An Cosantóir July/August 2017 www.dfmagazine.ie
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by PAUL O'BRIEN MA
C
hemical warfare was
used en masse during
World War I, when
Axis and Allied forces used
mustard gas and chlorine gas
in a number of offensives. the
effects of such weapons were
devastating, killing and maim-
ing thousands. In the aftermath
of the war many believed
that such weapons would be
banned but contrary to popular
opinion, chemical weapons
continue to be developed, many
of them in secret laboratories.
Chemical weapons are con-
sidered 'the poor man's atom
bomb', and today, over a century
after they were used on the
Western Front, they are still be-
ing employed in conflicts around
the world. While a number of
different gases have been used,
mustard gas has re-emerged
in recent times as a weapon
of choice for certain groups.
It is believed mustard gas
was first developed in the
early 19th Century, and chem-
ists such as César-Mansuete
Desprestz and, later, Alfred
Richie were credited with its
initial development. How-
ever, no adverse side effects
or dangers were noted in their
work. British scientist Frederick
Guthrie took the testing fur-
ther and first noted mustard
gas's irritating properties, and
later work by Albert Niemann
noted its blistering properties.
As chemists developed
the agent, the purity of the
compound increased, caus-
ing adverse health effects on
exposure. It was in 1913, when
English chemist Hans Thacher
Clarke replaced ingredients
in the original formula with
hydrochloric acid, that people
began to take note. Clarke was
severely injured when one of
his sample flasks broke, but it
was this formula and Clarke's
report of his accident that set
the German Empire on the way
to researching and developing
such weapons for warfare.
The Germans first used mus-
tard gas effectively in 1917, against
