page_title: History of chemical warfare
section_title: World War I
hierarchical_section_title: History of chemical warfare / World War I
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Ein kanadischer Soldat mit Senfgas-Verbrennungen, ca. 1917-1918. English: A Canadian soldier with mustard gas burns, ca. 1917-1918. Español: Un soldado canadiense sufriendo de quemaduraas de gas de mostaza, ca. 1917-1918. Français&#160;: Un soldat canadien souffrant de brûlures au gaz moutarde, ca. 1917-1918. Gaeilge: Saighdiúir Cheanada le dónna gás mustaird, t. 1917-1918. Svenska: En kanadensisk soldat med brännskador från senapsgas, ca. 1917-1918.
context_page_description: Chemical weapons have been a part of warfare in most societies, although their use has been particularly controversial since the 20th century.
context_section_description: The Hague Declaration of 1899 and the Hague Convention of 1907 forbade the use of "poison or poisoned weapons" in warfare, yet more than 124,000 tons of gas were produced by the end of World War I.
  The French were the first to use chemical weapons during the First World War, using the tear gases ethyl bromoacetate and chloroacetone. They likely did not realize that effects might be more serious under wartime conditions than in riot control. It is also likely that their use of tear gas escalated to the use of poisonous gases.
  One of Germany's earliest uses of chemical weapons occurred on October 27, 1914, when shells containing the irritant dianisidine chlorosulfonate were fired at British troops near Neuve-Chapelle, France. Germany used another irritant, xylyl bromide, in artillery shells that were fired in January 1915 at the Russians near Bolimów, in present-day Poland.  The first full-scale deployment of deadly chemical warfare agents during World War I was at the Second Battle of Ypres, on April 22, 1915, when the Germans attacked French, Canadian and Algerian troops with chlorine gas.
  A total 50,965 tons of pulmonary, lachrymatory, and vesicant agents were deployed by both sides of the conflict, including chlorine, phosgene, and mustard gas. Official figures declare about 1.3 million casualties directly caused by chemical warfare agents during the course of the war. Of these, an estimated 100,000-260,000 casualties were civilians. Nearby civilian towns were at risk from winds blowing the poison gases through. Civilians rarely had a warning system put into place to alert their neighbors of the danger. In addition to poor warning systems, civilians often did not have access to effective gas masks.
  World War I-era chemical ammunition is still found, unexploded,  at former battle, storage, or test sites and poses an ongoing threat to inhabitants of Belgium, France and other countries. Camp American University where American chemical weapons were developed and later buried, has undergone 20 years of remediation efforts.
  After the war, the most common method of disposal of chemical weapons was to dump them into the nearest large body of water. As many as 65,000 tons of chemical warfare agents may have been dumped in the Baltic Sea alone; agents dumped in that sea included mustard gas, phosgene, lewisite (β-chlorovinyldichloroarsine), adamsite (diphenylaminechloroarsine), Clark I (diphenylchloroarsine) and Clark II (diphenylcyanoarsine). Over time the containers corrode, and the chemicals leaked out. On the sea floor, at low temperatures, mustard gas tends to form lumps within a "skin" of chemical byproducts. These lumps can wash onto shore, where they look like chunks of waxy yellowish clay. They are extremely toxic, but the effects may not be immediately apparent.
caption: A Canadian soldier with mustard gas burns, ca. 1917–1918.
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