Topic: Was the Poison Gas used in World War I Essentially a Nuisance Weapon?
Thesis statement: World War I introduced many new technologies one of them being poison gases which Germans created as a mustard gas, phosgene, and chlorine
Annotated Bibliography
Duffy, Michael. “Weapons of War-Poison Gas.” Firstworldwar, 22 August 2009. www.firstworldwar.com/24 May 2018/weaponry/gas.htm. This article is useful for my research due to giving details of how the Germans used their first poison gas during the Second Battle of Ypres and new gases after. It explains how the poison gases such as mustard gas, phosgene, and chlorine affected their victim. The article is helpful due to each type of gas having there own paragraph and explaining what the gases inflict on their victims and how it impacts them after. The paragraphs of each gas also give detail of what injuries the gases cause. This article is useful due to explaining what each gas does to a person and how it originated from and the dates it was used.
“Germans Introduce Poison Gas” History, 2010. www.history.com/ 24 May 2018/this-day-in-history/germans-introduce-poison-gas.
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The article gives detail of chlorine and the tactics used by the Germans to attack the enemy. Ihe article also explains how mustard gas used by the Germans was being carried out and the protection they used against it. In the article it talks of only mustard gas and chlorine which were the two gases which caused the most damage to the victim. This article did help with some of my research but did not give information of phosgene considering it was one of the three main gases used during World War
3Brophy, L. (1959). The Chemical Warfare Service (1st ed.). Washington: Office of the Chief of
B”Heller, C.E (1984). Leavenworth papers No 10. Chemical warfare in world war I. Combat studies institute”.
Killing Squads would enter towns and gather the people, usually in vast open areas. Open areas are easier to dig the mass graves where the dead would be put. After victims gave their valuables to the killing squad and were undressed, they were gassed in vans, shot in trenches, or shot in prepared pits (USHMM). People gassed in vans were killed by the carbon monoxide produced by the van because the exhaust pipes were blocked. These research findings reveal the harsh tactics of killing squads.
The use of debilitating and deadly gases in World War I weighed heavily on the CWS in the years that followed. The lessons taken from the war forced CWS to the realization and likelihood of history repeating itself. Over the next 20 years, the CWS would fight its own battle for funding and existence due to the War Department’s issuance of General Order 26 of 1922. The order restricted research and development, as well as funding to CWS (Brophy & Fisher, 1959). During this time, the CWS evaluated its aging stockpiles. They knew that another war would require prompt production of chemicals in order to react to an attack on Americans. The CWS requested funding to perform research and initiate production, but the government felt it was unnecessary. In fact, officials questioned the existence of CWS. That would all change in the late 1930’s when the essence of a second world war would loom. The CWS received funding to initiate their plan of stockpiling chemicals weapons. In 1940, the CWS would receive a substantial increase in funding after Germany’s victory...
Almost thirty years after the last troops were pulled out of what was then South Vietnam, its effects are still felt in today’s society. It is hard not to find someone who’s life has not been affected because of this war. One of the most controversial decisions made in the war was to use chemicals to fight the enemy. The most boradly used chemiucal was called Agent Orange. Some people agreed with the use of Agent Orange. They saw it as a very viable weapon that needed to be used in order to keep the Communist from taking control of South Vietnam and subverting their democratic government. Many others disapproved of its use. They knew, correctly, that it would severely devastate the landscape of Vietnam and would forever ruin the land for agricultural use. They also knew of the harmful effect it would have once adults and children came in contact with the harmful chemicals that form the chemical make up of Agent Orange. Once the first bombs carrying Agent Orange were dropped there was no going back. For some people the use of Agent Orange changed their whole opinion of the war and what we were really fighting for. Pictures showing burns and disfigurement were soon to hit the presses. Once the American public could see exactly what was happening and how the civilian life was being treated impacted many people so much that they could no longer support what the United States was doing over in Vietnam. The goal of this paper is to show how the use of Agent Orange changed many people’s perspective of the war in Vietnam.
The two chemical weapons that were used were: nerve agent and mustard gas. Nerve agent has two main classes that are Class G and Class V. Class V is more new, however less fatal. The specific nerve agent used by the Iraqis is Cyclosarin. Cyclosarin is an extremely toxic substance used as a chemical weapon, which is a member of Class G. Cyclosarin is the most dangerous gas out of both classes. It is known to have a sweet smell and is also flammable unlike other nerve gases. Mustard gas on the other hand is yellow and smells like garlic. Both gases cause death in minutes and have long lasting effects. These can include diseases and other horrible problems. Many of these diseases cannot be cured, for the cells have been damaged and cannot be repaired.
Before the CDTF was built Soldiers had live toxic training, but it had to be conducted outdoors as it represented the most effective training. Since 1973 the use of training with live chemical agents stops due to environmental concerns and low safety regulations (Unknown, 2011). In 1981the US Army Chemical School (USACMLS) plan and develop a training facility to be used indoors and safer for the environment and the Soldiers. The construction of the new training facility was 14.9 million dollars and it was finished in 1986 at Fort McClellan, Alabama. (Unknown, Transition Force, United States Army Garrison-FT McClellan, Alabama) The first chemical class to utilize the new CDTF was on March 1987. Thus started the age of Chemical (Unknown, 2011) Soldier’s being able to have assurance that their equipment is more than capable of protecting them in a chemical attack. Many allied nations have used and received training from our CDTF but no other like Germany. In 1988, Germany’s decontamination trai...
"Chemical Warfare Agents - Resources on the health effects from chemical weapons, emergency response & treatment, counterterrorism, and emergency preparedness.au.af." Specialized Information Services - Reliable information on toxicology, environmental health, chemistry, HIV/AIDS, and minority health. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2010.
Trueman, Chris. "Chemical Warfare and World War Two." Chemical Warfare and World War Two. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. .
Fries, A. A., & West, C. J. (1921) The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Chemical warfare. New York [etc.] :. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.. Heller, C. E. (1985).
Weapons and Artillery of World War II The result of World War II was affected by many different factors. One major factor which affected the war was the weapons and artillery used during the war. Since the beginnings of time, weapons have always been around. From swords and knives to nuclear weapons and missiles, weapons have evolved greatly over the years.
Web. The Web. The Web. 05 Feb. 2010. http://www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/gas.htm>.
The soviets tested several deadly poisons on prisoners in the gulag like mustard gas, ricin, digitoxin and several others. The soviets wanted and tried hard to find a tasteless and...
Seth Schonwald M.D. A.B.M.T. (1992, July). Mustard Gas. The PSR Quarterly Vol. 2 No. 2
In the beginning of the 20th century, scientists were experimenting with a wide range of chemicals to develop a method that may affect several diseases in hopes of producing a cure. A German chemist, Paul Ehrlich, who was experimenting treatments of syphilis with chemical methods, created the term “chemotherapy” (Bonander, 2011). It wasn’t until 1943 when the United State’s secret chemical weapon program discovered that nitrogen mustard, also know...