World War I Gas Warfare

In World War One a series of new weapons were invented to better fight enemies, one of these is gas.  At first the French used a tear gas which caused eyes to water and sting, then Germany started creating more deadly and dangerous gases.  Armies were soon supplied with gas masks and pads to protect themselves against this new threat.  Gas depended much on the wind, if there was no wind the gas wouldn’t go anywhere, and if the wind blew back at the army who was deploying the gas, it could harm them and aid an enemy counter attack.  Gas was said to be a horrible weapon and hasn’t been used much after the world wars.

In 1914 the French were the first to use gas; they used tear gas against the Germans to aid their attack.  Later in 1914 Germany used an irritant in gas form against the British.  No one thought of using these as violations of the Hague Treaty of 1899 which prohibited the use of poison gas in artillery shells.

  In 1915 the Germans were the first to use large quantities of gas.  When attacking the Russians on January third 1915, they packed tear gas into artillery shells and used these when attacking.  Because it was so cold the gas didn’t vaporize and didn’t harm the Russians.

Chlorine Gas

Germany created a chlorine gas which resembled a gray green cloud when airborne. This gas caused damage to the nose, eyes, throat, and lungs. By April 1915 Germany had many tons of it.  They first used it in Langemark Poelkapelle, a town north of Ypres France, and another three times in the Second Battle of Ypres.

Mustard Gas

Another gas called mustard gas was introduced by the Germans in 1917; it appeared as a yellow-green cloud.  It caused blistering on the outside of the victim’s body and inside if they breathed the mustard gas.  It attacked bronchial tubes in the victim’s lungs, caused eye soreness, vomiting, internal and external bleeding.  Effects from this gas were extremely painful; it actually took a mustard gas victim four to five weeks to die, in those weeks the victims pain didn’t lessen.  Higher amounts of mustard could burn through skin and bone.  This gas caused the most casualties.

There were another seventeen types of gases that were produced, but not typically used during WWI.

During the war it was found that just standing in place was the best way to protect yourself from gas if you didn’t have protection. People did this if not overcome by fear.  People who ran back with the cloud would breathe harder and inhale more gas, and then there were the ones who were injured or hiding on the ground who were affected the worst.