Poison gas was known about long before the First World War. Military officers often refused to use it because they considered it to be a uncivilized weapon. The French army was the first to use gas when they fired tear gas at the German troops. After the Germans were gassed attacked they realized that they had to retaliate in full force. In October of 1914 the German army began firing shrapnel shells in which the steel balls have been treated with a chemical agent. The Germans first used this attack at the battle of Ypres against the French. The gas that was in the balls destroyed the victims respiratory organs of its victims.

All of the gas compounds that came out of the war were originally one of the three types. A Lachrymator (tearing agent) this gas caused temporary blindness and greatly inflamed the nose and thr

ETHYL IODOACETATE (BRITISH, TEARING)

XYLYL BROMIDE (GERMAN, FIRST TEARING AGENT USED IN THE WAR)

The total number of Casualties from gas attacks was 91,198. Over half that amount came from Russia who had 56,000 killed by gas attacks. The number of non-fatal accidents with gas 1,205,655. Once again Russia nearly accounted for half of that with 502,382 injured from gas attacks. The reason Russia lost so many people is because they lacked gas masks they didn’t have the supplies to make them and the other Allied countries needed their gas masks so Russia didn’t have any.

Some topics in this essay:
World War, Ypres French, War Military, Blistering Agent, WAR Germans, blistering agent, mustard gas, Austria German, gas attacks, world war, german asphyxiant, gas masks, tearing agent, GERMAN ASPHYXIANT, german tearing agent, chemical agent, respiratory system, german tearing, TEARING AGENT, GERMAN TEARING, bromide german tearing, BROMIDE GERMAN,