Poison Gas in World War One
A poison gas is a chemical weapon and that is one of many toxic chemicals either liquid or gas contained in a case such as a shell or bomb. They are dangerous weapons that kill in horrible ways, such as choking, bleeding, internal bleeding, horrible burns, and many more awful afflictions. They can be categorized as Choking, Blister, Blood, and Nerve agents.
The first to use chemical weapons in World war One were the French using tear-gas grenades, but these weren't lethal weapons. The first use of lethal chemical weapons was the Germans at the second battle of Ypres using chlorine gas against the French. The first chemical weapons used in World War One were invented by the Polish physical chemist, Fritz Haber. Chemical weapons were invented obviously for the use of harm. But they were invented to quickly and harshly take down large groups of people in battle or any kind of fight. Connections To Today
Today in the modern world chemical weapons are banned but that does not mean people don’t get caught using them. Like many terrorist groups have been caught in the past using or being in possession of chemical weapons. Iraq has been caught using mustard gas and nerve agents in the past against Kurdish residents of Halabja. Photos of the Kurdish residents who had fallen victim to the chemical weapons had raised awareness and alarm of chemical weapons.
Since World War One chemical weapons have improved a lot. like during the Cold War, which isn’t quite modern but during the Cold War the United States and the Soviet Union had large stockpiles of chemical weapons. There was about enough chemical weapons in those stockpiles to destroy most of the life on the Earth. But since then almost 82% of chemical weapons around the world have been confiscated and disposed of. Poison gas and chemical weapons have been banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention. In 1993 an arms control treaty was created by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to ban the use of any chemical weapons. The full name of it is the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction. This treaty was created because of the effects chemical weapons had on the world after the Cold War and World War One. |
Impact and Consequences of Poison Gas
The use of poison gas was definitely a big game changer for World War one and has left a mark on history ever since it’s creation. Its use changed the war big time, this weapon killed many in multiple cruel ways and left those in the war with bad memories of the poisonous gas. Soldiers were affected in many ways. those that had the gas used on them often died or were left with horrible burns and infections The first to use chemical weapons in World War One was the French but the first to use it lethally was the Germans. The German’s did not want to be the first to use chemical weapons in the war so they waited until someone else would use them first, and the French were the one’s to do that. Chemical weapons were useful to use against your enemies because it took out large groups in a short amount of time. but there were many negatives alongside the positives of using these weapons. For instance, chemical weapons were extremely dangerous and if not handled with high care and caution they could lead to those using or escorting the chemical weapons to be killed or harmed in many ways involving the poison. |
-Carson C. Gatten