World War I: Chemical Warfare

Poison Gas/Chemical Warfare usage, while not harming physical structures preventing the collateral damage of homes and buildings, causes a high casualty rate in all living things. It is indescriminate and robs life equally be they related or not to a target of military or strategic importance. Gas usage has been widely considered uncivilized, but the French resorted to its usage in August, 1914 during the first World War in an attempt to rout the Germans. Unfortunately, the Germans were the first to give gas warfare serious development and it became used extensively before the war was over. On the battlefield it prooved effective in eliminating hostile threats in an inhumane way, but this does not make it morally acceptable. In more recent times ISIS has been reported to using Poison Gas in Syria against both military and civilians in an indescriminate manner. This sort of attack ignores international laws as well as inhumanely cause widespread harm. In this day and age, this sort of attack is unnecessary and is why it was outlawed in the first place even back during the first World War.

Chemical warfare, while horrible, proved to be unwieldy and unpredictable, and relatively easy to counter. After some limited successes against unprepared opponents, the use of chemical gas had very little tactical benefit; the recognition of this limited utility is that after widespread use in 1915 - except for the short-lived effects of the introduction of mustard gas in 1917 - gas was abandoned by both sides as an effective tactic.

This gas may cause temporary blindness and inflammation of the nose and throat of the victim. A gas mask would easily offer good protection against this gas. This chemical and any chemical with bromide were quite popular during World War I since it was easily brewed.

Poison gas was used to kill people in the trenches because it’s was very difficult to do. It was hard to kill people in the trenches because you can not get a exact aim so they used poison gas that would kill the person almost instantly. Releasing the gas also depended on with direction the wind was blowing because if it was suppose to going in the enemy's direction but went to your own it would kill the wrong people. The gases used were chlorine and phosgene and mustard gas being the worse because you could put on gas mask so the chlorine or phosgene wouldn’t effectful. However the mustard gas would affect the skin by causing the skin to burn, and leaving a soldier in unbearable pain. Poisonous gas killed millions and was an awful way to die, although it did

The poisonous gas used in the 1916 Battle of the Somme was the most inhuman weapon of World War One. Mustard gas was the most unsettling and weapon used in World War One. It is extremely disturbing than any cultured nation would use such a weapon. The use of poisonous gas in World War One was a weapon like no other. The Germans who used the poisonous gas were even surprised at the devastating effects it had on the ally troops. An attack could leave victims in agony for days to weeks before they recovered or if they did not die first. As a result, poisonous gas was one of the most dreaded weapons of World War One. One benefit with using poisonous gas was that the country using it had the element of surprise on their side. The gas was very effective

The Germans used chemical warfare, namely chlorine gas, against the Canadian soldiers. Chemical weapons were prohibited by international treaties before World War I. On April 22, the Germans released more than 160 tons of the gas from thousands of canisters arranged along German lines. The soldiers said it looked like a green-yellow cloud, and its smell was like a mixture of pineapple and pepper. The Canadians, and the French troops were in the trenches to their left, as they watched the mysterious cloud appeared over no man 's land, and then blow with the wind over their own army’s lines. While German forces moved behind the drifting gas toward the French trenches, Canadian and British soldiers saw the German soldiers and went after them. After hours of terribly gruesome fighting, they were able to stop the Germans from taking advantage of this gas. Each cylinder of chlorine gas weighed about 90 pounds. Lester Stevens, a member of the Eighth Battalion from Winnipeg who witnessed the second gas attack stated that, “Two fellows, one on my right and one

One of the new weapons used in WWI was poison gas. Poison gas was first used by the french in 1914, they used them to fight against the germans. After the french the germans started to study it and we the first to use it in a big scale. They used chlorine gas caused irritation and aggressive sneezing. There are many types of poisonous gas like chlorine gas, phosgene (causes violent coughing, choking and eventually death), and Mustard gas (nearly odorless chemical that causes internal and external blisters for hours). The total amount of casualties for poison gases are 1,240,853 people and total deaths are 91,198 people.

The types of weapons employed in World War 1 included poison gas, that killed many. Chlorine gas was one of the gases first used by the Germans at the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915, killing hundreds of French troops. The British also deployed chlorine gas, and later developments in the war included the deadlier phosgene and mustard gas, which blinded those it came in contact with. By 1917, poison gas could be delivered with greater accuracy by chemical shells, and there were an estimated one million gas casualties on all sides throughout World War I.

There are many examples why gas was a necessary weapon in World War I. One example is using clouds of toxic gas on the enemy. Since this gas is so dangerous and unstoppable they would release the clouds of gas on the enemy to scare them away from their area or to kill off the remaining enemies. This toxic gas was also refereed to as Tear Gas. Because Tear Gas was so affective, eventually both sides would use it on the enemy in wars because there was no way of avoiding it unless you leave the area. Another example is the incurable things the gas does. Tear Gas could give you first-degree burns to having your eyes and face being rotted away. The things the gas could do to you was endless. It could burn out your lungs to the point not even the

Due to their unfamiliarity, many allied troops had little protection against the newly introduced chemical weapon. For instance, the first protective devices against gasses was, “... nothing more than chemical-soaked pads to neutralize the gas.” As a result, many soldiers began to urine in their gauze pad, which actually worked to counteract the gas. However,

The Allied Powers did not succeed in using mustard gas until late 1917 when France had captured some of Germany’s mustard gas bombs, they bombed germany at Cambrai, in November. Mustard gas stays on clothes and in the ground for

This battle happened in Ypres, Belgium on April 22 ,1915. The Canadian first division was assigned to the front line to hold 3.5 kilometers. It was a day with gentle breeze blowing in the direction of Allied lined and suddenly there was green cloud. The Germans unleashed the first gas attack in history using chlorine gas. This new method of warfare killed 5200 Canadians . The gases burned the eyes, throat, and lungs. Some soldiers survived the attack by using rags soaked in urine. This battle is very significant to Canadians because when the French- Algerian soldiers fled, Canadian troops stayed there for four days. Canadian troops gained the reputation of being courageous fighter. This battle

Chemical usage and experimentation has always been an extremely vague subject back during Word War !!. However, I.G. Farben's gas chamber was able to produce deadly Zyklon B Gas that was used in the gasing of Jews in concentration camp of Auschwitz. This brand new technology at the time provided the Nazis with a quick and efficient way to kill off Jews fast, as there

Chemical warfare was starting to gain momentum during the First World War After using less than ideal equipment from the British against German forces, the United States needed to gain an edge for fighting into the future to increase their chances at mission success. The United States gained experience with chemical weapons from the First World War and after transitioning from World War I to World War II various improvements were made to enhance the capabilities of the Chemical Weapons Service. Colonel Lewis McBride was directly responsible for changing the Chemical Weapons Service and helped in securing America’s ideals; taking the United States into the future with new and improved chemical weapons technologies.

On April 1915, The first poison gas attack began when the German forces shocked the Allied forces along the Western Front by firing more than 150 tonnes of lethal chlorine gas against two French colonial divisions at Ypres, Belgium (History.com Staff, 2010). Poison gas was the most feared of all weapons in World War One. Poison gas was used in the trenches even when there was no attack going on. If a Soldiers got trapped with poison gas, it would mean that soldiers have to put a crude gas mask (Figure 1) on because it helped protect the soldiers from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. Poison gas can leave the victim in agony for days and weeks before they succumbed to their injuries.