Who came up with the idea of using chlorine and mustard gas as weapons in World War I?

sequoianoir

The widespread use of chemical weapons can be traced to one man, Fritz Haber of Germany. A man who did sterling work in ammonia-based fertiliser production, driven by intense patriotism for Germany, drove himself to 'weaponise' Chlorine Gas. This was done on his own initiative and he had to push and prod the Germany Army to use these chemical weapons. They were totally against scientists and intellectuals (remember the Prussians!) and finally felt that poison gas was unsporting. In the end, he managed to convince them. He was given an Officer's rank and asked to raise a chemical corps. The first attacks were on April 22nd and 23rd, 1915 and about 200 tons of chlorine gas was released over the allied lines, on mainly French, Canadian and Algerian Troops. It was devastating - 5000 soldiers were killed and 10000 more disabled. The attacks continued for another month till the wind changed direction, but then the Germans changed direction as well and attacked the Russians who suffered even worse casualties. Two incidents stand out during this time. First was a young Austrian corporal who was gassed during a British Artillery Mustard Gas attack on 14th October, 1918, just a few weeks before the armistice. He wrote in his book, about seven o'clock "my eyes were scorching ... a few hours later my eyes were like glowing coals, and all was darkness about me." The book was Mein Kampf and the corporal was Adolf Hitler. The second incident was that Haber fearing that he would be arrested on war crime charges funnily enough was actually awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1919. http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5983_516847,004300140003.htm Feb 08 04, 6:28 AM

sequoianoir

There is one more interesting snippet about Haber. He was a Jew and he spent the time between the two war's secretly developing more poison gases. One of his proudest achievements was a crystalline substance which released Hydrogen Cyanide fumes, later called Zyklon B and used by the Germans to gas the concentration camp victims. Ironical, eh? Feb 08 04, 6:29 AM

gmackematix

Fritz Haber's work on ammonia-based fertilisers assuredly saved the lives of as many people as were ever injured by his poisoned gases. The whole double-edged sword of scientific progress for good and bad is pretty well encapsulated in the work of this one man. Feb 08 04, 9:14 PM