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  2. Chemical weapon | History, Facts, Types, & Effects | Britannica

    www.britannica.com/technology/chemical-weapon

    Chemical weapon, any of several chemical compounds, usually toxic agents, that are intended to kill, injure, or incapacitate. In modern warfare, chemical weapons were first used in World War I (1914–18).

  3. chemical warfare summary | Britannica

    www.britannica.com/summary/chemical-weapon

    chemical warfare, Use of lethal or incapacitating chemical weapons in war, and the methods of combating such agents. Chemical weapons include choking agents such as the chlorine and phosgene gas employed first by the Germans and later by the Allies in World War I; blood agents such as hydrogen cyanide or cyanogen gas, which block red blood ...

  4. Chemical weapon - WMD, Toxins, Agents | Britannica

    www.britannica.com/technology/chemical-weapon/Weapons-of-mass-destruction

    Chemical weapon - WMD, Toxins, Agents: Chemical weapons did not become true weapons of mass destruction (WMD) until they were introduced in their modern form in World War I (1914–18). The German army initiated modern chemical warfare by launching a chlorine attack at Ypres, Belgium, on April 22, 1915, killing 5,000 French and Algerian troops ...

  5. Trench warfare | Definition, History, & Facts | Britannica

    www.britannica.com/topic/trench-warfare

    trench warfare, warfare in which opposing armed forces attack, counterattack, and defend from relatively permanent systems of trenches dug into the ground. The opposing systems of trenches are usually close to one another.

  6. Chemical weapon - Nerve Agents, Toxins, Warfare | Britannica

    www.britannica.com/technology/chemical-weapon/Nerve-agents

    Chemical weapon - Nerve Agents, Toxins, Warfare: The most lethal and important chemical weapons contain nerve agents, which affect the transmission of impulses through the nervous system.

  7. Mustard gas, in chemical warfare, a liquid agent that blisters the skin and mucous membranes upon direct contact. It has a faint garlic or mustard odour. Despite its name, mustard gas is technically a liquid and forms a mist of small droplets in the air when released.

  8. Biological weapon | Types, Effects & History | Britannica

    www.britannica.com/technology/biological-weapon

    Biological warfare agents differ greatly in the type of organism or toxin used in a weapons system, lethality, length of incubation, infectiousness, stability, and ability to be treated with current vaccines and medicines.

  9. chemical and biological warfare - Students - Britannica Kids

    kids.britannica.com/students/article/chemical-and-biological-warfare/273622

    The military use of chemicals, bacteria, viruses, toxins, or poisons to injure or kill soldiers or civilians is called chemical and biological warfare. The means by which the harmful substances are delivered to the enemy are called chemical and biological weapons.

  10. Chemical weapon - Defense, Protection, Prevention | Britannica

    www.britannica.com/technology/chemical-weapon/Defense-against-chemical-weapons

    One response to the threat of a chemical weapons attack on civilian society has been the creation of active, well-trained emergency response teams that know how to identify chemical agents, decontaminate areas and people exposed to chemical weapons, and coordinate rescue operations.

  11. Agent Orange | Definition, Effects, & Victims | Britannica

    www.britannica.com/science/Agent-Orange

    Agent Orange, mixture of herbicides that U.S. military forces sprayed in Vietnam from 1962 to 1971 during the Vietnam War for the dual purpose of defoliating forest areas that might conceal Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces and destroying crops that might feed the enemy. The defoliant, sprayed from low-flying aircraft, consisted of approximately equal amounts of the unpurified butyl esters ...