in what war were chemical weapons first used?

Answer 1

Ancient to medieval times
Chemical weapons have been used for millennia in the form of poisoned arrows, but evidence can be found for the existence of more advanced forms of chemical weapons in ancient and classical times.

A good example of early chemical warfare was the late Stone Age (10 000 BC) hunter-gatherer societies in Southern Africa, known as the San. They used poisoned arrows, tipping the wood, bone and stone tips of their arrows with poisons obtained from their natural environment. These poisons were mainly derived from scorpion or snake venom, but it is believed that some poisonous plants were also utilized. The arrow was fired into the target of choice, usually an antelope (the favourite being an eland), with the hunter then tracking the doomed animal until the poison caused its collapse.

The earliest surviving references to toxic warfare are possibly those in the Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. The Manusmriti book of laws also forbids use of poison weapons.[2]

Dating from the 4th century BC, writings of the Mohist sect in China describe the use of bellows to pump smoke from burning balls of mustard and other toxic vegetables into tunnels being dug by a besieging army. Even older Chinese writings dating back to about 1000 BC contain hundreds of recipes for the production of poisonous or irritating smokes for use in war along with numerous accounts of their use. From these accounts we know of the arsenic-containing "soul-hunting fog", and the use of finely divided lime dispersed into the air to suppress a peasant revolt in AD 178.

The earliest recorded use of gas warfare in the West dates back to the 5th century BC, during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. Spartan forces besieging an Athenian city placed a lighted mixture of wood, pitch, and sulfur under the walls hoping that the noxious smoke would incapacitate the Athenians, so that they would not be able to resist the assault that followed. Sparta wasn't alone in its use of unconventional tactics during these wars: Solon of Athens is said to have used hellebore roots to poison the water in an aqueduct leading from the Pleistrus River around 590 BC during the siege of Cirrha.

Chemical weapons were known and used in ancient and medieval China. Polish chronicler Jan Długosz mentions usage of posionous gas by Mongol army in 1241 in Battle of Legnica.

continued here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_warfare

Answer 2

Believe it or not chemical war fare goes back as far as Roman times. The History Channel had a show on it. When I went the web, WW I was pretty much described as the start of chemical weapons. The first weapons were chlorine based.

Answer 3

The first Industrial use was in World War I. First by the French followed quickly by the Germans. Prior to that it was purposed to chemcial shells during the American Civil War but the military decided against it.

As others have pointed out, chemical weapons have been around in one form on another for quite some time, predating the Crusades. I did find a mention of a Franco-German treaty banning chemical weapons that was signed in 1675.

Two good books to read on the subject:
War of Nerves: Chemical Weapons from World War I to Al-Qaeda. by Johnathan Tucker

Greek fire, poison arrows, and scorpion bombs biological and chemical warfare in the ancient world. by Adrienne Mayor.

Answer 4

Chemical weapons was first used in World War I. Very few people knew that in World War I, Adolf Hitler then a German corporal fighting in the front-lines, became almost blinded by the effects of a chemical bomb that hit his trench.

Answer 5

WW I was the first war chemical weapons were used. Bio weapons, or a form of, have been used for centuries

Answer 6

Prior to WW I, there wasn't much attention given to chemical weapons, that I recall reading about. Certainly, the Germans, with their mustard gas, became extremely unpopular, but it also reigned in a generation of chemical weapons that were used extensively, by all sides, during WW II !

Answer 7

"Chemical" in general like, Nuclear, Biological and Chemical. Or just Chemical? The Brits used biological warfare against the native American Indians during the French Indian Wars. They intentionally delivered blankets infected with yellow fever to those who were hungry and cold.

Answer 8

Chemical weapons go back to around 10,000 BC where a
South African tribe known as San used arrows that were dipped in to poison. Mustard gas was used in 4 BC by the Chinese, actually it was the smoke from burning mustard and other toxic vegetables.

Answer 9

WW1 for chemical but biological has been used since the mongols laid seige to constantinople. They shot diseased cows over the walls trying to kill off the people inside. Some historians beleive this is what started the Black death killing about 1/3 of Europes population.

Answer 10

Worlw War One