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Article: Chemical and Biological Warfare
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WARFARE
CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WARFARE.
While limited use of chemicals and disease in warfare dates from ancient times, the origins of modern chemical and biological weapons systems date from the era of the two world wars. The term chemical warfare came into use with the gas warfare of World War I, and modern biological warfare dates from the weapons systems first introduced in the 1930s.
Early Gas Warfare
Following the first successful German gas attack with chlorine in the World War I battle at Ypres in 1915, the British, French, and, in 1918, the U.S. armies responded with gases including phosgenes, mustard gas, hydrogen cyanide, and cyanogen chloride. ...