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 Gas
was used as a weapon in the First World
War by both sides. It was meant to instil
confusion amongst troops prior to a major
attack. Some gases, like tear gas, had a
temporary effect and some could be lethal,
for example mustard gas.
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Look at the table below. You’ll see that
the CWGC commemorates over 8,000 people who died
as a result of poison gas. Even if death did not
occur quickly from the use of gas, health was
often permanently impaired.
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First
World War Casualties from Gas |
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Nations |
Non-fatal |
Deaths |
Total |
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Commonwealth |
180,597 |
8,109 |
188,706 |
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France |
182,000 |
8,000 |
190,000 |
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United States |
71,345 |
1,462 |
72,807 |
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Italy |
55,373 |
4,627 |
60,000 |
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Russia |
419,340 |
56,000 |
475,340 |
Germany |
191,000 |
9,000 |
200,000 |
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Austria - Hungary |
97,000 |
3,000 |
100,000 |
| Others |
9,000 |
1,000 |
10,000 |
| Total |
1,205,655 |
91,198 |
1,296,853 |
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1,146,982 Commonwealth servicemen and women died in the
First World War. Calculate the percentage
of these that died as a result of gas. Does
the figure surprise you knowing what you
have heard about this conflict?
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The age of mass communication
The First World War was the first to be fought
by literate armies in an age of mass communication,
so horrors were made public through a diversity
of media. The use of gas caused outrage across
the world and provoked a strong response, both
written and pictorial. You will now view a selection
of these responses.
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| Print
this page and use it to do the tasks in
this section. You may find it helpful to
print and use the information in the
Who’s Who section, where you will
find details about the people who wrote
the extracts or created the images and
when they were produced. |
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