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chemical weapon, any of several chemical compounds, usually toxic agents, that are intended to kill, injure, or incapacitate enemy personnel.In modern warfare, chemical weapons were first used in World War I (1914–18), during which gas warfare inflicted more than one million of the casualties suffered by combatants in that conflict and killed an estimated 90,000.
- Barry R. Schneider
The first chemical weapons were imported by a minor Hunan warlord, who bought two small cases of "gas-producing shells" in August 1921. Marshal Cao Kun, approached a British-owned chemical company in Tianjin in 1923; he attempted to order gas bombs, but as far as is known they turned down his proposal.
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May 12, 2015 · Three substances were responsible for most chemical-weapons injuries and deaths during World War I: chlorine, phosgene, and mustard gas. Chlorine gas , used on the infamous day of April 22, 1915, produces a greenish-yellow cloud that smells of bleach and immediately irritates the eyes, nose, lungs, and throat of those exposed to it.
Chemical weapons are said to "make deliberate use of the toxic properties of chemical substances to inflict death". At the start of World War II it was widely reported in newspapers that "entire regions of Europe" would be turned into "lifeless wastelands". However, chemical weapons were not used to the extent predicted by the press.
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Apr 10, 2018 · Chemical weapons have a long, lethal history. Accounts of ancient chemical warfare, including the use of poisonous smoke and arrows, date back as far as the 12th century, B.C.E. And while the use ...
Chemical weapons in World War I. A French gas attack on German trenches in Flanders, Belgium (1917). The use of toxic chemicals as weapons dates back thousands of years, but the first large-scale use of chemical weapons was during World War I. [1] [2] They were primarily used to demoralize, injure, and kill entrenched defenders, against whom ...
Apr 6, 2017 · Though chemical weapons were responsible for only about 1 percent of the Great War's dead, they provided the 20th century with a dangerous new weapon of mass destruction, according to experts.
