Why did we suspect gas attacks in ww2?

Question:my history homwork says that people in world war 2 suspected gas attacks were llikely. why?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: my history homwork says that people in world war 2 suspected gas attacks were llikely. why?

Poison gas was used extensively during World War I on the battlefields and was much feared. All of the major powers had it in their stockpiles, including in the years leading up to World War II.

In the early days of World War II, it was presumed that the Germans might resume the use of poison gas, including dropping it on English cities. The noted author H.G. Wells also publicly predicted that poison gas would likely be used. Due to this fear, gas masks were distributed on a widescale basis in the British Isles, in particular in the cities. Gas masks were also distributed to the British and other Allied soldiers, who received training in their use.

As it turned out, the Germans chose not to use poison gas. The Allied forces reciprocated by not using it either. It was sort of a gentleman's agreement--nothing in writing, but each side realized that if they used poison gas, the other side would too, so neither started.

By the time that the United States entered the war, it was becoming pretty clear that the Axis powers weren't going to use poison gas, so there was less anxiety in the U.S. over the threat.

Here's a link to the wikipedia article about the use of poison gas in World War I that you might want to look at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_pois...

The Germans had used gas in World War I so I'm sure it was assumed it would be used in WW2.

After the experiences of WW1 and the use and affects of gas warfare, the worlds nations stockpiled chemical weapons as a deterrent, very similar to the stockpiling of nuclear weapons now.

They expected one side or the other of preparing to resort to that method of winning the war/battles.

Everyone suspected that the same tacticts may be used in the Second World War as were used in the First World War.

That included the use of gas.

Japan did use poison gas and biological warfare in China from 1937-42. It was feared that Japan would use these weapons against Allied forces in the Pacific campaign.
http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?a...