The first ever gas attack

The German army makes the first military use of poison gas during World War One

After an initial period of manoeuvre warfare, the western front soon descended into a war of attrition in which a dense network of trenches kept the front lines static for a number of years. Seeking to break the deadlock, both sides worked on the production of poison gas to clear the enemy trenches and open up a path to victory. The Germans were the first off the mark. Releasing a yellow-green cloud of chlorine gas from steel cylinders into the wind on 22 April 1915, they watched it move towards the French lines. Over a thousand French soldiers died and many more suffered serious injuries. German assault troops, their faces covered with moistened gauze strips, followed the cloud and gained ground.

The Western Allies soon followed suit and both sides were forced to develop functional gas masks and better methods – including shells and bombs – of delivering the variety of poisonous substances developed during the course of the war. Despite the high level of innovation involved, gas proved itself to be a relatively ineffective weapon, and even though it caused 100,000 deaths, it did not turn out to be the game changer that both sides hoped. One of the million men injured by gas was Adolf Hitler, who was temporarily blinded by a British attack using mustard gas. Neither the Germans nor their opponents used chemical weapons during the Second World War.