Today in History - April 22 | Weapon deployed during WWI changed warfare forever
On April 22, 1915, Germany launched the first ever chemical warfare attack during WWI.
Allied soldiers on the western front at Ypres, Belgium, were caught in a panic when German troops fired more than 150 tonnes of chlorine gas against two French divisions.
The first use of chlorine gas devastated the Allied forces - but it also changed warfare forever.
The gas irritated the lungs, causing a choking effect that would kill anybody who inhaled it.
Shortly after, Germany began actively developing chemical weapons, with chemical warfare quickly stashed in Germany's arsenal.
Allied troops also began developing chemical weapons in response to Germany's first attack.
Gas masks had not been widely developed yet, so soldiers would use linen masks soaked in water and respirators made from lint and tape as improvised ways to protect themselves from the gas.
Ironically, on the same day 11 years prior, the creator of the atomic bomb, Robert Oppenheimer, was born.
Oppenheimer was born on April 22 in 1904.
While he was only 11 the first time chemical warfare was deployed on allied troops in World War I, he would later spearhead nuclear warfare with the creation of the atomic bomb during World War II in July 1945.
A month later, US troops dropped two bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
An estimated 70,000 people died instantly.
The death toll climbed to 100,000 by the end of the year.
Although the use of the atomic bomb in Japan remains highly controversial, Oppenheimer's creation turned the tide during World War II, which eventually led the the fall of Nazi Germany and Hitler's defeat.
On April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day was held in the US.
An estimated 20 million Americans marched through the streets in several states to raise awareness about environmental issues.
Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson created Earth Day after witnessing the aftermath of a large oil spill in Santa Barbara, California, in January 1969.
He, and many others at the time, were concerned about air and water pollution, and used the rising anti-war discourse popping up at colleges around the country to launch the first Earth Day awareness campaign.
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