The Impact Of World War I: Chemical Warfare

Throughout history the advancement of weapons has changed the face of wartime. These new weapons provide safety for those who fire them and deadly reciprocation to those being fired at. Throughout World War 1 each side was always desperately looking the next way to get ahead.The first deadly chemicals were found in 1914 used by the Germans. These horrific gases had deadly side effects from extreme blistering, to intense coughing fits. Theses gases were as effective as a weapon could get, but are they humane? People died brutally immense pain because of these gasses. At the end of World War I chemical weapons had changed the face of the war and raise the death count by thousands. In August 1914, war changed when the french were the first
to use tear gas against the germans. The effects of this gas include temporary blindness, intense coughing fits, as well as breathing difficulties. Although these gases were not made with the intention to kill the German scrambled to find something that could combat this gas. During the battle of Ypres in April, 1915 the first uses of chlorine gas were recorded. First used by the German army, the chlorine gases, a diatomic gas, which was about two and a half times denser than air, with a pale green colour and a strong, bleach-like odour, was immensely deadly. It would reacts with water in the lungs to form hydrochloric acid, which would result in death. In the first attack the Germans killed over 1,000 soldiers. Despite the effectiveness of the gas the Germans made little progress that day. They had underestimated the effects of the gas and since there were no gas masks, the germans were not able to gain land that the gas has been near. Although chlorine was effective it was easy to spot and if the wind shifted the gas would follow back behind the lines of the side that used it.
Once again at Ypres a new gas was introduced. The gas Phosphine was introduced in December of 1915. Phosphine a compound with the chemical formula PH3. It is a colorless, flammable, and an extremely toxic gas. Pure phosphine is odorless, but technical grade samples have a highly unpleasant odor like garlic or rotting fish. The colorless gas proved to be much more effective than chlorine, although it could take up to 48 hours for the effect to kick in. The effectiveness of the gas was shown time and time again in battle,“ It’s estimated that as many as 85% of the 91,000 deaths attributed to gas in World War 1 were a result of phosgene”(Marrs 1). The phosgene gas proved to be very deadly and became a favorite in wartime .
The most second most famous gas of World War I behind chlorine, was mustard gas. This mix of the Sulfur mustards were a mix of several different compounds. In their pure forms, these compound are colourless liquids, but in warfare impure forms were used, giving these compounds a yellow brownish colour and gave off an odour similar to garlic or horseradish. The effect of Mustard gas were very effective even though the death rate from this gas was on 2-3%. The Mustard gas was an irritant that was a strong vesicant, a blister forming agent. It would cause skin to break out in large blisters filled with yellow blister when the chemical would make contact with skin. Initially the gas is symptomless, but by the time skin irritation begins, it is too late. Although gases were a powerful weapon use in wartime they were not a major killing factor in the war, “psychological factor of poison gas was formidable, it accounted for less than 1% of the total deaths in World War 1” (Marrs 4). These gases were deadly and brutal. Death by these gases was always painful and dehumanizing. By the end over World War 1, chemical gases had attributed to more than 1,240,000 deaths, but there harsh method of killing was called into question.
In 1925 the Geneva Protocol was instituted. Signed by 38 states initially the Geneva protocol banned the use of chemical gases. The protocol called banned the use of chemical warfare do to the inhumane side effects of the gases used. Chemical gases would not only affect the soldiers fighting, they would also affect the civilians in surrounding areas of where the chemical’s were used. There was between “100,000-260,000 casualties of civilians” (Abridge 14) during World War I. Ten’s of thousands of people died after the exposure, years later, due to scarring of the lungs, skin damage, and cerebral damage. The year 1920 alone there was more than 40,000 civilian deaths and 20,000 military death because of the chemical weapons. When the Treaty of Versailles was first placed into effect, it banned Germany from manufacturing or importing chemical weapons. But years later at the Geneva conference for the Supervision of the International Traffic in Arms, the French that they not allow the use of poisonous gases. The polish suggested that for the Supervision of the International Traffic in Arms the French suggested a protocol for non-use of poisonous gases. The Polish Republic suggested the ban of bacteriological weapons as well and it was signed in effect on 17 June, 1925. The Geneva Protocol prevented the loss of countless
lives in following wars and helped prevent inhumane deaths. This paragraph needs more of these figures and dates cited. Although the Geneva protocol was put in place there are deadly chemical weapons used everyday.
Just ten year after the Geneva protocol was passed, In 1935 Mussolini took use of shells and bombs containing mustard gas against Ethiopia which result in tens of thousands of deaths. Another Example of this is during the Iran -Iraq war during the 1980s. As Iraq began losing the war, Saddam Hussein began to become more aggressive to develop a chemical and biological weapons programs. Mustard gas was the first to be used against the waves of Iranian infantry in 1980. By the mid-80’s Iraq began developing more sophisticated nerve agents like Sarin. It is estimated that Iranian casualties are in the tens of thousands. When the war was coming to an end Saddam used his chemical weapons in the town of Halabja in March 1988 which killed close to 5,000 people and injuring up to 10,000. All of the people in the town were civilians. The brutal use of these deadly weapons are why they were banned in the first place. Under horrific leaders chemical weapons are used in adombinale ways, backing up the reason that they were banned in the first
place. Throughout history the advancement of weapons has changed the face of wartime. The invention of chemical weapons changed war. The first deadly chemicals were found in 1914 used by the Germans. They advanced over the time period of World War I but as these chemicals were immensely harmful. Theses gases were as effective as a weapon could get, but are they were not humane. People died brutally, in immense pain . At the end of World War I chemical weapons had changed the face of the war and raise the death count by thousands. The advancement of chemical warfare changed World War I and how people saw warfare, but the weapons proved too powerful and rightfully, so were banned.