During WWI, a Scottish man named John Scott Haldane invented the first rudimentary gas mask to protect allied troops from chemical onslaught. Over 3,000 compounds were tested for their weapon potential, the most destructive of these being chlorine, phosgene and sulfur mustard, resulting in more than one million casualties and over one hundred thousand casualties. Over 1,300 years later, the First World War brought the prolonged and large-scale use of chemical warfare agents (CWA) despite the proceedings of the international peace conference in Hague (1899) which prohibited the deployment of projectiles filled with toxic gasses. The first documented use of chemicals as an act of war occurred in 600 BCE when Athenian forces used poisonous heart-toxic extracts from the hellebore plants to poison the water supply during the besiege of Kirrha against Spartans. This week’s artefact spotlight commemorates this significant day in history as a reminder of the horrors of war.Ĭhemical warfare, defined as tactical warfare using incendiary mixtures, smokes, or irritant, burning, poisonous, or asphyxiating gases, has been around for millennia. France declared war six hours later, then Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada. On September 3rd 1939, Britain declared war on Germany after the German forces invaded Poland. (Not in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts.) Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts. From the 2015 exhibition: World War II and the Human Experience.

Ww2 gas mask png