The weaponry of World War I proclaimed the dawning of a new era of human conflict. The days of honorable combat were replaced with weapons of mass casualties such as machine guns and explosives of catastrophic proportions. But these tools of death paled in comparison to the horrors of chemical warfare. Poison gases removed the enemy, replacing him with a faceless horror that more resembled the superstitions and ghosts of the Dark Ages than the newest scientific advantages of the 20th century. From the personal accounts surrounding the first gas attack of World War I and subsequent relevant studies, it is evident that chemical weapons were far more lethal psychologically than physically.
In the spring of 1915, the second battle of Ypres, …show more content…
British nurse Irene Rathbone described the state of the Ypres hospital in the aftermath of the attack, “Our hospital soon became a shambles…fully sensible, choking, suffocating [soldiers], dying in horrible agony”. While the physical effects of chlorine gas were only deadly in cases of significant inhalation, its psychological consequences were both long-term and extreme. The unknown elements of chemical warfare caused widespread mania or “gas fright” and set soldiers into a panic at any unordinary sound or scent. Hossack describes the distance reduced effects as a “nauseating smell that tickled the throat and made our eyes smart”. Significantly nearer to the front lines, Methodist Reverend, O.S. Watkins, also attached to the British army gave a chilling account of the fleeing …show more content…
In the event that a gas attack was survived, the psychological effects were immediate, debilitating, and permanent. One medical officer noted: “When after a few days the bodily hurt had gone, there was left an emotional disturbance like a mild attack of shell shock…it was the mind that suffered hurt.” Often soldiers would come to be treated for gas poisoning with symptoms of vomiting, nausea and abdominal pains even when no actual attack had occurred. It became increasingly difficult to tell a true case from an imagined one. The hysteria of gas fright had a huge effect on medical operations throughout
In the spring of 1915, the second battle of Ypres, …show more content…
British nurse Irene Rathbone described the state of the Ypres hospital in the aftermath of the attack, “Our hospital soon became a shambles…fully sensible, choking, suffocating [soldiers], dying in horrible agony”. While the physical effects of chlorine gas were only deadly in cases of significant inhalation, its psychological consequences were both long-term and extreme. The unknown elements of chemical warfare caused widespread mania or “gas fright” and set soldiers into a panic at any unordinary sound or scent. Hossack describes the distance reduced effects as a “nauseating smell that tickled the throat and made our eyes smart”. Significantly nearer to the front lines, Methodist Reverend, O.S. Watkins, also attached to the British army gave a chilling account of the fleeing …show more content…
In the event that a gas attack was survived, the psychological effects were immediate, debilitating, and permanent. One medical officer noted: “When after a few days the bodily hurt had gone, there was left an emotional disturbance like a mild attack of shell shock…it was the mind that suffered hurt.” Often soldiers would come to be treated for gas poisoning with symptoms of vomiting, nausea and abdominal pains even when no actual attack had occurred. It became increasingly difficult to tell a true case from an imagined one. The hysteria of gas fright had a huge effect on medical operations throughout