![]() ![]() Instead of vaporizing, the chemical froze, completely failing to have an impact.Ĭhlorine became the first killing agent to be employed. On 31 January 1915, 18,000 artillery shells containing liquid xylyl bromide tear gas (known as T-Stoff) were fired on Russian positions on the Rawka River, west of Warsaw during the Battle of Bolimov. Germany was the first to make large scale use of gas as a weapon. Germany retaliated in kind in October 1914, firing fragmentation shells filled with a chemical irritant against French positions at Neuve Chapelle though the concentration achieved was so small it was barely noticed. During the first World War, the French were the first to employ gas, using grenades filled with tear gas ( xylyl bromide) in August 1914. Although many believe that gases were first used in World War I, there are accounts that sulfur gas was used in the 5th century BC by the Spartans. The early uses of chemicals as weapons were as a tear inducing irritant ( lachrymatory), rather than fatal or disabling poisons. This widespread use of these agents of chemical warfare, and wartime advances in the composition of high explosives, gave rise to an occasionally expressed view of World War I as "the chemists' war". Hence in the later stages of the war as the use of gas increased, in many cases its effectiveness was diminished. In that it was possible to develop effective countermeasures to gas, it was unlike most other weapons of the period. The killing capacity of gas was limited - only 3% of combat deaths were due to gas - however, the proportion of non-fatal casualties was high and gas remained one of the soldiers' greatest fears. This chemical warfare was a major component of the first global war and first total war of the 20th century. The gases used ranged from disabling chemicals such as tear gas and the more severe, mustard gas to killing agents like phosgene. The use of poison gas in World War I was a major military innovation. A poison gas attack using gas cylinders in World War I. ![]()
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