The Gas War, 1915–1918: If not a War Winner, Hardly a Failure

Spiers, Edward M.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-51664-6_9

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Therefore, for the entire January 1915, the Germans tried to penetrate the enemy lines there, but without success (for more details on the historical background of the events cf. Zalewska 2013: 69-73;2016;Archeologiczne przywracanie… 2019;Kaliński 2015;Zalewska, Czarnecki 2016;2019).…”

Section: Spatial and Temporal Conditions Of The Use Of Chemical Weapomentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Use of Chemical Weapons on the Eastern Front of World War One (1915) and its Material and Discursive Remains – the Challenge and Stimuli for Attentive Travel, Systematizing, Storage, Connecting, in situ Preservation and Making Public Real Virtual and Digital Heritage of Weapons of Mass Destruction

Zalewska

2020

Arch

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The article includes a theoretical and practical proposal for perceiving and treating material and discursive remains of using chemical weapons – wherever they still exist – as stimuli for reflection on weapons of mass destruction and as warnings. Based on the specific example of the outcomes of the archaeological and historical research conducted in the historic battlefield – the section of the Eastern Front between Sochaczew in the north and Skierniewice in the south, the following more general appeals have been formulated: – for inalienability of collecting, systematizing and interpreting source information and studies that could together make up a real and digital repository of knowledge on material and discursive remains of historical uses of chemical weapons (CW) and potentially further on of weapons of mass destruction (WMD); – for documenting, digitalising and protecting in situ remains of the past that, despite representing a challenge for contemporary people, constitute a part of important, however difficult, transnational painful heritage; – for undertaking more intense, systematic and coordinated activities to disseminate knowledge about past use of CW and about the mission and activities of individuals and organisations involved in the process of minimizing the threats of weapons of mass destruction in the modern world (such as the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons – OPCW). It is worth exploration, as well as documentation and protection (with the aid of archaeology, history, memory studies, ethnology, landscape studies, educational studies – especially on Peace Education, tourism studies etc.) e.g. by means of transdyscyplinary research and working on establishing real and virtual repositories of knowledge on CW, OPCW, outreach, education on transnational painful heritage, reflective cultural tourism, attentive travel etc. The historical gasscapes (landscape marked with gas attacks) – such as an element of the landscape of today’s central Poland, sketched in this article, that bore witness to the very first mass use of gas shells in January 1915, as well as wave attacks with poisonous chlorine (possibly combined with phosgene) in the battlefield, has been presented as particularly predestined to serve as a symbols of CW painful heritage, triggers for reflection on BMR and carriers of even though weaker and disappearing living memories. Additionally, the attention was drawn to the fact that certain activities aimed at documenting, consolidating, systematizing and disseminating knowledge about the experiences related to CW (or more broadly, WMD) should be undertaken immediately. Some disappearing material remains prove it. The area (in present days Poland) of a former battlefield, where the army of the German Empire repeatedly used chemical weapons in 1915, still conceals the bodies of – until recently – almost completely forgotten victims of CW. Hence the emphasis put on the significance of that area and other similar places as destinations for attentive travel (real and virtual) following evocative remains will not leave us indifferent and uninterested.

show abstract

Section: Spatial and Temporal Conditions Of The Use Of Chemical Weapomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It was the most unpredictable weapon in the arsenal of the German army. However, despite its shortcomings, only several months after the first German attacks, in spring of 1915, the solution was also adopted by British, French and Russian armies (Lepick 1998;Spiers 2016).…”

Section: Chlorine and Phosgene (?) On The Selected Episode On The Easmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Use of Chemical Weapons on the Eastern Front of World War One (1915) and its Material and Discursive Remains – the Challenge and Stimuli for Attentive Travel, Systematizing, Storage, Connecting, in situ Preservation and Making Public Real Virtual and Digital Heritage of Weapons of Mass Destruction

Zalewska

2020

Arch

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Artillery shells filled with chemical agents grew from a negligible proportion in 1915 to about 50% of the German, 35% of the French, 25% of the British, and 20% of the American ammunition expenditure by the Armistice (Spiers 2016). Providing little advantage to either of the equally equipped belligerents, chemical weapons greatly increased the already unspeakable suffering of the troops on both sides of both the Western and Eastern fronts.…”

Section: The Legacy Of Ypresmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Berlin-Dahlem to the Fronts of World War I: The Role of Fritz Haber and His Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in German Chemical Warfare

Friedrich

James

2017

One Hundred Years of Chemical Warfare: Research, Deployment, Consequences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There is little doubt that Fritz Haber was the driving force behind the centrally directed development of chemical warfare in Germany, whose use during World War I violated international law and elicited both immediate and enduring moral criticism. The chlorine cloud attack at Ypres on 22 April 1915 amounted to the first use of a weapon of mass destruction and as such marks a turning point in world history. Following the "success" at Ypres, Haber, eager to employ science in resolving the greatest strategic challenge of the war-the stalemate of trench warfare-promptly transformed his Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry in Berlin-Dahlem into a center for the development of chemical weapons and of protective measures against them. This article traces in some detail the path from Berlin-Dahlem to the fronts of World War I, lays out the indispensible role of Fritz Haber in German chemical warfare and provides a summary of his views on chemical weapons, which he never renounced.

show abstract

“…Thus, there is evidence of studies where adsorbents were used in purification processes of the stomach in the face of poisoning [ 7 ] or where porous natural materials were used in the face of ingestion of As-species [ 8 ]. The use of these traditional adsorbents also had military purposes since charcoal filters were used together with natural fibers in gas protection masks in the First World War [ 9 ].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Advances in Mesoporous Materials and Their Biomedical Applications

Cecilia

Moreno‐Tost

2022

IJMS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

The Gas War, 1915–1918: If not a War Winner, Hardly a Failure

Cited by 5 publications

References 6 publications

From Berlin-Dahlem to the Fronts of World War I: The Role of Fritz Haber and His Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in German Chemical Warfare

Recent Advances in Mesoporous Materials and Their Biomedical Applications

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About