ABSTRACT
In the Twentieth Century, the propagation of chemical warfare and its defense were strategic considerations of most major and many secondary powers. The seminal introduction of mass chemical attack occurred near Ypres in Belgium on April 22, 1915 when German Army forces released 180 tonnes of chlorine gas upon French, Algerian, and Canadian positions. Respirator protection was devised as protection against inhalation of these new chemical weapons (CW). In 1916, the British Expeditionary Force introduced phosgene and chloropicrin, and the French introduced hydrogen cyanide. In 1917 (also near Ypres), the first use of mustard agent by Germany inaugurated a CW with marked cutaneous reactivity and systemic absorption via the skin, thereby markedly increasing the complexity of CW warfare and its defense. Despite the widespread use of CW in World War I with 1.3 million CW casualties and 90,000 deaths, their role remained principally tactical.
