In 1917, World War I was the most brutal conflict ever seen on the world stage. It was no longer a war involving only European powers, but also countries around the world including the United States. During the war, the total number of casualties reached over 37 million and more than eight million human lives were lost (“WWI Casualty and Death Tables” 1). The extremely high number of casualties was caused primarily by new developments in warfare technology. One of the most remembered weapons of World War I was mustard gas. Mustard gas blistered soldiers' skin and internal organs and could be fatal, but could take anywhere from a week to a full month to cause its victims to die from the inside. Mustard gas has gone down in history as one of the most feared elements of war. This horrific example of chemical weapons is just one of numerous new warfare technologies used during World War I, including other types of chemical weapons, machine guns, bombing techniques, airplanes, submarines, and radios. Mustard gas was not the only example of chemical weapons used during World War I. The first example of this was the Germans' use of a gas called phosgene in mid-1915, which caused drastic damage to the lungs (Mack 2). The Germans began using mustard gas in 1916, and soon both sides began using the poisonous gas as a weapon. In a laboratory at American University, which at its peak employed over 1,200 scientists specifically to create chemical weapons for warfare, a new gas called Lewisite was developed. Lewisite poisoned its victims through the skin and rendered gas masks useless against it. During the war, up to 50 different gases were used by both sides (Mack 2). When war and......middle of paper......heb. May 22, 2013.Martin, Jonathan. "Gatling gun." North Carolina History Project. Np, nd Web. 04 June 2013. "Newspaper Illustrations: World War I Gravure Prints." Newspaper images. Library of Congress, nd Web. May 21, 2013."US Submarines in World War I." US submarines in World War I. U.S. Navy, n.d. Web. 03 June 2013. “Protocol for Prohibiting the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous, or Other Gases and Bacteriological Methods of Warfare.” Protocol for the prohibition of the use in warfare of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases and bacteriological methods of warfare. Geneva: np, 1925. Un.org. United Nations. Network. May 21, 2013.White, Thomas H. "13. Radio during World War I (1914-1919)." 13. Radio during the First World War (1914-1919). Np, nd Web. 04 June 2013."Tables of victims and deaths of the First World War." PBS. PBS and Web. 04 June 2013.