Poison Gas Was Regarded by Many As Essay

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Poison gas was regarded by many as a weak way to fight and anyone who thought of utilizing it was quickly dismissed. "…any power that used poison gas would inevitably be branded as beyond the pale of civilization for all the time and Cochrane's idea was quietly buried." (Stokesbury 94) However the British did use poison gas during World War I with some success, albeit at the cost of their advancement in the battle. "In their assault, which coincided with that of the French to the south, the British employed poison gas themselves for the first time. It helped gain some initial successes, though in places it blew back and hampered their own advance." (Stokesbury 95) Other things were also of concern to the British and Germans as their need for new allies became a primary objective. Their desire to generate new alliances was for effort to open up new frontages of action that might exercise conclusive influence on the foremost fronts of the war like technical, as each side pursued development of new devices and armaments to give them an advantage in combat. Adding to the disagreement among the higher ups for both sides on the handling of the war, it made sense to look for new allies. "In March 1915, during World War I (1914-18), British and French forces launched an ill-fated naval attack on Turkish forces in the Dardanelles in northwestern Turkey, hoping to take control of the strategically vital strait separating Europe from Asia." ("Dardanelles Campaign") The catastrophe of the campaign on the Dardanelles, alongside the campaign that trailed later that year occurring in Gallipoli, brought about substantial fatalities and was a solemn blow to the standing of the Allied war command, as well as that of Winston Churchill, a prominent British leader who had been a longstanding advocate of an forceful naval attack against Turkey at the Dardanelles. The battle of Verdun for instance, a location picked for the single road and it being on a salient near German lines, resulted in heavy casualties on both sides as use of trench warfare brought about a stalemate, making it what some consider the longest and bloodiest battles of World War I, with over 300,000 dead on both sides.

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Although the efforts along the eastern salient proved ineffectual, the Austrians and the Russians were able to take uninterrupted portions out of the empire, leading to creation of independent or semi-autonomous states such as Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia.

Germany wished to pursue an east first method, however Falkenhayn began preparation for a maneuver against Ypres set to start in April. Envisioned as a restricted offensive, he wanted to dissuade Allied attention from troop activities east, ensure a more authoritative position in Flanders, along with proper testing of a new defense, poison gas. Tear gas was initially used in January against the Russians. However, introduction of chlorine gas was used in the Second Battle of Ypres. Preparation for the gas attack involved movement 5,730 90 lb. canisters of chlorine gas by German soldiers to the front reverse Gravenstafel Ridge. It was 5:00pm on April 22, 1915 when the first poison gas attack was released, striking the French 45th and 87th Divisions. The attack opened 8,000 yards with deaths of 6,000 French soldiers.

Italy was allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary. However, because the latter two powers used their coal for the war effort, and Britain provided Italy with 90% of their coal, they had to eventually side with Britain and France and declare war on Austria-Hungary. Although not particularly influenced by the Anglo-Japanese alliance, Japan declared war on Germany thus siding at least in WWI, with Britain. Turkey sided with the Central powers because of Germany's insistence on avoiding Turkey join the opposition and their need to influence Bulgaria and Romania to join the German side as well.….....

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