During the First World War, at 17 o'clock on April 22, 1915, Germany conducted a massive gas attack on the Western Front in Belgium near the city of Ypres, firing from its positions between the points of Bikschute and Langemark chlorine from 5,730 cylinders, as well as firing at the enemy positions with chemical shells. This day is considered the day of the first use of chemical warfare agents. But it turns out that they knew how to use chemical weapons in ancient times.
In 1933, archaeologist Robert du Mesnil du Beusson excavated the ruins of the ancient fortress city of Dura Europos, in eastern Syria, on the banks of the Euphrates. In 256 AD, this Roman fortress, considered impregnable, was besieged by the Persian troops of the Sassanids.
Archaeologists dug up a siege tunnel under the ramparts and found a disorderly heap of 20 skeletons in it. According to the remains of military uniforms, it was concluded that these were Roman soldiers. Not far from them were the remains of another warrior with a Persian helmet on his head, next to a sword lay. The pose of this man indicated that before his death he grabbed his chest, as if trying to rip off his armor.
Reconstructing the events, scientists came to the conclusion that in order to capture the city, the Persians dug under the fortress wall. To thwart their plans, the Roman soldiers began to dig a counter passage. But the Persians were more cunning. Instead of going into battle with the Romans, they set fire to a poisonous mixture of resin and sulfur.
The formed thick poisonous gas was pumped with the help of bellows in the direction of the 11-meter tunnel, where the enemies were. Once in the poisonous cloud, the Roman soldiers fainted after a few seconds and died immediately. The Persian also suffered, setting fire to the mixture and pumping the bellows. Obviously, he missed the moment when it was necessary to leave the tunnel, and suffocated himself from the gas.
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Not far from the skeletons of Roman soldiers, archaeologists have found traces of resin and sulfur crystals. This confirms the hypothesis that during the siege of Dura Europos, the Persians did indeed use chemical weapons. Although the dig was unsuccessful, the city was still captured. How, it is not known - the details of the siege and storming of Dura-Europos have not been preserved in historical documents. Then the Persians left the city, and its inhabitants were either killed or driven to Persia. After that, Dura-Europos ceased to play an important strategic role, and over time the city was abandoned.
Scientists have concluded that the Dura Europos finds are the earliest archaeological evidence of the use of chemical weapons. Although something similar was done by the ancient Greeks. In particular, some sources say that the Spartans, during the war with the Athenians, impregnated the tree with resin and sulfur, burning it under the walls of the besieged cities in order to strangle the inhabitants and ease the siege. But material evidence of this has not yet been found.
And even more ancient Chinese texts of the 4th century BC talk about the use of poisonous gases to prevent enemy digging under the walls of the fortress. The besieged set fire to the seeds of mustard and wormwood, and then pumped the resulting smoke into the underground passages with the help of bellows and terracotta pipes. The poisonous gases caused suffocation and even death.
Later, when gunpowder was invented, the Chinese tried to use bombs on the battlefield filled with a mixture of poisons, gunpowder and resin. Fired from the catapults, they exploded from the burning fuse. At the same time, the bombs emitted puffs of acrid smoke over the enemy troops, and the poisonous gases caused bleeding from the nasopharynx, irritation on the skin and blisters.
In medieval China, a poisonous cardboard bomb filled with sulfur and lime was created. In the XII century, during one of the naval battles, such bombs, when dropped into the water, exploded with a deafening roar, spreading poisonous smoke in the air (it caused the same consequences as modern tear gas).
A variety of substances were used as components in the creation of mixtures for equipping bombs: sulfide and arsenic oxide, crooked knotweed, tung oil, soap tree pods (for the formation of smoke), aconite, Spanish flies.
In 1456, defending Belgrade, which was besieged by Turkish troops, the Serbs, when the direction of the wind allowed, threw poisonous clouds on the attackers, arising from the combustion of toxic powder. According to legend, the inhabitants of the city also showered this powder on rats, set them on fire and released them towards the Turks, which raises doubts. It is not clear why the set on fire rats had to necessarily run into an open field, towards the adversary, and not into their underground burrows inside the city.
At the beginning of the 16th century, the inhabitants of Brazil tried to fight the conquistadors, using poisonous smoke against them, obtained from burning red pepper. This method was subsequently used several times during the uprisings in Latin America.
Chemical weapons could well have been used in the 19th century. During the Crimean War, the British admiral, Lord Dandonald proposed to the British government a project to seize Sevastopol using sulfur vapor.
The government committee, having familiarized itself with the brainchild of the lord, expressed the opinion that the project is quite feasible and the results he promised can undoubtedly be achieved. But in themselves they are so terrible that no honest enemy should take advantage of this method. Therefore, the project was rejected.
However, in this case, the motives of the British were hardly only the nobility and the concept of military honor. Most likely, a failed attempt to smoke the Russians out of their fortifications with the help of sulfuric smoke would not only have laughed and raised the spirits of the Russian soldiers, but would have even more discredited the British command in the eyes of the allied forces - the French, Turks and Sardinians.
The famous Greek fire, the prototype of napalm, a combustible mixture that terrified the enemies of the Byzantines, can also be attributed to chemical weapons. The installation with Greek fire was a copper pipe - a siphon through which the liquid mixture was erupted with a roar. Compressed air or bellows like blacksmiths acted as the buoyant force. Siphons were used mainly in naval battles.
Their maximum range was only 25-30 meters, but this was enough to destroy the slow and clumsy wooden ships of that time. In addition, according to the testimony of contemporaries, nothing could put out the Greek fire, since it continued to burn even on the surface of the water.
For the first time, siphons with Greek fire were installed on Byzantine ships during the siege of Constantinople by the Arabs, and only Greek fire saved the capital. The historian Theophanes wrote about her:
In the year 673, the overthrowers of Christ undertook a great march. They sailed and spent the winter in Cilicia. When Constantine IV learned of the approach of the Arabs, he prepared huge double-decked ships equipped with Greek fire and siphon carriers. The Arabs were shocked. They fled in great fear.
And here is how the chronicler of the Seventh Crusade, Jean de Joinville, describes this terrible weapon:
This is the nature of Greek fire: its projectile is huge, like a vinegar jar, and the tail trailing behind it looks like a giant spear. Its flight was accompanied by a terrible noise, like the thunder of heaven. Greek fire in the air was like a dragon flying in the sky. Such a bright light emanated from him that the sun seemed to rise over the camp.
Our ancestors also suffered from the Greek fire. With his help, the Byzantines in 941 defeated the fleet of the Kiev prince Igor Rurikovich that had approached Constantinople.
The composition and method of preparation of the combustible mixture were a state secret, the disclosure of which was punishable by death. Presumably it was a mixture of crude oil, sulfur and oil. After the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, the secret of the Greek fire was lost forever.
However, in 1758, the French alchemist Dupre announced that he had revealed the secret of making a combustible mixture. Tests were carried out near Le Havre, as a result of which a wooden sloop was burned, which was at a great distance on the open sea. King Louis XV, impressed and frightened by the action of this weapon, bought all his papers from Dupre and destroyed them.
But let us note that the fears of the monarch were in vain, since in the era of the massive use of gunpowder-based firearms, Greek fire largely lost its military significance. Although in modern wars its successors are used - napalm mixtures and flamethrowers.
Mikhail Yuriev