Several chemicals were weaponized in WWI and France actually was the first to use gas - they deployed tear gas in August 1914. Masked soldiers charge through a cloud of gas. Production of some of these dangerous chemicals continues to this day as they have peaceful uses – for example, phosgene (carbonyl dichloride) is an industrial reagent, a precursor of pharmaceuticals and other important organic compounds. It has occasionally been used since then but never in WWI quantities. Thus, chemical warfare with gases was subsequently absolutely prohibited by the Geneva Protocol of 1925. Although chemical warfare caused less than 1% of the total deaths in this war, the ‘psy-war’ or fear factor was formidable. One of the enduring hallmarks of WWI was the large-scale use of chemical weapons, commonly called, simply, ‘gas’. While the efficiency of maiming and killing steadily advanced from the 17th to the 20th centuries it accelerated by an order of magnitude in WWI with the use of inhaled poison gasses. Ultimately, in WWII it was demonstrated that a single atomic weapon could kill more than one hundred thousand of the enemy with a single use of a single weapon. Gun powder in the 16th and 17th centuries meant that - finally, sadly - one could eliminate many of his enemies with one agent of offensive effort, an artillery round. Army Veteran, and WW-I Feature WriterĮvery war brings to the fore a new way of maiming and killing soldiers.
0 kommentar(er)
