World War I was a conflict where chemical warfare was first used on a massive scale. The earliest chemical attack occurred on the Western Front in October 1914 in Neuve Chapelle, but its effects were so minimal that the Allies learned about it only after the war from German documents. The attack in the Bolimow area, carried out by the Germans against the Russian army with artillery shells containing gas T (xylyl and benzyl bromides), was therefore the first attack on a massive scale recorded on the victim side. The attack, which occurred after it, made it possible to obtain some tactical success, but without a strategic breakthrough. Some of the later German attacks on the Eastern Front where chlorine was used proved to be more effective, but despite many victims there was not any major strategic success achieved. The Russians did not take attempts to use chemical weapons in the World War I.

Keywords: respiratory irritants; irritant gases; chemical warfare agents; riot control agents; World War I