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The first World War was infamous for two things; the number of deaths and poison gas. Poison gas was known about long before the First World War. Military officers often refused to use it because they considered it to be a uncivilized weapon. The French army was the first to use gas when they fired tear gas at the German troops. After the Germans were gassed attacked they realized that they had to retaliate in full force. In October of 1914 the German army began firing shrapnel shells in which the steel balls have been treated with a chemical agent. The Germans first used this attack at the battle of Ypres against the French. The gas that was in the balls destroyed the victims respiratory organs of its victims. All of the gas compounds that came out of the war were originally one of the three types. A Lachrymator (tearing agent) this gas caused temporary blindness and greatly inflamed the nose and thr