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Phosgene was used by the German army from the end of May 1915, when attacks were conducted on the Western Front against French troops and on the Eastern Front on Russians, where 12,000 cylinders with 240–264 long tons (244–268 t) of 95 per cent chlorine and 5 per cent phosgene was discharged on a 7.5 mi (12 km) front at Bolimów. [5]
Chronic fatigue and memory loss were reported to last up to three years after exposure. In the years following World War One, there were many conferences held in attempts to abolish the use of chemical weapons altogether, such as the Washington Naval Conference (1921–22), Geneva Conference (1923–25) and the World Disarmament Conference (1933
During its time in France, the First Gas Regiment used phosgene in a number of attacks. [4] The United States began large-scale production of an improved vesicant gas known as Lewisite, for use in an offensive planned for early 1919. Lewisite was a major American contribution to the chemical weapon arsenal of World War I, although it was not ...
Phosgene was first deployed as a chemical weapon by the French in 1915 in World War I. [24] It was also used in a mixture with an equal volume of chlorine, with the chlorine helping to spread the denser phosgene. [25] [26] Phosgene was more potent than chlorine, though some symptoms took 24 hours or more to manifest.
Arsenical smokes were known to the Chinese as far back as c. 1000 BC [5] and Sun Tzu's "Art of War" (c. 200 BC) advises the use of incendiary weapons. In the second century BC, writings of the Mohist sect in China describe the use of bellows to pump smoke from burning balls of toxic plants and vegetables into tunnels being dug by a besieging army.
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The effect of the gas was similar to that of the phosgene discharge of 19 December 1915 but in a more concentrated form, in which a short exposure to the gas was fatal. The course of the cloud could be seen by the staining of grass and vegetation as far as Bailleul, where shoots and leaves withered; cattle died 2 mi (3.2 km) to the north-east.
The first World War saw chemicals especially chlorine, phosgene and mustard gas used heavily. Over 100,000 tons of toxic gas was produced by the end of the war in 1918. For the most part gas masks neutralized advantages. Gas injured many soldiers but it did not change the course of the war. There were no permanent environmental effects. [11] [12]