. Before the first nuclear explosions earth's surface There was virtually no extremely dangerous radioactive strontium-90. Now it has become an integral element of the environment.
Example:

The fate of the inhabitants of the Pacific Bikini Atoll (part of the Marshall Islands, a US Trust Territory) serves as a warning for the future; these people were victims of the long-term consequences of nuclear weapons testing. 37 years after American authorities removed everything local population Bikini, in order to use the island as a nuclear weapons testing site, the Bikinians remain people virtually without a homeland. Returning home forever is a dream that hardly any Bikin residents will realize during their lifetime. They made it impossible 23 nuclear bombs, detonated on the atoll between 1946 and 1958, including the first H-bomb, dropped from an airplane (1956.)
True, 10 years after the last test, the US government allowed the Bikin residents to return, because the islands were recognized as safe for living. When the first group landed on the shore, instead of rows of coconut palms and breadfruit trees, they saw lush thickets of bushes. Nuclear explosions completely destroyed three small coral islands around the atoll. Twisted steel towers stuck out everywhere, and reinforced concrete bunkers gleamed white. Giant waves in their time washed all the animals into the ocean, sparing only one tenacious species of rat.

Of all the types of weapons created to date, the greatest danger to the biosphere is weapons of mass destruction, and primarily nuclear ones. Its massive use can cause such damage to the natural environment that it cannot compensate naturally.

To date, enough facts and reasonable hypotheses have been accumulated to imagine the scale of the anthropogenic environmental disaster.

Environmental consequences are difficult but possible to assess. Even a simple arithmetic comparison of the size of modern nuclear potentials with the power of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki allows us to conclude that as a result of such a war, exceptional damage would be caused to humans, as well as to the natural and artificial environment around them.

Nuclear weapons are considered to be multifactorial weapons, and, first of all, this feature distinguishes them from other types of weapons of mass destruction. Factors nuclear explosion, directly affecting people, as well as fauna and flora, are: shock wave, light and thermal radiation, primary instantaneous radiation and residual radiation in the form of local radioactive fallout. What could happen to the natural environment if a nuclear war breaks out? Some environmental impacts can be calculated. Long-term effects are more difficult to determine. Basically, modern calculations are based on extrapolation of experimental nuclear explosions.

Normal recovery process ecological balance will slow down or be disrupted. There have been natural disasters in the history of the Earth (for example, glacial period), leading to the massive disappearance of large ecosystems. It is difficult to predict which path the evolution of the remaining living matter will take. There have been no global catastrophes on Earth for several million years. Nuclear war may be the last such catastrophe.

There is no need to talk about the impact of their combat use - its consequences are clear as it is. But unlike conventional weapons, weapons of mass destruction must be tested not only before, but also after the adoption of the consequences approaching the combat use of these weapons. The number of tests of chemical and atomic weapons cannot be compared with the number of facts of their combat use.

Example:

Atomic weapons were used only twice, and there were more than 2,100 tests. About 740 of them were carried out in the USSR alone. It should be taken into account that the power of the bombs was 5-6 and 20-30 kilotons. And during the tests they exploded charges of much higher power. So, on Novaya Zemlya a hydrogen bomb with a power of 50 MEGATONS was exploded!!! For 400 kilometers around, all living things were destroyed.
In addition, the production of chemical and especially atomic weapons (and, in principle, any other) produces many harmful and hazardous substances, which are difficult to dispose of and store, and even then they are often not disposed of or stored, but simply thrown away. If we consider that many chemical substances do not decay for hundreds of years, and radioactive substances do not decay for hundreds of thousands, millions and even billions of years, then it becomes clear that military industry lays a time bomb under the gene pool of humanity.

The production of any product requires the expenditure of any resources, which, naturally, are taken from nature’s reserves. Weapons are no exception; moreover, they are usually very complex in design and require many of the most various types raw materials.

The military generally does not care much about environmental technologies, and even more so during war - the formula is as much as possible, as cheaply as possible and as quickly as possible. With this approach, it makes no sense to even talk about protecting nature and its resources.
An example of this approach is, for example, balsa, which was widely used in the aircraft industry during World War II. If before the wars they came across them at every step, then after the war they became a rarity in the forests. And many such examples can be given...

If previously the basis of all wars was the physical defeat of troops (although environmental methods were used for this), then in the second half of the 20th century the basis of the strategy and tactics of the warring countries was the deliberate destruction of nature on the enemy’s territory - “ecocide”.

Example:

The United States used Vietnam as a testing ground for weapons of mass destruction and new war tactics.

Massive continuous bombardment. During the war, more than 21,000,000 air bombs were dropped on Vietnam and more than 230 million shells were fired with a total weight of 15 million tons.
Various use of heavy tracked vehicles – the so-called “Roman plows” – with which 300-meter forest strips were cut out along the main roads.
Dispersion of herbicides and other chemicals to destroy forests and agricultural crops. Over 10 years, 72.4 million liters were used.

In fact, this was the first full-scale chemical war.

Example:

During the war on the Balkan Peninsula, NATO countries tried new ammunition with depleted uranium. This had an extremely negative impact on the nature of Yugoslavia.
Summarize.

Firstly, since ancient times, wars have had the most negative impact on the world around us and on ourselves. With the development of human society and technological progress, wars became more and more fierce, and more and more
they had a stronger influence on nature. At first, the losses of nature due to the small capabilities of man were small, but gradually they became first noticeable and then catastrophic.

Secondly, as society developed, armies grew - from a few primitive hunters armed with clubs to multimillion-dollar armies of the 20th century, and the healthiest men died or became crippled, and offspring were given by sicker men who were not suitable for war. In addition, the companions of war are epidemics, which are also not very beneficial for the health of every person,
activity and all humanity as a whole.

Wars of the 20th century.

World War I.

Historical reference:

1914-1918, war between two coalitions of European powers - the Triple Alliance and the Entente.

On the eve of the war, the most acute contradictions existed between Great Britain and Germany, whose interests collided in many areas of the globe, especially in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Their rivalry turned into a fierce struggle for dominance in the world market and for the seizure of foreign territories.

The immediate cause of the war was the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, on June 28, 1914 in the city of Sarajevo (Bosnia). Incited by Germany, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28. On August 1, Germany declared war on Russia, on August 3 on France and Belgium, on August 4, Great Britain declared war on Germany. Later, most of the countries of the world were involved in the war (34 states on the Entente side, 4 on the side of the German-Austrian bloc). The warring parties began the war with multimillion-dollar armies. Military operations covered the territory of Europe, Asia and Africa, and took place on all oceans and many seas.
The First World War lasted more than 4 years (from August 1, 1914 to November 11, 1918). 38 states took part in it, over 74 million people fought on its fields, of which 10 million were killed and 20 million were maimed. The First World War in its scale, human losses and socio-political consequences had no equal in all previous history. It had a huge impact on the economy, politics, ideology, and the entire system of international relations. The war led to the collapse of the most powerful European countries and the emergence of a new geopolitical situation in the world.

Environmental consequences.

Chemical weapons were first used in the First World War. It was not used in World War II because both sides were mindful of the horrific consequences of using chemical weapons, especially poison gases. In 1980, the Iraqi military used chemical weapons, including nerve gas, against Kurdish rebels, as well as against Iranian forces in the first Gulf War (1980–1988). Chlorine was used by the Germans as a chemical agent during the First World War. During the war it was replaced by the much more poisonous phosgene. Both warring sides used this chemical agent. These substances now attract limited interest as chemical weapons. They are dangerous to the civilian population in case of accidents, during transportation and production. Chemical agents made their debut in the theater of war 22 April 1915. The first to use chlorine cylinders were German troops.

2 years later, in July 1917, the history of the use of chemical weapons began new stage. In the battle near the Belgian city of Ypres, German troops used a new toxic substance with blister action. His fighting qualities turned out to be truly impressive:

Example:

“Sulfur mustard, or, as it is also called, mustard gas, affects the skin, causing the appearance of huge and very painful abscesses, like a burn. These boils tend to have fluid in them, and when these blisters rupture, a secondary infection can occur.”

Chemical weapons have a long and dramatic history. The first attempt to defeat the enemy with the help of poisonous gases was made before our era, during the war between the Athenians and the Spartans. Then the baton was picked up by medieval warriors, who filled bottles with flammable substances and threw them into the enemy camp, causing devastation in the enemy’s ranks. After this, there was a rather long time-out in the history of the use of chemical weapons, until the middle of the 19th century, when the British military began to study the combat properties of chemical substances. Their research yielded practical results on the fields of the First World War. Historians have calculated that in those years 180 thousand tons of various toxic substances were produced.

World War II.
Historical reference:

Untied by Germany, Italy and Japan. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Great Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3. In April - May 1940 Nazi troops occupied Denmark and Norway, on May 10, 1940, invaded Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and then through their territory into France. On June 10, 1940, Italy entered the war on the side of Germany. In April 1941, Germany captured the territory of Greece and Yugoslavia. 72 states were involved in World War II. In the countries participating in the war, up to 110 million people were mobilized. During the war, up to 62 million people died (including over 27 million Soviet citizens). The national wealth of the USSR decreased by almost 30% (in Great Britain - by 0.8%, in the USA - by 0.4%). The results of World War II led to major political changes in the international arena, the gradual development of a tendency towards cooperation between states with various social systems. In order to prevent new world conflicts, create in post-war period system of security and cooperation between countries at the end of the war the United Nations was created.

The first nuclear war.

At 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was suddenly covered in a dazzling bluish-whitish light. The first atomic bomb was delivered to the target by a B-29 bomber from the US Air Force base on the island of Tinian (Mariana Islands) and exploded at an altitude of 580 m. At the epicenter of the explosion, the temperature reached millions of degrees, and the pressure was approx. 10 9 Pa. Three days later, another B-29 bomber passed its primary target, Kokura (now Kitakyushu), as it was covered in thick clouds, and headed for the alternate target, Nagasaki. The bomb exploded at 11 a.m. local time at an altitude of 500 m with approximately the same effectiveness as the first one. Application tactics bomb strike the only aircraft (accompanied only by an observation aircraft) weather conditions) during simultaneous routine massive raids, was designed not to attract the attention of Japanese air defense. When the B-29 appeared over Hiroshima, most of its residents did not rush for cover, despite several half-hearted announcements on local radio. Before this, the air raid warning had been announced, and many people were on the streets and in light buildings. As a result, there were three times more dead than expected. By the end of 1945, 140,000 people had already died from this explosion, and the same number were injured. The area of destruction was 11.4 square meters. km, where 90% of houses were damaged, a third of which were completely destroyed. In Nagasaki it turned out less destruction(36% of houses were damaged) and human losses (half that of Hiroshima). The reason for this was the elongated territory of the city and the fact that its remote areas were covered by hills.

Environmental consequences.

The Second World War demonstrated with particular force that not only people and the values they created are destroyed as a result of military actions: the environment is also destroyed. Destruction of agricultural land, crops and forests on a large scale in the USSR, Poland, Norway and others European countries; flooding of lowlands (in Holland flooded sea water 17% arable land); radioactive contamination of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the destruction of the ecosystems of many islands in the Pacific Ocean; increased consumption of natural resources.

One likely consequence of the development of nuclear weapons could be a “nuclear winter.” Everyone knows what a normal winter is. What is “nuclear winter”? I would not like the Earth to ever become acquainted with this problem, not in the calculations of scientists, but “in reality.”

N Something similar has already happened on our planet - during powerful, catastrophic volcanic eruptions. Fountains of ash and dust erupted from the vent, covering a vast area for many days and even months. The sun seemed to be hiding behind gray clouds...

Mathematical calculations show that the same disaster, but much more serious, can happen in a nuclear war. Atomic explosions and giant fires can raise so much soot and ash into the sky that they will obscure the Sun for a long time. The air will stop circulating properly and within two weeks the temperature in our Northern Hemisphere will drop by 15–20 degrees Celsius. The upper layers of the atmosphere will warm up more strongly, and the surface of the planet, located under the “dust blanket,” will warm up much more slowly. Precipitation will almost stop: with a large amount of dust in the atmosphere and its high temperature the formation of moisture droplets is almost impossible. Cooling of the oceans will lead to unprecedented hurricanes. A ozone layer blocking ultraviolet radiation will become so thin that the number of people suffering from cancer and eye disease - cataracts - will increase sharply...

No bomb shelters can save you from a “nuclear winter,” which means that humanity has virtually no chance of surviving in such conditions. What conclusion can be drawn from this? People simply do not have the right to allow nuclear war. And the likelihood that some madman will decide to start it today is infinitesimal. People managed to stop testing nuclear weapons and entered into an agreement on their non-proliferation. We can be sure that our civilization has enough intelligence and determination to avoid a nuclear catastrophe.

Humanity can and should live in a peaceful, environmentally friendly clean planet. Remember this, guys. After all, in a few years, the concern for the safety of the Earth will fall on your shoulders.

Cold War.

Historical reference:

next page >>