Use of Gas Weapons in World War 1
The use of gas weapons in World War 1 has altered the way humans employ the new arms for mass destruction. The use of gas weapons was regarded as barbarous before the war, but the same became necessary owing to the need of exploring different methods for winning over the surprised warfare technique involving trenches. The use of gas weapons was initiated by the French armies in August 1914 in order to win over the Germans. They launched the tear-gas shells laced with ‘xylyl bromide’ on the German forces. (Pruszewicz, 2015) However, the Germans were the pioneer to develop chemical weapons and use them full-fledged in the war.
Germans used chemical weapons first time on January 3, 1915. The gas weapon was released by an artillery shell when the Russian army was attacked by tear gas on the Rawka River. However, the attempt was a failure as the chemical was used to freeze instead of turning into vapour and thus had a negligible effect. In the second instance on 22nd April of the same year, German forces took the two French colonial divisions deployed at Ypres, Belgium by surprise when they shelled over 150 tons of dangerous chlorine gas against them. (Fitzgerald, 2008) This was the first deliberate attempt by the Germans to attack the Allied forces on large scale. By that time, German scientists had developed a way to disperse chlorine gas from pressurized cylinders. Without any cover, several French soldiers passed away from choking.
On 24th April, The Germans used chemical weapons on a Canadian division. They were able to drive the Allied forces back, and by May they were pushed until the Ypres town. The Germans got an advantage in the Second Battle of Ypres which finished on May 25. The development of poisonous gas had a great role to play in World War I.
The employment of chemical weapons using poison gas was greatly criticised and impacted the relationship the Germans had with the rest of the world. England slammed the Germans by taking out a wide awareness movement, but with no gain as the use of gas kept increasing all through the war. The British retaliated with a gas attack on the Loos battlefield in September 1915.
