Gas! Gas! Quick Boys: How Chemistry Changed the First World War - Hardcover

Michael Freemantle

3.92

26 ratings by Goodreads

9780752466019: Gas! Gas! Quick Boys: How Chemistry Changed the First World War

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0752466011 ISBN 13: 9780752466019

Publisher: The History Press Ltd, 2012

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Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! reveals for the first time the true extent of how chemistry rather than military strategy determined the shape, duration and outcome of the First World War. Chemistry was not only a destructive instrument of war but also protected troops, and healed the sick and wounded. From bombs to bullets, poison gas to anaesthetics, khaki to cordite, chemistry was truly the alchemy of the First World War. Michael Freemantle explores its dangers and its healing potential, revealing how the arms race was also a race for chemistry to the extent that Germany's thirst for the chemicals needed to make explosives deprived the nation of fertilizers and nearly starved the nation. He answers question such as: What is guncotton? What is lyddite? What is mustard gas? What is phosgene? What is gunmetal? This is a true picture of the horrors of the 'Chemists' War'.

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Review:

"An informative examination of a turning point in the history of warfare." -- "Chemical & ""Engineering News"

About the Author:

Michael Freemantle is a chemist. He is the former senior correspondent for "Chemical & Engineering News," the weekly magazine of the American Chemical Society, and he has written numerous books on the history of chemistry.

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