An IASH Work-in-Progress seminar, delivered by Professor Peter Thorsheim (Environmental Humanities Research Fellow, 2026)
Mustard Gas and Poisoned Livestock in Scotland after World War II
Scholars have written extensively about the use of poisonous gases during the First World War, but they have devoted far less attention to the conditions under which chemical agents were produced, the human and animal experimentation used to develop both offensive and defensive capabilities, and the damage that these weapons inflicted on the environment even when they were not used in combat. Although Britain did not attack its enemies with mustard gas or other lethal chemical agents after 1918, it continued to develop, manufacture, stockpile, experiment with, and ultimately dispose of millions of pounds of highly toxic substances. To explore these issues, I am engaged in a book project with the working title “Chemical Weapons, the Environment, and Health in Britain and the British Empire.”
During my time here at IASH, I am examining what the British military did with the enormous stockpile of chemical weapons that it possessed after the Second World War, many of which were either surplus to future requirements, no longer functional, or unstable. In this in-progress paper, I examine the open-air burning of mustard gas and other munitions that the British military carried out in 1945 and 1946, with particular attention the deadly effect this had on livestock in central Scotland and the investigation that ensued.
Meeting ID: 387 413 976 148 588
Passcode: jk7Dn2rE