Legacy of Chemical Weapons
Ultimately, compared to the rest of the casualities of WW1, chemical weapons were relativel ineffective. Only 3% of those who suffered an attack of chemical weapons died, 2 % were rendered permanently invalid, and, within 6 months, 70% were fit for active duty. However, blindness, temporary or debalitating, was often a side-effect of gas, as was respitory illness. Death by gas was often slow and painful. Russia lost the most soldiers by far from gas attacks, with 56,000 casualities. All other countries involved has less than 10,000. The above photo, 'Gassed', by John Singer Sargent, was a piece of spawned from the violence of chemical weapons. In fact, 'gas' shock was said to be just as common as shell shock. As the war pogressed, first gas masks, and then gas helmets, were developed to counteract the effects of the gas.