The poison gas debate in the inter-war years

Abstract

Poison gas, together with nuclear and biological weapons, has been classified as a ‘weapon of mass destruction’. This has not always been the case; in the years after World War I it was claimed that poison gas was the most humane weapon thinkable, as it did not kill in the numbers that machine guns and artillery did – today's ‘conventional’ weapons. Gas only made soldiers unconscious, so that they could be taken prisoner, and when the war was over could return safely to their friends and families. This stand was fiercely disputed in the inter-war years by those who saw gas as one step, even the final step, crossing the boundaries of civilization. Moreover, gas showed clearly that medical intervention to cure the agonies of war was senseless; prevention could be the only answer. Nevertheless, the fact remains that almost all of the nine million deaths of World War I – now mostly remembered as a war of gas and madness – were due to shells and bullets.

Keywords:

• inhumane weapons
• International Red Cross
• inter-war years
• poison gas
• weapons' effects
• World War I