Weapon Of War: Chlorine Gas

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.

The first World War has been reported to be one of the most brutal wars in the history of time for many reasons. One of those reasons was strategic usage of chemical warfare. Chemical gas was used on both sides of the line, which turned out to be fatal for many. World War I was mostly fought in the trenches, where soldiers lived in deep, v-shaped holes or underground bunkers. Both sides would occupy these trenches in order to escape from the constant stream of bullets. These battles often ended in a standoff, or tie, which helped the introduction of a different, brand new style of fighting that included the use of chemicals. These chemicals had a range of

Frist of all, in the Second Battle of Ypres, the Germans introduced the first use of poisonous gas. When poison gas first introduced it was a popular weapon choice and would be the weapon to change the outcome of the war. The Germans surprisingly attack the Allies, where the used lethal chloride gas against them. The gas was deadly and killed over one thousand soldiers. (1) It also allowed a significant advanced for the Germans in the war. The gas usage continued to grow throughout the war. In the end, many Allied countries started chemical weapons research. Gas warfare became common but effective actions were used to protect the troops. After World War 1, poison was use for a while but in today’s war it is no longer allowed. Instead of poisonous gas, chemical warfare is used. Chemical weapons come in a variety of forms and are used for several different techniques.

In Four Weeks in the Trenches, Austrian soldiers Fritz Kreisler details how soldiers used trenches to protect themselves from bullets, shells, and shrapnel (Document 3). The use and development of trenches was a major change in warfare throughout WWI. The innovation and use of poison gas in WWI indicated the increasing willingness of nations in the early twentieth-century to achieve victory by killing as many of the enemy as possible. As rifle technology and artillery advancements made killing the enemy easier, nation-states sought further technological development in the art of slaughter. An anonymous account of French soldiers’ first encounter with poison gas while facing the Germans at Ypres, on the western front.

On April 22 the Germans sought to remove the Salient by introducing a new weapon of modern warfare- poison gas. Following an intensive artillery bombardment, they released 160 tons of chlorine gas from cylinders dug into the forward edge of their trenches into a light northeast wind.4 “As thick clouds of yellow-green chlorine drifted over their trenches the French

I just came back from a battle near the city of Ypres. The German forces launched 5700 canisters of chlorine gas at the Allied forces. You could see the yellow-green clouds of gas rolling towords our lines. It was devastating. The gas affected over 10,000 people, killing half of them. The cause of death was asphyxiation. The Algerian forces retreated, and the Germans moved forward to fill the gaps, albeit cautiously. They stopped after only 3.25 kilometres and dug in. That allowed us soldiers to recover. We fought all night to try and close the gap. Then came another gas attack. Their target was us, the Canadian line. We were suffocating, so we covered our faces with urine-covered handkerchiefs.

The gases used in World War I included mustard gas and chlorine gas. Chlorine showed its effects on the soldiers much quicker than mustard gas did. With mustard gas, after a while, one could see blisters forming on their body, and not soon after in their throat making it difficult to breathe (Briggs). Suffocation is one of the worse ways to die because one would suffer for longer. Poison gases’ inhumanity caused an antagonistic effect on the war because the only thing lethal gas has proven is that the only thing important in war is murder and not resolving issues.

In 1925 Geneva Protocool became huge becuase those in the part war wanted to avoided such a deadly war again. 38 Countires signed this agreemnet “that prohibited the use of ‘asphyxiating, poisonous or or other gas’ in warfare” (“Chemical Warfare: Does the use of Chemical Weapons warrant immediate US intervention?” 2). People belive that with out this being set in place that World War 2 wouldve been much more deadly then it already was. This shows the effect of signing the Geneva Protocool and the world leaders had learned from the bad and moved forward from then on out so they became “reluctant to use chemical weapons during World War II than they did during World War I” (“Chemical Warfare: Does the use of Chemical Weapons warrant immediate US intervention?” 3). Despite the effort of the Geneva Protocool it wore off “During the Vietnam War, the US military sprayed herbicide and other chemicals, including agent orange, over the Vietname countryside” (“Chemical Warfare: Does the use of Chemical Weapons warrant immediate US intervention?” 3). Overtime the protocool wore out but it did have some great effects and helped for a few years after it was

World War 1 was know as “the chemists war” so they are many chemicals going in the air that it cause deaths. The usage of poison gas was war crime and it prohibited the usage of poison or poisoned weapons. The most effective gas was mustard gas. Mustard gas was used to trouble and disable the enemy and contaminate the front. The gas also caused internal and external bleeding, leaving. Poison gas blinded eyes, i can see the victims fighting for breath saying their throats are closing and they know they're going to die of choking.

One of the many advancements made during the duration of World War I was that of poisonous gasses. These gasses were considered “uncivilized” before the beginning of the first World War. However, they were deemed necessary to overcome the standoff between the Allied forces and the Central Powers. The French army was the first to use such a weapon in 1914, but the Germans were the first to use poisonous gasses on a large scale. The German’s first recorded use of

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.

World War I was made even worse by the work of industrial chemists. Soldiers from Ypres, Belgium would claim that a shimmering cloud appeared around their feet and a strange peppery smell in the air in 1917. This gave it its well-known name. Within a day, they have shown signs of severe itching that were caused by dreadful blisters and other wounds. Some stated to be coughing up body fluid. Near the end of the war, it instilled terror across the battlefield. Leaving up to 10,000 people dead and more injured. Mustard gas was created in 1822, but it wasn’t well-known as harmful till 1860.

There are many types of chemical agents that can be used for a variety of effects. Most are not meant to be lethal, but most chemicals at high concentrations can be lethal.

The first world law was the Geneva Protocol.This law “prohibits the use of "asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of all analogous liquids, materials or devices" and "bacteriological methods of warfare". It was named the “Geneva” Protocol because it was written into place in Geneva, Switzerland on June 17th 1925. But problems arose as it did not ban production and storage of the weapons.