Battle Of Ypres: Chemical Warfare In World War One

During the Battle of Ypres in World War One on April 22nd, 1915, Fritz Haber released chlorine gas on British infantry, igniting conflict between the world leaders that believed this gas was efficient and brilliant, and the troops that believed the chemical weapons were brutal and inhumane. The introduction of these gases put nearly the entire world against these weapons, even to the point of newspapers all over the world criticizing the use of chemical warfare. The combination of all of the conflict during World War 1 eventually got them banned with the signing of the Geneva Protocol on June 17, 1925.
One of the most significant and definitely most influential event that caused the release of these chemical weapons was the ignition of World

While he was initially turned down for his idea of using the gas as a weapon, the German military eventually allowed the deployment of canisters filled with chlorine gas to be used at the Battle of Ypres against British infantry. After the use of this weapon, one of the main issues that had begun to arise and become addressed was the fact that these gases were not only brutal and barbaric, but also becoming more widespread in use across Europe by multiple other countries. Most newspapers in the 20th Century criticized the chemical weapons and made sure everyone knew so as well by publishing it in their newspapers. Due to all of the negative backlash against chemical weapons use, many citizens of the countries using the chemical weapons were heavily against the deployment, and remained so for the rest of the war until the Geneva Protocol was signed, outlawing the use of chemical

This was due to the fact that chemical weapons were not only extremely potent at killing soldiers, but also brutally killed them by practically drowning them in their lung fluids that were released from a reaction of chlorine to the inside of lungs. Not only would this make the death incredibly excruciating for the victim of these gases, but also gave little chance of survival to anyone that was exposed to chemical weapons unless they had access to a gas mask. With the knowledge of these painful weapons against soldiers, people began to protest against these weapons, stating that they were inhumane against anyone that became exposed to the