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What Is Poison Gas?
Poison gas, by no means the most deadly weapon used during World War I, may be the weapon most associated with that conflict. Why has poison gas remained at the forefront of our memory of that war? A common plot device in film and literature, a topic of study in history, ethics, national security, and health care, it is the rare review of World War I that does not touch upon poison gas with horror and fascination. It has been immortalized in poetry and art -- the experience captured again and again.
Like biological agents and other weapons of mass destruction today, poison gas was an invisible, terrifying force during World War I. Soldiers, surrounded by the visceral sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of life and death in the trenches, were not prepared for the horrors contained in German shells.
As a weapon during World War I, poison gas was extremely ineffective. Gas is too indiscriminate a weapon, literally moving where the wind blows and risking the user as well as the target. However, as a demoralizing force, the terror of gas was unparalleled. Officers, commanders, and leadership failed to understand the terror poison gas would inflict upon a hastily trained American force coming to the battlefield in 1918. |