The use of poison gas was a major military innovation of the First World War. The gases used ranged from tear gas to disabling chemicals such as mustard gas and killing agents like phosgene. The killing capacity of gas was limited — only 3% of combat deaths were due to gas — however, the proportion of non-fatal casualties was high and gas remained one of the soldier's greatest fears. Unlike most other weapons of the period, it was possible to develop effective countermeasures to gas and hence in the latter stages of the war, as the use of gas increased, in many cases its effectiveness was diminished.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_poison_gas_in_World_War_I

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1453: Constantinople fell to an Ottoman army, ending the Byzantine Empire. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Constantinople)

1660: Oak Apple Day: Charles II regained the throne of England in the English Restoration. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Restoration)

1914: Ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sank in the Saint Lawrence River, killing 1,012 on board. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Empress_of_Ireland)

1919: Observations made by Sir Arthur Eddington during a solar eclipse confirmed part of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Stanley_Eddington)

1953: Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Everest)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn." -- T. H. White (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/T._H._White)