WWI is known as the chemists war. Gas warfare became huge during this war and it was a deadly tatic. Gas could be used all the time even if there wasn't gunfire. It would sit in the trenches for days sometimes and the soilders had to wear gas masks or they would die a slow painful death.
Gas was first used by the French in August of 1914. They put out a tear gas in grenades on invading German forces. The tear gas isn't really a gas that would it was more of a way to stop or atleast delay the German troops. The French releasing the tear gas was an act of desperation in a way because they had no way to stop the Germans. The Germans had always thought about the use of gas to take out major numbers of enemies. Well in October of 1914 the German forces attacked the French with shells full of gas that caused them to sneeze with out stopping. Much like the Frenchs' attack the gas was meant to only render the French unable to defend their positions.
There was 91,000 fatalities due to poisonous gas. More people were badly effected by it, some to the point that they couldn't go home and work or they would later die from the gas they were exposed to. Gas warfare is obviously a dangerous thing. The fact that if you don't have protection from the gas then you'll most likely die is the worst. There was nothing they could do in the trenches to stop a gas attack once it happend.-Breann Lehr
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