Chemical Warfare and Poison Gas - PowerPoint Presentation

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Chemical Warfare and Poison Gas

Allie Frymire

Definition: warfare using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weaponsDefinition:

poisonous gas or vapor, used especially to disable or kill an enemy in warfare

Chemical warfare and poison gas played a large role in trench warfareMany types of poison gas were usedEx. tear gas, chlorine, phosgene & diphosgene, and mustard gas

What is Chemical

Warfare/ Poison Gas?

Irritates the eyes, mouth, throat, and lungsCauses crying, coughing, difficulty breathing and temporary blindness

First used

in WWI by the French in 1914Was used to disarm rather than killTear Gas (ethyl bromoacetate, choloracetone, &

xylyl

bromide)

Has a yellow-green color and smells like bleach

It turns the water in your lungs to hydrochloric acid (pH <0), causing tissue

damage and respiratory failureA low concentrations, it can cause vomiting, coughing, and eye irritationFirst used by the Germans in 1915 in Ypres (caused >1,100 deaths)Chlorine

“…GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;

But someone still was yelling out and stumblingAnd floundering like a man in fire or lime.--Dim, through the misty panes and thick green lightAs under a green sea, I saw him drowning.In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the

cud…”

Connection:

Chlorine Gas

and

Dulce et Decorum

Est

by Wilfred Owen

Phosgene: colorless gas with a musty odor Diphosgene: colorless oily liquid

Causes suffocation, coughing, fluid buildup in the lungs, and irritation to the throat and eyes

Effects can be delayed up to 24 hoursCaused 85% of gas related deathsPhosgene & Diphosgene (carbonyl dichloride & trichloromethane

chloroformate

)

Used in its impure form with a yellow-brown

color and garlic-y odor

Burns the eyes, skin, and respiratory system on contact, causes blisters and cell deathFirst used in 1917 by Germany in YpresThe mortality rate was only 2-3%, but victims were left handicapped and required intense and complicated careMustard Gas (

bis

(2-chloroethyl) sulfide)

The fear of gas was just as widespread as gas itselfMany soldiers claimed to be gassed when they simply had a sore throat

If one person said they were gassed, fear of a future gas attack spread like wildfire

“In a war of attrition, morale is critical, and this was an attempt to undermine morale,” says historian Edgar JonesPsychological Effects

Germany used poison gases the most, but first used by the French (tear gas)

Chemical warfare was looked down upon

The British were the first among the Allied Forces to utilize chemical warfareTotal casualties caused by gas: approx. 1,240,853The Geneva Protocol, signed in 1925, banned chemical warfareOverall Use and Ban

Rules: the room is divided into two teams, and each turn one student from each team will face off. Swat the fly that corresponds to the correct answer

after

I finish reading the question. If neither student gets the question right, no points will be given. Review: Flyswatter Game

Which of the main poison gases caused the most deaths in WWI?

Chlorine

Phosgene & Diphosgene

Mustard Gas

Tear Gas

Which country used toxic gases the most throughout WWI?

Germany

France

Great Britain

America

Which country

was the first to use

toxic gases in WWI?Germany

France

Great Britain

America

What was the name of the

law

that banned chemical warfare?General Protocol

Geneva Disarmament

General Ban of Toxins

Geneva Protocol

In what year was the Geneva Protocol signed?

1925

1992

1918

1921

Which of these gases causes

burns and blisters on

the skin, eyes, and lungs?Mustard GasOxygen

Phosgene

Chlorine

Poison gas was a very strong _____ weapon because it lowered soldiers’ morale

chemical

military

psychological

gaseous

Poison gas and chemical warfare were important in ____ warfare?

hole

chemical

trench

Allied

THE END