Editing Geneva Protocol (section)

==Negotiation history==
[[Image:British 55th Division gas casualties 10 April 1918.jpg|thumb|right|British troops blinded by poison gas during the [[Battle of Estaires]], 1918]]
In the [[Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907]], the use of dangerous chemical agents was outlawed. In spite of this, the [[First World War]] saw large-scale [[chemical warfare]]. [[French Third Republic|France]] used [[tear gas]] in 1914, but the first large-scale successful deployment of chemical weapons was by the [[German Empire]] in [[Ypres]], [[Belgium]] in 1915, when [[chlorine gas]] was released as part of a German attack at the [[Battle of Gravenstafel]]. Following this, a chemical [[arms race]] began, with the [[United Kingdom]], [[Russia]], [[Austria-Hungary]], the [[United States]], and [[Italy]] joining [[France]] and [[Germany]] in the use of chemical weapons.{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}

This resulted in the development of a range of horrific chemicals affecting lungs, skin, or eyes. Some were intended to be lethal on the battlefield, like [[hydrogen cyanide]], and efficient methods of deploying agents were invented. At least 124,000 tons were produced during the war. In 1918, about one grenade out of three was filled with dangerous chemical agents.{{citation needed|date=November 2024}} Around 500k-1.3 million casualties of the conflict were attributed to the use of gas, and the psychological effect on troops may have had a much greater effect. A few thousand civilians also became casualties as collateral damage or due to production accidents.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Poisonous Cloud: Chemical warfare in the First World War|pages = 239–253|last1 = Haber|first1 = L. F.|year = 2002| publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780191512315 }}</ref>

The [[Treaty of Versailles]] included some provisions that banned Germany from either manufacturing or importing chemical weapons. Similar treaties banned the [[First Austrian Republic]], the [[Kingdom of Bulgaria]], and the [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Kingdom of Hungary]] from chemical weapons, all belonging to the losing side, the [[Central powers]]. Russian [[bolshevik]]s and [[United Kingdom|Britain]] continued the [[Tambov Rebellion|use of chemical weapons]] in the [[Russian Civil War]] and [[Alleged British use of chemical weapons in Mesopotamia in 1920|possibly in the Middle East]] in 1920.

Three years after World War I, the Allies wanted to reaffirm the Treaty of Versailles, and in 1922 the [[United States]] introduced the Treaty relating to the Use of Submarines and Noxious Gases in Warfare at the [[Washington Naval Conference]].<ref name=ICRC-washington>{{cite web |url=http://www.icrc.org/ihl/INTRO/270 |title=Treaty relating to the Use of Submarines and Noxious Gases in Warfare. Washington, 6 February 1922 |publisher=International Committee of the Red Cross |year=2012 |access-date=30 April 2013}}</ref> Four of the war victors, the [[United States]], the [[United Kingdom]], the [[Kingdom of Italy]] and the [[Empire of Japan]], gave consent for [[ratification]], but it failed to enter into force as the [[French Third Republic]] objected to the [[submarine]] provisions of the treaty.<ref name=ICRC-washington/>

At the 1925 Geneva Conference for the Supervision of the International Traffic in Arms the French suggested a protocol for non-use of poisonous gases. The [[Second Polish Republic]] suggested the addition of bacteriological weapons.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.the-trench.org/geneva-protocol-at-90-1|title=The Geneva Protocol at 90, Part 1: Discovery of the dual-use dilemma - The Trench - Jean Pascal Zanders|date=17 June 2015}}</ref> It was signed on 17 June.<ref name=coddy-2005/>