https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_weapons_in_World_Wa...
The French used tear gas first, the Germans were the first to use chlorine. There's a big difference between these gasses.
Yes, you cannot really compare tear gas with chlorine.
One gives you trouble breathing and is used widely against civilian demonstrants, because it is very mild - the other one - the one the german army was first to use - kills or cripples your loungs in a horrible way.
But I rather leave this debate.
P.s. I tasted some tear gas, it is certainly not nice. But thats it. It doesn't actually harm you, unless you have a precondition. Chlorine on the other hand is just pure deadly poison
I mean, it was war. Conventions are nice, but my read on both world wars nobody actually cared, they just practiced tit for tat.
The comment I was responding to made what I interpreted as a false equivalence.
The Hague Convention of 1899 banned chemical warfare, with the US being the only ones to not have signed it.
Doesn't mean that the Germans weren't hypocrits, the complains about shotguns might have been rooted in wanting to point fingers back: https://youtu.be/fvrIVZn1jH8