Today is the 100th anniversary of the Halifax Explosion, one of the worst maritime disasters in Canadian history. Two thousand people died and 9,000 were hurt when the SS Mont-Blanc, full of […]
Tag: World War I
Chemical conflict
The morning dispatches bring the unwelcome news that chemical weapons may have been deployed this week in the Mideast, a reminder that the weapons, though long held considered beyond the pale, remain […]
Q&A with Behind the Gas Mask author Thomas Faith
Thomas I. Faith is a historian at the U.S. Department of State. He answered some questions about his book Behind the Gas Mask: The U.S. Chemical Warfare Service in War and […]
“The word ‘discomfort’ is a weak description”
American troops first faced poison gas on February 2, 1918. German artillery units used the cover of a heavy afternoon fog to lob shells filled with phosgene and diphosgene on […]