This Day in History - April 22nd

1915: Germans use poison gas

German forces shock Allied soldiers along the Western Front by firing 168 tons of lethal chlorine gas against two French divisions and one Canadian division at Ypres, Belgium. This was the first major gas attack by the Germans and it devastated the Allied line. Immediately after the attack, France and Britain began developing their own chemical weapons and gas masks. With the Germans taking the lead, an extensive number of projectiles filled with deadly substances such as mustard gas, polluted the trenches during the First World War. Using sophisticated gas masks and protective clothing, however, soldiers on both sides eventually negated the military importance of chemical weapons. The Geneva Protocol of 1925 banned the use of chemical weapons in war and the belligerents of the War largely honoured this agreement, primarily for strategic military reasons. Since then, chemical weapons have only been used in a handful of conflicts, and always against forces that lacked gas masks.

Also On This Day

2000

American Federal Agents seize six year old Elian Gonzalez from his relatives in Florida in order to send him back to his father in Cuba, after Elian had ended up shipwrecked on the Florida coast.

2000

In Britain, the Big Number Change happens – the updating in the dialling codes.

1997

Troops storm the Japanese embassy in Peru freeing all but one of the 72 hostages being held there.

1992

A gas leak in Guadalajara, Mexico causes dozens of sewers to explode killing more than 200 people.

1980

The new military regime in Liberia publicly executes 13 leading officials of the previous government.

1978

In Jamaica, Bob Marley holds his seminal One Love Peace concert, which brings to together Jamaica’s divided politicians.

1971

After years of absolute rule, Haitian dictator, Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier, dies.

1970

Earth Day, an event to increase public awareness of the world's environmental problems, is celebrated in the United States for the first time.

1954

Senator Joseph McCarthy begins hearings investigating the United States Army for communist beliefs and infiltration.

1945

The Second World War: Adolf Hitler admits to those with him in his underground bunker in Berlin that the war is over and that the only option left for him is suicide.

1930

Britain, Japan, France, Italy and America sign the London Naval Treaty, which regulates submarine warfare and limited military shipbuilding.

1912

In Russia, the first issue of Pravda is published.

1864

The Coinage Act is passed the U.S. Congress requiring the inscription "In God We Trust" be inscribed on all American coins.

1509

Henry VIII becomes King of England.

1500

Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral becomes the first European to sight Brazil.