How chlorine gas changed history

By Marhee Green

The most important weapon used in World War I was chlorine gas. Chlorine gas has a yellowish-green color and is very dense. It is said to smell like a mixture of pineapple and pepper. The real reason chlorine gas was so important in World War I was, because, when inhaled it destroyed your respiratory system, causing you to start coughing and choking. The more of the chlorine gas you inhaled the faster you died. If you were able to treat it very quickly then the person may survive. Back then they didnt know how to cure chlorine gas, so, if you inhaled the chlorine gas then there was nothing they could do about it. This is why it was so useful to the armies to use during World War I. Lots of people say that the French were the first to use it but thats not true. The Germans were actually the first ones to use it in World War I, after the chemist Fritz Haber discovered it in 1774. Chorine gas was a major turning point in history because of its use in World War I trench warfare. The talented chemist Fritz Haber discovered chlorine gas, the first poison gas used in World War I. It doesnt say much about how the Germans found the chlorine gas after Fritz Haber discovered it, but it does say they were the first to use it in World War. The Germans first used the chlorine gas against the French in a surprise attack. The British saw a cloud of yellow-green gas coming toward them. They thought the gas was being used as a cloud to hide the Germans so they didnt move. As the cloud came upon them men suddenly started having cough attacks and no one knew why. The chlorine gas was destroying their lungs and they began to die of asphyxiation. Since the Germans didnt think it would actually work they didnt have a plan for what would happen if their surprise attack should actually succeed. The French began to split up; their line became dangerously thin in places. The Germans

warily walked through, unsure of what to do since their experiment actually worked. (Michael Duffy paragraph 8-11) The Germans using chlorine gas was a major breakthrough for poison gases used in World War 1. After the Germans executed such a detrimental surprise attack on the British army, British wanted to get revenge on the Germans for the surprise attack. The only thing they didnt think about was how dangerous chlorine gas really was. When its not controlled it can be like a wild fire, its uncontrollable and destroys everything in its path. The Britishs first attempt at using chlorine gas wasnt as successful as they thought it would be because they didnt have a machine to control the chlorine gas. The British later tried to launch a surprise attack on the Germans, but they didnt think about the natural problems that could occur, which made the attack a failure. After the Germans used the chlorine gas the British had scientists and chemists that went out and got some chlorine gas for the British. They werent aloud to mention the words chlorine gas or they would face severe punishments. On September 24, 1916 about 400 chlorine gas emplacements were placed around the British front line at Loos. They released the gas by turning a cock on each cylinder. At 5:20 a.m. a mixture of smoke and gas was released from the emplacements toward the German camp. Releasing the gas in this manner meant the user had to beware of the wind conditions. When they released the gas the wind was light and going in the direction they wanted, but if it were to turn the biter would be bit. While the chlorine gas was going towards the Germans camp the winds direction changed, and sure enough, the biter was bit. It is estimated that there were more British deaths than German

deaths that morning. Although the British were the ones who suffered the most that morning, all three primary armies- Britain, France, and Germany- has suffered somewhat similar self-inflicted gas setbacks in 1915. It became obvious that if chlorine gas was to be used it would call for some sort of machine to control it. The armies started experimenting to use the gas loads in artillery shells. After the Britishs unsuccessful surprise attack on the Germans they realized how important it was too have some sort of mechanical device to control chlorine gas. Not only did they realize how dangerous chlorine gas really was, but they also realized how useful it was when it is controlled. Germany, France, and Britain all began searching for other poison gases to defeat their enemies. They discovered poison gases that were even more dangerous than chlorine gas and caused even more damage. After the discovery of chlorine gas armies began finding even more poison gases. One example is phosgene. Phosgene is another poison gas. Phosgene is the second poison used in World War I. It was useful because unlike chlorine gas, which had an immediate and obvious effect, you could have inhaled phosgene and not known until later. Supposedly healthy soldiers had dropped dead up to 48 hours hours after inhaling phosgene. The so-called white star was a mixture of chlorine and phosgene. The chlorine had the necessary vapor to carry the phosgene. Another poison gas used was mustard gas. Mustard gas was used by the Germans against the Russians at Riga in 1917. Mustard gas, an almost odorless chemical, can be distinguished by the blisters you get internally and externally after hours of being exposed to mustard gas. Because of this, protection from mustard gas is much

harder to get than protection from chlorine or phosgene gas. Using mustard gas tended to have mixed effects. While inflicting damage to your enemy it also remained in the soil for many weeks, making capture of infected trenches a very dangerous task. After a while the armies learned different ways to protect themselves from the gases. One way was to dip cotton wads in a solution of bicarbonate soda and hold it over their face. Another way to protect them was to hold a urine drenched cloth in front of their face in case of an emergency. By 1918 the soldiers were even better protected from poison gases than they had been in any other time. Filter respirators (charcoal or antidote chemicals) were highly effective, but wearing them while working in a trench is very tiring. There were many different poison gases used in World War I, phosgene, chlorine gas, and mustard gas. Eventually using poison gases in wars became illegal in 1925 because of all the deaths it was causing. Chlorine gas was important in history because not only was it used in World War I, but it also led to the discovery of other poisons gases. Chlorine gas being used in World War I was a major breakthrough and helped change history. During World War I chlorine gas killed 9,000 German soldiers and 8,109 British soldiers. After World War I chlorine gas and other poison gases were prohibited from being used, but even before that the armies had stopped using it. After a while the element of surprise the armies used to get was gone because after now the other armies were expecting it and had ways to prevent being injured from the fatal poison gases. Even though chlorine may seem like a very bad thing, it really isnt if you use it the right way. Today people use chlorine to clean the pools we

swim in and clean the water that we drink every day. So, honestly, chlorine gas can be a good or bad thing, but its up to the people who use it to decide how it will be used. As you can tell, chlorine gas helped change history a lot. It also helped change the weapons that were used in wars. If the Germans hadnt first used chlorine gas then it may have never become illegal to use and people may have been using it now in Iraq or some other place.