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Originally Posted by Alpha
Teh first people to use Chemical warefare tactics were in teh early times of Chivalry. They'd throw Anthrax-Laden cow legs and diseased cows, along with All sorts of other diseased and dead animals into castles by the use of different kinds of catapaults.
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Ok, time to put this to rest.
Alpha, what you speak of is known as Biological warfare, not chemical warfare. Using rotting flesh and dead corpses as a weapon is a weapon that dates long back. Chemical warfare as we know it, was really started in World War I. April 22 1915 was considered the first modern use of Chemical weapons. Basically Chemical weapons have been in use for a long time though. Such things as sulfur smoke for example. The one problem that has always existed with Chemical Weapons is the inability to control where they are going. When the Germans first used Chlorine gas back in April of 1915, they were lucky the wind didn’t shift or else they themselves would have suffered the full brunt of the Chlorine gas.
Next topic, this idea that America used “civil war” type tactics in WWII, not true! First I think you were thinking of WWI, and that was not Civil War or European battlefield edict. It was called Trench Warfare as stated before. A few things brought about Trench Warfare. One clear reason is the invention of the modern machine gun. Both sides would use a two gun-sweeping pattern to crush anything that was coming towards them. The Generals at the time were indeed stuck with the idea that massive amounts of men thrown at an enemy’s position will eventually overthrow that position. It soon became clear that World War I was a war of attrition, and not one of clear-cut victory.
World War II used entirely different tactics all together. No longer were men just forced to charge into an open field under the fire of machine guns. Armor and aircraft backed them up. Chemical use wasn’t nearly as widespread, if it was even used at all against other troops. Yes chemicals were used, but mainly for the purpose of The Final Solution.
Some of you guys really need to research things before you talk… lol. Sometimes being a history nut and doing my senior paper on Biological and Chemical Warfare pays off sometimes
(Which I got in trouble for doing it btw!)
- Brian