Poison Gas in World War I
By: Makala Cooper
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Inventors of Poison GasAlthough it is popularly believed that the German army was the first to use gas it was in fact initially deployed by the French. In the first month of the war, August 1914, they fired tear-gas grenades (xylyl bromide) against the Germans.
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First Use of Poison GasThe debut of the first poison gas, chlorine gas, came on April 22, 1915, at the start of the second battle of Ypres.
What kinds of gases where there?There where three kinds of gases used in world war one. The most common was mustard gas, it caused severe burning to eyes, skin, and respiratory systems. Then there was chlorine gas which attacked your respiratory system. Finally, there was phosgene gas which irritated the eyes, nose, skin, throat and lungs.
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Poison Gas In WWI
Impact of Poison Gas in WWI
Poison gas was very impactful in World War I because the Russian Army suffered 419,340 casualties from gas warfare with 56,000 deaths total. The United States suffered 72,807 and 1,462 deaths. The death toll from gas warfare even more, as many more men died after the war due to weakened lungs that left them susceptible to respiratory problems.
Positives and Negatives of Poison Gases |
Advantages:
You could kill mass groups of the enemy or render them useless if they did not die.
Disadvantages:
If you used it on the enemy and were too close or winds changed it could kill your own men.
It would be hard to know when a gas attack was coming; giving a limited amount of time to cover up and protect yourself against the attack.
The gasses were also just bad for the environment in general, the chemicals would stay in the ground after and it obviously caused a certain degree of pollution.
You could kill mass groups of the enemy or render them useless if they did not die.
Disadvantages:
If you used it on the enemy and were too close or winds changed it could kill your own men.
It would be hard to know when a gas attack was coming; giving a limited amount of time to cover up and protect yourself against the attack.
The gasses were also just bad for the environment in general, the chemicals would stay in the ground after and it obviously caused a certain degree of pollution.
Connections to Today
Although Chemical Warfare was made illegal by the League of Nations in 1925, there have been a couple of modern day examples of poison gas attacks. The map to the left shows where those airborne chemical were dropped. Another example of Chemical Warfare was in 2001; shortly after the September 11th terrorist attacks, where actual letters containing chemicals such as Anthrax were mailed to major US officials/public figures and 5 were killed. Another example would be in the 1980's when chemical weapons such as mustard gas and a chemical called Sarin, which can kill a person in minutes, was deployed by Iran during the Iran-Iraq War.
Poison Gas Improvement
Although chemical warfare has been outlawed, it has clearly still been used throughout the years. Poison gasses have become more advanced in the way that hey have a lot of new kinds of poisons and new ways to deliver them have been thought of, such as mailing them.