The Chemical Weapons That Changed Warfare

Written by Ivan Morozov

Edited by Jasmin Mirzoeva

By the early 1900s, industrial technology had transformed warfare. Rifles were accurate, quick to reload, and deadlier than ever. Breech-loading artillery with modern recoil mechanisms could fire fast and far. Railways moved men and weapons with more efficiency, and heavy steel warships dominated the oceans. Chemical weapons existed only in theory, and nothing deadlier than smoke had been used in battle. 

By 1914, trench warfare was predominant in the Western Front. It favored defenders: advancing meant almost certain death, and the only way to gain ground was the mass sacrifice of infantry. Both sides began experimenting with anything that might break the enemies line of defense, and this time they turned not only to weapons manufacturers but also to chemists. In late August 1914, the French began using tear gas, and Germany soon pursued its own irritant and chemical weapons programs. By 1915, the idea was full-fledged, and Germany was ready to use it on a large scale. On April 22, at the Battle of Ypres, the Germans released chlorine gas from thousands of cylinders. The wind carried it into the Allied trenches, where it burned the lungs of French soldiers from the inside. This was only the beginning, as chemical weapons kept evolving throughout the war, as each side developed deadlier agents in the hope of overpowering the other. 

Development and Damage After WW1 

After World War I, the Geneva Protocol of 1925 banned the use of chemical weapons but not their production or stockpiling. The ban was often ignored by nations that could not retaliate diplomatically. Japan used chemical weapons in China in the 1930s, and Italy used them in Ethiopia in 1935. During the Vietnam War, the USA sprayed herbicides, such as Agent orange clear away jungle cover and destroy crops; but not only that, as it had side effects that caused lasting harm to Vietnamese civilians and US veterans alike. Chemical weapons have been used less in recent decades, but they have not disappeared, as attacks in Syria in the 2010s showed. 

The science behind these weapons is straightforward. For example, chlorine reacts with moisture in the lungs to form corrosive acids that damage the surrounding tissue. Some positive outcomes did emerge. Research into how mustard gas destroys human cells helped inspire chemotherapy. 

Science was also used to defend against these chemical weapons. Soldiers initially covered their faces with cloth pads soaked in water or other safe chemicals, but as the gases grew deadlier, engineers developed gas masks with charcoal filters gas

molecules. Once both sides had masks, gas lost much of its deadly value, which is one reason some historians argue that it wasn't. As deadly as some people make it out to be. The scientists behind the program also raised ethical questions. 

Chemical weapons changed warfare by introducing a new kind of destruction that affected soldiers and civilians alike. The history of chemical weapons shows how technology can be used for harm, but also for defense and research discovery. In the end, they remain a powerful reminder of the harm humans can cause each other and the lack of ethics in war. 

Note to editors 

Find and cite these sources: 

Haber, L.F. The poisonous cloud 

Tucker Jonathan B. War of nerves