Brief Summary: Chemical Weapons Used In World War I

Chemical weapons were used to injure and kill people in war. There were many types of poison gases that were introduced in World War I. The poison gases that were used were mustard gas, tear gas, and chlorine and phosgene. The first chemical weapon that was used in World War I was tear gas. Tear gas caused temporary blindness and bad irritation to the throat and nose. It was used to harass soldiers engaged in close range fights and made it them easier targets because they were distracted by the tear gas. Tear gas was a non-lethal weapon and it was first introduced by the French. They used 26mm grenades and filled them with the tear gas. And then the Germans were the next to use tear gas and they used it against the British. Mustard gas was the most commonly used and the most effective chemical during World War I. Mustard gas was first used by the Germans in 1917 and they found it very effective in battle. Mustard gas was very painful, it would cause vomiting, blistering, and internal bleeding. Death is also possible if exposed to high doses of mustard gas. Chlorine gas was a very lethal gas used in World War I. The Germans used it in the second battle of Ypres in 1815. Chlorine gas looked like a yellow green cloud and affected the respiratory tracts which caused death. Phosgene gas was similar to chlorine gas but it was stronger than chlorine gas. It was also deadlier than chlorine gas but it took 48 hours to kick in. Phosgene gas caused

The impact and the casualties that the Battle o f Verdun had on the French Army was the reason was the reason why the British started the Battle of the Somme. The Battle of Verdun was to make General Philippe a French hero. The attack on Verdun was caused by the plan of a German Chief named von Falkenhayn. He wanted to launch a huge German attack on a historic sentiment in France which was Verdun. Falkenhayn believed that Verdun was so valuable to France that if Verdun fell it would change the course of the war. So the Germans started the major attack. The Germans were equipped with many artillery guns that were targeted at the Verdun region. The Germans also had over 100 planes in the area for reconnaissance. The French only had 30,000 troops to fight against the Germans. On February 21 When the Germans finally fired their artillery guns for the bombardment; Verdun was in ruins for two days. And then the attack began with 200,000 French soldiers in Verdun against a million of German soldiers. Germany chose to continue firing the shells at Verdun, but the second bombardment didn 't do much damage. So the first lines of trenches were taken by the Germans. On March 6, the Germans kept trying to launch attacks but the French kept repelling them. So on April 9, the Germans launched a third attack which was slow but caused the Germans to capture Homme Hill and Fort Vaux. When Germany was so close to capturing Verdun, they launched a chemical attack in June. So the BEF came to rescue the French army and this is when the Battle of Somme began on July 1, 1916. This caused a war that lasted to December 18. This battle only caused both sides to lose thousands of