Here’s what I meant by saying you were begging the question: you were assuming the outcome (few people would be killed by chemical warfare after WW1) did not depend on the protests against chemical weapons.
You said originally that protesting against chemical warfare (CW) during WW1 was not worth the sacrifice involved, because few people were killed by CW after WW1.
But the reason few people were killed is that CW was not used often. And one contributing factor to its not being used was that people had protested its use in WW1, and created the Geneva Convention.
People who protested CW achieved their goal in reducing the use of CW. So the fact CW was not used much and killed few people, is not evidence that the protest was in vain—to the contrary, it’s exactly what you would expect to see if the protest was effective.
Here’s what I meant by saying you were begging the question: you were assuming the outcome (few people would be killed by chemical warfare after WW1) did not depend on the protests against chemical weapons.
You said originally that protesting against chemical warfare (CW) during WW1 was not worth the sacrifice involved, because few people were killed by CW after WW1.
But the reason few people were killed is that CW was not used often. And one contributing factor to its not being used was that people had protested its use in WW1, and created the Geneva Convention.
People who protested CW achieved their goal in reducing the use of CW. So the fact CW was not used much and killed few people, is not evidence that the protest was in vain—to the contrary, it’s exactly what you would expect to see if the protest was effective.