document_title: IKEA

question_text: when did the first ikea open in the us

question_tokens: when did the first ikea open in the us

text: IKEA

text: History

text: Ingvar Kamprad founded IKEA in 1943 as a mostly mail-order sales business. It began to sell furniture five years later.[25] The first Möbel-IKÉA store was opened in Älmhult, Småland, in 1958 (Möbel means "furniture" in Swedish). The first stores outside Sweden were opened in Norway (1963) and Denmark (1969). The stores spread to other parts of Europe in the 1970s, with the first store outside Scandinavia opening in Switzerland (1973), followed by West Germany (1974).[26]

text: Amid a high level of success, the company's West German executives accidentally opened a store in Konstanz in 1973 instead of Koblenz.[25] Later that decade, stores opened in other parts of the world, such as Japan (1974), Australia, Canada,[27][28] Hong Kong (1975), and Singapore (1978).[29] IKEA further expanded in the 1980s, opening stores in countries such as France and Spain (1981), Belgium (1984),[30] the United States (1985),[31] the United Kingdom (1987),[32] Italy (1989).[33] The company later expanded into more countries in the 1990s and 2000s. Germany, with 50 stores, is IKEA's biggest market, followed by the United States, with 44 stores. At the end of the 2009 financial year, the IKEA group operated 267 stores in 25 countries.[34] The first IKEA store in Latin America opened on 17 February 2010 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.[35][36] As of July 2013, the company's presence in developing countries remains minimal.

text: The world's five largest IKEA stores are:

text:
Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi, South Korea: 59,000 m2 (635,070.7 sq ft)[37]
Stockholm Kungens Kurva, Sweden: 55,200 m2 (594,167.9 sq ft)[37]
Shanghai Baoshan, China: 55,032 m2 (592,359.5 sq ft)
Shanghai Pudong Beicai, China: 49,400 m2 (531,737.2 sq ft)
Wuxi, China: 49,117 m2 (528,691.0 sq ft)

tag: ol

text: In December 2014, it was announced that the world's largest IKEA store at 59,000 m2 (635,070.7 sq ft),[38][39][40][41][24][42][43][44] opened near the KTX Gwangmyeong Station, located at the heart of South Korea's Seoul Capital Area. The next store opening in Goyang in 2017 will be even larger at 164,000 m2 (1,765,281.3 sq ft) in gross floor area, breaking the previous world record holder's 131,550 m2 (1,415,992.4 sq ft). IKEA plans to have 6 stores in the country by 2020, four in the Seoul Capital Area, one in Daejeon and one in Busan.[45]

text: The largest store in the Southern Hemisphere is located in Tempe, Sydney, Australia with a total area of 39,000 m2 (420,000 sq ft).[46] The biggest store in North America is located in Montreal, in the province of Quebec, Canada. The store was opened in 1986 in the Ville-St-Laurent area, and was completely renovated and expanded in 2012-2013. Built in 1986, the store's initial area was 22,062 m2 (237,470 sq ft), while the renovated store now measures 43,636 m2 (469,690 sq ft).

text: In March 2013, IKEA opened its first outlet in Qatar, after a delay of several months.[47][48] Like others in the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Doha outlet is operated by the Al-Futtaim Group.[49] In August 2013, the first store in the Baltic States was opened in the Vilnius region of Lithuania. Construction of the 285,243 sq ft (26,000 m2) store commenced in 2011 and the store employs over 200 people.[50] It is the biggest furniture-selling mall in the Baltic states.[51]

text: In 2014, IKEA opened its first warehouse in Croatia, near Zagreb.[52] Due to problems with building permissions, the construction was postponed to 28 August 2014.[53] Eventually, the warehouse opened its doors on 21 August 2014.[54] The shopping center in Zagreb with a total area of 38,000 m2 (410,000 sq ft) is one of the 5 biggest in Europe and among the 10 biggest IKEA stores in the world.[55][56][57][58]

text: On 26 March 2015,[59] a set of 19 storage buildings holding various film and TV props, owned by Western Studio Services, were demolished in favor of construction of the largest IKEA in the United States.[60] Located in Burbank, California, this store replaced Burbank's existing IKEA located less than a mile away from the new construction site, which was nearly double the size of the existing store (456,000 sq ft). The new store also houses a 600-seat restaurant serving Swedish specialties.[60] The existing store ceased operations on 4 February 2017,[61] and the grand opening of the new store took place on 8 February 2017. The first 26 customers in line were given a free Landskrona sofa,[62] the first 100 customers were given a Poang armchair,[62] and the first 200 children were given a Famning Hjarta heart cushion.[62]

text: IKEA began constructing its first store in India on 11 August 2016. The 400,000 sq ft store in Hyderabad is being built at a cost of ₹7 billion (US$110 million),[63][64] and is scheduled to open in early 2018. The company began construction of its second Indian store at Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra on 18 May 2017 and it is scheduled to open in January 2019. IKEA plans to open 5 stores in the state of Maharashtra and also build a distribution centre in Pune.[65][66] Per Indian regulations, IKEA will have to locally source at least 30% of the products sold at its Indian stores. The company plans to open a total of 25 stores across 8 cities in the country by 2025. It predicts that Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore will be the company's largest markets, while Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Surat and smaller cities will also receive IKEA stores.[67]

text: On 31 January 2017, IKEA announced that it will open a new store in Latvia. It will be the second store to open in the Baltic States, housing around 400 employees. The store will be located near Riga and is planned to open in August 2018.[68][69]

text: On 10 August 2017, IKEA opened it's first store in Serbia. It was it's 400th store and it employed around 350 people. IKEA invested 70 million EUR and is planning on opening it's second store in Belgrade in the future.[21]

text: Store design

text: Layout

text: Older IKEA stores are usually blue buildings with yellow accents (also Sweden's national colours) and few windows. They are often designed in a one-way layout, leading customers counter clockwise along what IKEA calls "the long natural way" designed to encourage the customer to see the store in its entirety (as opposed to a traditional retail store, which allows a customer to go directly to the section where the desired goods and services are displayed). There are often shortcuts to other parts of the showroom. Newer IKEA stores, like the one in Mönchengladbach, Germany, make more use of glass, both for aesthetics and functionality. Skylights are also now common in the self-serve warehouses; natural lighting reduces energy costs, improves worker morale and gives a better impression of the products.

text: The sequence first involves going through furniture showrooms making note of selected items. The customer then collects a shopping cart and proceeds to an open-shelf "Market Hall" warehouse for smaller items, then visits the "Self Serve" furniture warehouse to collect previously noted showroom products in flat pack form. Sometimes, they are directed to collect products from an external warehouse on the same site or at a site nearby after purchase. Finally, customers pay for their products at a cash register.

text: Today, most stores follow the same layout of having the showroom upstairs with the marketplace and self-service warehouse downstairs. Some stores are single level, while others have separate warehouses to allow more stock to be kept on-site. Single-level stores are found predominantly in areas where the cost of land would be less than the cost of building a 2-level store, such as the Saarlouis, Germany and Haparanda, Sweden locations. Some stores have dual-level warehouses with machine-controlled silos to allow large quantities of stock to be accessed throughout the selling day.

text: Most IKEA stores offer an "as-is" area at the end of the warehouse, just before the cash registers. Returned, damaged and formerly showcased products are displayed here and sold with a significant discount, but also with a no-returns policy. Most IKEA stores communicate the IKEA policy on environmental issues in this part of the store. The area, which is painted red, is named according to local customs, in the United Kingdom this is referred to as "Bargain Corner", in Sweden "FYND" (Bargains) and in Denmark, "Rodebutikken" (Rummage boutique).

text: In Hong Kong, where shop space is limited and costly, IKEA has opened three outlets in the city, most of which have the one-way layout. They are part of shopping malls, and while being tiny compared to common store design, are huge by Hong Kong standards.

text: Food markets

text: Every store includes a restaurant serving traditional Swedish food, including potatoes with Swedish meatballs, cream sauce and lingonberry jam, although there are variations. In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the usual boiled or mashed potatoes have been replaced with French fries. Besides these Swedish foods, hot dogs and drinks are also sold, along with a few varieties of the local cuisine, and beverages such as lingonberry juice. Also items such as prinsesstårta (princess cake) are sold as desserts. Stores in Israel sell kosher food with a high degree of rabbinical supervision.[70] The kosher restaurants are separated into dairy and meat areas; falafel and non-dairy ice cream are available at the exit. IKEA stores in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates serve chicken shawarma at the exit café as well as beef hot dogs, while in United Kingdom, a Quorn hot dog is available in the exit café.[71] Coffee, soft drinks, and tea refills are free, as like in Sweden within store premises. All of the stores have equipped with Nordic fruit drinks since 2017, replacing Coca-Cola & Pepsi.

text: In many locations, the IKEA restaurants open daily before the rest of the store and serve an inexpensive breakfast.[72][73][74]

text: Every store also has a Swedish Food Market that, until 2011, sold branded Swedish prepared specialist foods, such as meatballs, packages of gravy, lingonberry jam, various biscuits and crackers, and salmon and fish roe spread. Later IKEA replaced most of the branded foods and extended its product range with the introduction of the IKEA food label. The new label has a variety of items including chocolates, meatballs, jams, pancakes, salmon, along with various drinks. All food products are based on Swedish recipes and traditions.

text: Småland

text: Every store has a kids play area, named Småland (Swedish for small lands; it is also the Swedish province where Kamprad was born). Parents drop off their children at a gate to the playground, and pick them up after they arrive at another entrance. In some stores, parents are given free pagers by the on-site staff, which the staff can use to summon parents whose children need them earlier than expected; in others, staff summon parents through announcements over the in-store public address system.

text: Alternative designs

text: The vast majority of IKEA stores are located outside of city centers, primarily because of land cost and traffic access. Several smaller store formats have been unsuccessfully tested in the past (the "midi" concept in the early '90s, which was tested in Ottawa and Heerlen with 9,300 m2 (100,000 sq ft), or a "boutique" shop in Manhattan). A new format for a full-size, city centre store was introduced with the opening of the Manchester (United Kingdom) store, situated in Ashton-Under-Lyne in 2006. Another store, in Coventry opened in December 2007. The store has seven floors and a different flow from other IKEA stores. IKEA's Southampton store which opened in February 2009 is also in the city centre and built in an urban style similar to the Coventry store. IKEA built these stores in response to UK government restrictions blocking retail establishment outside city centres.[75]

text: In 2015, IKEA announced that it would be attempting a smaller store design at several locations in Canada. This modified store will feature only a display gallery and small warehouse. One location planned for Kitchener is in the place formerly occupied by a Sears Home store. The warehouses will not keep furniture stocked, and so customers will not be able to drop in to purchase and leave with furniture the same day. Instead, they will purchase the furniture in advance online or in store and order the furniture delivered to one of the new stores, for a greatly reduced rate. IKEA claims that this new model will allow them to expand quickly into new markets rather than spending years opening a full-size store.[76]

text: Products and services

text: Furniture

text: Rather than being sold pre-assembled, much of IKEA's furniture is designed to be self-assembled. The company claims that this helps reduce costs and use of packaging by not shipping air; the volume of a bookcase, for example, is considerably less if it is shipped unassembled rather than assembled. This is also practical for many of the chain's European customers, where public transport is commonly used, because the flat-pack methods allow for easier transport via public transportation.

text: IKEA contends that it has been a pioneering force in sustainable approaches to mass consumer culture..[77] Kamprad calls this "democratic design," meaning that the company applies an integrated approach to manufacturing and design (see also environmental design). In response to the explosion of human population and material expectations in the 20th and 21st centuries, the company implements economies of scale, capturing material streams and creating manufacturing processes that hold costs and resource use down, such as the extensive use of Medium-Density Fiberboard ("MDF"), also called "particle board." It is an engineered wood fibre glued under heat and pressure to create a building material of superior strength which is resistant to warp. IKEA uses cabinet-grade and furniture-grade MDF in all of its MDF products, such as PAX wardrobes and kitchen cupboards. IKEA also uses wood, plastic, and other materials for furniture and other products. The intended result is flexible, adaptable home furnishings, scalable both to smaller homes and dwellings as well as large houses.

text: Not all furniture is stocked at the store level, such as particular sofa colours needing to be shipped from a warehouse to the customer's home (for a delivery charge). The item can also be shipped from the warehouse to the store. Some stores charge an extra fee for this service, but not all.[clarification needed]

text: Notable items of IKEA furniture include the Poäng armchair, the Billy bookcase and the Klippan sofa, all of which have sold by the tens of millions since the late 1970s.

text: Houses and flats

text: IKEA has also expanded its product base to include flat-pack houses and apartments, in an effort to cut prices involved in a first-time buyer's home. (This practice is not new; the defunct Canadian retailer Eaton's sold houses in a similar fashion), The IKEA product, named BoKlok was launched in Sweden in 1996 in a joint venture with Skanska. Now working in the Nordic countries and in the UK, sites confirmed in England include London, Ashton-under-Lyne, Leeds, Gateshead, Warrington and Liverpool.[78]

text: Solar PV systems

text: At the end of September 2013, the company announced that solar panel packages, so-called "residential kits", for houses will be sold at 17 UK stores by mid-2014. The decision followed a successful pilot project at the Lakeside IKEA store, whereby one photovoltaic system was sold almost every day. The solar CIGS panels are manufactured by Solibro GmbH a German-based subsidiary of the Chinese company Hanergy.[79][80] By the end of 2014, IKEA began to sell Solibro's solar residential kits in the Netherlands and in Switzerland.[81]

text: In November 2015 IKEA ended its contract with Hanergy and in April 2016 started working with Solarcentury[82]

text: IKEA announced in April 2016, that it was doing a second attempt with SolarCity to sell solar panels in the United Kingdom. It allows users to be able to order them online and starting with three stores and by the end of summer available in all United Kingdom stores.[83]

text: Retail shopping centres

text: IKEA owns and operates the MEGA Family Shopping Centre chain in Russia.

text: Family Mobile

text: On 8 August 2008, IKEA UK launched Family Mobile, a virtual mobile phone network, running on T-Mobile.

text: Manufacturing

text: Although IKEA household products and furniture are designed in Sweden, they are largely manufactured in developing countries to keep costs down. For most of its products, the final assembly is performed by the end-user (consumer).

text: Swedwood, an IKEA subsidiary, handles production of all of the company's wood-based products, with the largest Swedwood factory located in Southern Poland. According to the subsidiary, over 16,000 employees across 50 sites in 10 countries manufacture the 100 million pieces of furniture that IKEA sells annually. IKEA furniture uses the hardwood alternative particle board and Hultsfred, a factory in southern Sweden, is the company's sole supplier.[84]

text: Product names

text: IKEA products are identified by one-word (rarely two-word) names. Most of the names are Scandinavian in origin. Although there are some exceptions, most product names are based on a special naming system developed by IKEA.[85]

text:
Upholstered furniture, coffee tables, rattan furniture, bookshelves, media storage, doorknobs: Swedish placenames (for example: Klippan)
Beds, wardrobes, hall furniture: Norwegian place names
Dining tables and chairs: Finnish place names
Bookcase ranges: Occupations
Bathroom articles: Scandinavian lakes, rivers and bays
Kitchens: grammatical terms, sometimes also other names
Chairs, desks: men's names
Fabrics, curtains: women's names
Garden furniture: Swedish islands
Carpets: Danish place names
Lighting: terms from music, chemistry, meteorology, measures, weights, seasons, months, days, boats, nautical terms
Bedlinen, bed covers, pillows/cushions: flowers, plants, precious stones
Children's items: mammals, birds, adjectives
Curtain accessories: mathematical and geometrical terms
Kitchen utensils: foreign words, spices, herbs, fish, mushrooms, fruits or berries, functional descriptions
Boxes, wall decoration, pictures and frames, clocks: colloquial expressions, also Swedish place names

tag: ul

text: For example, DUKTIG (meaning: clever, well-behaved) is a line of children's toys, OSLO is a name of a bed, BILLY (a Swedish masculine name) is a popular bookcase, DINERA (meaning: (to) dine) for tableware, KASSETT (meaning: cassette) for media storage. One range of office furniture is named EFFEKTIV (meaning: efficient, effective), SKÄRPT (meaning: sharp or clever) is a line of kitchen knives.

text: A notable exception is the IVAR shelving system, which dates back to the early 1970s. This item is named after the item's designer.

text: Some of IKEA's Swedish product names have amusing or unfortunate connotations in other languages, sometimes resulting in the names being withdrawn in certain countries. Notable examples for English include the "Jerker" computer desk (discontinued several years ago as of 2013), "Fukta" plant spray, "Fartfull" workbench,[86] and "Lyckhem" (meaning bliss). Kitchen legs are called FAKTUM (called AKURUM in the United States). The latest addition is the new "Askholmen" outdoor suite. Similar blunders happen with other multinational companies.[87] See also: Lufsig

text: Company founder Kamprad, who is dyslexic, found that naming the furniture with proper names and words, rather than a product code, made the names easier to remember.[88]

text: IKEA uses a sales technique called "bulla bulla" in which a bunch of items are purposefully jumbled in bins, to create the impression of volume, and therefore, inexpensiveness.[25][89]

text: Smart Home

text: In 2017 Ikea started move into the smart home area. The Tradfri smart lighting kit was one of the first signalling this change.[90] IKEA's media team has confirmed that smart home will be a big move, they also started a partnership with Philip Hue.[91]

text: Catalogue

text: IKEA publishes an annual catalogue, first published in Swedish in 1951.[92] IKEA published 197 million catalogues in 2010, in twenty languages and sixty-one editions.[25] It is considered to be the main marketing tool of the retail giant, consuming 70% of the company's annual marketing budget.[93]

text: The catalogue is distributed both in stores and by mail,[94] with most of it being produced by IKEA Communications AB in IKEA's hometown of Älmhult, Sweden where IKEA operates the largest photo studio in northern Europe at 8,000 square metres (86,000 sq ft).[95] The catalogue itself is printed on chlorine-free paper of 10–15% post-consumer waste, and prints approximately 175 million copies worldwide annually,[96] more than 3 times as much as the Bible.[97]

text: The 2013 catalogue is smartphone compatible, containing videos and photo galleries that can be accessed via an app by scanning the catalogue's pages, while the 2014 catalog incorporates an augmented reality app that projects an item into a real-time photograph image of the user's room. The augmented reality app also provides an indication of the scale of IKEA objects in relation to the user's living environment.[98]

text: IKEA Family card

text: In common with some other retailers, IKEA launched a loyalty card called "IKEA family". The card is free of charge and can be used to obtain discounts on a special range of products found in each IKEA store. It is available worldwide. In conjunction with the card, IKEA also publishes and sells a printed quarterly magazine titled IKEA Family Live which supplements the card and catalogue. The magazine is already printed in thirteen languages and an English edition for the United Kingdom was launched in February 2007. It is expected to have a subscription of over 500,000.[99]

text: IKEA Family, like other loyalty programs, allows members to obtain lower prices on certain items. Its signature difference from other such programs is that it allows for free tea or coffee (from Monday to Friday at most locations) at the IKEA restaurant.[100][101]

text: Corporate structure

text: IKEA is owned and operated by a complicated array of not-for-profit and for-profit corporations. The corporate structure is divided into two main parts: operations and franchising.

text: The ownership of Inter ms is exceedingly complicated and not publicly known. Inter IKEA Systems is owned by Inter IKEA Holding, a company registered in Luxembourg. The Inter IKEA Holding, in turn, is owned by the Interogo Foundation, based in Liechtenstein.[102][103] In 2016, the INGKA Holding sold its design, manufacturing and logistics subsidiaries to the Inter IKEA Holding.[104]

text: In June 2013, Ingvar Kamprad resigned from the board of Inter IKEA Holding SA and his youngest son Mathias Kamprad replaced Per Ludvigsson as the chairman of the holding company. Following his decision to step down, the 87-year-old founder explained, "I see this as a good time for me to leave the board of Inter IKEA Group. By that we are also taking another step in the generation shift that has been ongoing for some years."[105] After the 2016 company restructure, Inter IKEA Holding SA no longer exists. Mathias Kamprad became board member of the Inter IKEA Group and the Interogo Foundation.[106] Mathias and his two older brothers, who also have leadership roles at IKEA, work on the corporation's overall vision and long-term strategy.[105]

text: Profits

text: The net profit of IKEA Group (which does not include Inter IKEA systems) in fiscal year 2009 (after paying franchise fees to Inter IKEA systems) was €2.538 billion on sales of €21.846 billion. Because INGKA Holding is owned by the nonprofit INGKA Foundation, none of this profit is taxed. The foundation's nonprofit status also means that the Kamprad family cannot reap these profits directly, but the Kamprads do collect a portion of IKEA sales profits through the franchising relationship between INGKA Holding and Inter IKEA Systems.

text: Inter IKEA Systems collected €631 million of franchise fees in 2004, but reported pre-tax profits of only €225 million in 2004. One of the major pre-tax expenses that Inter IKEA systems reported was €590 million of "other operating charges". IKEA has refused to explain these charges, but Inter IKEA Systems appears to make large payments to I.I. Holding, another Luxembourg-registered group that, according to The Economist, "is almost certain to be controlled by the Kamprad family." I.I. Holding made a profit of €328 million in 2004.

text: In 2004, the Inter IKEA group of companies and I.I. Holding reported combined profits of €553m and paid €19m in taxes, or approximately 3.5 percent.[102] In 2013 the Daily Mail media publication reported that the IKEA subsidiary Swedwood had grown between 20-25% per year since its inception in 1991.[84]

text: The Berne Declaration, a non-profit organisation in Switzerland that promotes corporate responsibility, has formally criticised IKEA for its tax avoidance strategies. In 2007, the Berne Declaration nominated IKEA for one of its Public Eye "awards", which highlight corporate irresponsibility and are announced during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.[107]

text: In a company statement emailed on 14 October 2013, IKEA's full-year sales rose 3.1 percent due in part to growth in Russia and China. IKEA's revenue total rose to US$37.9 billion (27.9 billion euros), with significant growth also recorded in North America.[108]

text: In February 2016, the Greens / EFA group in the European Parliament issued a report entitled IKEA: Flat Pack Tax Avoidance on the tax planning strategies of IKEA and their possible use to avoid tax in several European countries. The report was sent to Pierre Moscovici, the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, and Margrethe Vestager, the European Commissioner for Competition, expressing the hope that it would be of use to them in their respective roles "to advance the fight for tax justice in Europe."[19]

text: Control by Kamprad

text: Along with helping IKEA make non-taxable profit, IKEA's complicated corporate structure allows Kamprad to maintain tight control over the operations of INGKA Holding, and thus the operation of most IKEA stores. The INGKA Foundation's five-person executive committee is chaired by Kamprad. It appoints the board of INGKA Holding, approves any changes to INGKA Holding's bylaws, and has the right to preempt new share issues. If a member of the executive committee quits or dies, the other four members appoint his or her replacement.

text: In Kamprad's absence the foundation's bylaws include specific provisions requiring it to continue operating the INGKA Holding group and specifying that shares can be sold only to another foundation with the same objectives as the INGKA Foundation.[102]

text: Charitable giving

text: The INGKA Foundation is officially dedicated to promoting "innovations in architecture and interior design."[102] The net worth of the foundation exceeded the net worth of the much better known Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (now the largest private foundation in the world) for a period.[109] However, most of the Group's profit is spent on investment; the foundation expects to spend €45 million on charitable giving in 2010 (compare the Gates Foundation, which made gifts of more than $1.5 billion in 2005.[109])

text: IKEA is involved in several international charitable causes, particularly in partnership with UNICEF, including:

text:
In the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, IKEA Australia agreed to match dollar for dollar co-workers' donations and donated all sales of the IKEA Blue Bag to the cause.
After the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, IKEA gave 500,000 blankets to the relief effort in the region.[110]
IKEA has provided furniture for over 100 "bridge schools" in Liberia.[111]
In the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China, IKEA Beijing sold an alligator toy for 40 yuan (US$5.83, €3.70) with all income going to the children in the earthquake struck area.

text: IKEA also supports American Forests to restore forests and reduce pollution.[112][113]

text: IKEA Social Initiative

text: In September 2005, IKEA Social Initiative was formed to manage the company's social involvements on a global level. IKEA Social Initiative is headed by Marianne Barner.

text: The main partners of IKEA Social Initiative are UNICEF[114] and Save the Children.[115]

text: On 23 February 2009, at the ECOSOC event in New York, UNICEF announced that IKEA Social Initiative has become the agency's largest corporate partner, with total commitments of more than US$180 million.[116][117]

text: Examples of involvements:

text:
The IKEA Social Initiative contributes €1 to UNICEF and Save the Children from each soft toy sold during the holiday seasons, raising a total of €16.7 million so far.[118] In 2013, an IKEA soft toy, Lufsig, created a storm and sold out in Hong Kong and in Southern China because it had been misnamed in Chinese.[119]
The IKEA Social Initiative provided soft toys to children in Burma after Cyclone Nargis.[120]
Starting in June 2009, for every Sunnan solar-powered lamp sold in IKEA stores worldwide, IKEA Social Initiative will donate one Sunnan with the help of UNICEF.[121]
In September 2011,[122] the IKEA Foundation pledged to donate $62 million to help Somali refugees in Kenya.[25]
According to The Economist, however, IKEA's charitable giving is meager, "barely a rounding error in the foundation's assets."[25]

text: In 2009, Sweden's largest television station, SVT, revealed that IKEA's money—the three per cent collection from each store—does not actually go to a charitable foundation in the Netherlands, as IKEA has said. Inter IKEA is owned by a foundation in Liechtenstein, called Interogo, which has amassed $12 billion, and is controlled by the Kamprad family.[25]

text: Environmental performance

text: After initial environmental issues like the highly publicized formaldehyde scandals in the early 1980s and 1992,[123][124][125] IKEA took a proactive stance on environmental issues and tried to prevent future incidents through a variety of measures.[126] In 1990, IKEA invited Karl-Henrik Robèrt, founder of the Natural Step, to address its board of directors. Robert's system conditions for sustainability provided a strategic approach to improving the company's environmental performance. In 1990, IKEA adopted the Natural Step framework as the basis for its environmental plan.[127] This led to the development of an Environmental Action Plan, which was adopted in 1992. The plan focused on structural change, allowing IKEA to "maximize the impact of resources invested and reduce the energy necessary to address isolated issues."[127] The environmental measures taken include the following:

text:
Replacing polyvinylchloride (PVC) in wallpapers, home textiles, shower curtains, lampshades and furniture—PVC has been eliminated from packaging and is being phased out in electric cables;
minimizing the use of formaldehyde in its products, including textiles;
eliminating acid-curing lacquers;
producing a model of chair (OGLA) made from 100% post-consumer plastic waste;
introducing a series of air-inflatable furniture products into the product line. Such products reduce the use of raw materials for framing and stuffing and reduce transportation weight and volume to about 15% of that of conventional furniture;
reducing the use of chromium for metal surface treatment;
limiting the use of substances such as cadmium, lead, PCB, PCP, and Azo pigments;
using wood from responsibly managed forests that replant and maintain biological diversity;
using only recyclable materials for flat packaging and "pure" (non-mixed) materials for packaging to assist in recycling.[127]
introducing rental bicycles with trailers for customers in Denmark.[128]

text: In 2000 IKEA introduced its code of conduct for suppliers, called the IKEA way of purchasing, shortened as IWAY. Today IWAY is a totally integrated part of IKEA's purchasing model. IWAY covers social, safety and environmental questions. Today IKEA has around 60 IWAY auditors who perform hundreds of supplier audits every year. The main purpose with IWAY is to make sure that the IKEA suppliers follow the law in each country where they are based. Most IKEA suppliers fulfill the law today with exceptions for some special issues, one being excessive working hours in Asia, in countries such as China and India.[citation needed]

text: More recently,[when?] IKEA has stopped providing plastic bags to customers, but offers reusable bags for sale. The IKEA restaurants also only offer reusable plates, knives, forks, spoons, etc. Toilets in some IKEA WC-rooms have been outfitted with dual-function flushers. IKEA has recycling bins for compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), energy saving bulbs and batteries. In 2001 IKEA was one of the first companies to operate its own cross-border goods trains through several countries in Europe.[129]

text: In August 2008, IKEA also announced that it had created IKEA GreenTech, a €50 million venture capital fund. Located in Lund (a university town in Sweden), it will invest in 8–10 companies in the coming five years with focus on solar panels, alternative light sources, product materials, energy efficiency and water saving and purification. The aim is to commercialise green technologies for sale in IKEA stores within 3–4 years.[130][131]

text: To make IKEA a more sustainable company, a product life cycle was created. For the idea stage, products should be flat-packed so that more items can be shipped at once; products should also be easier to dismantle and recycle. Raw materials are used, and since wood and cotton are two of IKEA's most important manufacturing products, the company works with environmentally friendly forests and cotton, whereby the excessive use of chemicals and water is avoided.[132]

text: Manufacturing is third in the life cycle and includes IWAY, IKEA's code of conduct for manufacturers and suppliers that formulates and enforces requirements for working conditions, social and environmental standards, and what suppliers can expect from IKEA in return. Marketing is another part of IKEA's life cycle and a portion of the paper used for its catalogues is sourced from responsibly managed forests. The catalogue is also smaller, so that less paper is required, less waste is produced and more catalogues can be shipped per load.[citation needed]

text: IKEA stores recycle waste and many run on renewable energy with the use of energy-saving bulbs and sensors. All employees are trained in environmental and social responsibility, while public transit is one of the priorities when the location of stores is considered. Also, the coffee and chocolate served at IKEA stores is UTZ Certified.[133]

text: The last stage of the life cycle is the end of life. Most IKEA stores recycle light bulbs and drained batteries, and the company is also exploring the recycling of sofas and other home furnishing products. According to IKEA's 2012 "Sustainability Report", 23% of all wood that the company uses meets the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council, and the report states that IKEA aims to double this percentage by 2017. The report also states that IKEA does not accept illegally logged wood and supports 13 World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) projects.[84]

text: On 17 February 2011, IKEA announced its plans to develop a wind farm in Dalarna County, Sweden, furthering its goal of using only renewable energy to fuel its operations.[134] As of June 2012, 17 United States IKEA stores are powered by solar panels, with 22 additional installations in progress,[135] and IKEA owns the 165 MW Cameron Wind farm in Cameron County on the South Texas coast.[136]

text: In 2011, the company examined its wood consumption and noticed that almost half of its global pine and spruce consumption was for the fabrication of pallets. The company consequently started a transition to the use of paper pallets and the "Optiledge system".[137] The OptiLedge product is totally recyclable, made from 100% virgin high-impact copolymer polypropylene (PP). The system is a "unit load alternative to the use of a pallet. The system consists of the OptiLedge (usually used in pairs), aligned and strapped to the bottom carton to form a base layer upon which to stack more product. Corner boards are used when strapping to minimize the potential for package compression." The conversion began in Germany and Japan, before its introduction into the rest of Europe and North America.[138] The system has been marketed to other companies, and IKEA has formed the OptiLedge company to manage and sell the product.[139]

text: IKEA has expanded its sustainability plan in the UK to include electric car charge points for customers at all locations by the end of 2013.[140] The effort will include Nissan and Ecotricity and promise to deliver an 80% charge in 30 minutes.[141]

text: In February 2014, IKEA in the UK announced that from 2016 they will only sell energy-efficient LED lightbulbs, lamps and light fixtures. LED lightbulbs use as much as only 15% of the power of a regular incandescent light bulb.[142]

text: Advertising

text: In 1994, IKEA ran a commercial in the United States widely thought to be the first to feature a homosexual couple; it aired for several weeks before being pulled after calls for a boycott and a bomb threat directed at IKEA stores.[143] Other IKEA commercials appeal to the wider GLBTQ community, one featuring a transgender woman.[144]

text: In 2002, the inaugural television component of the "Unböring" campaign, titled Lamp, went on to win several awards, including a Grand Clio,[145] Golds at the London International Awards[146] and the ANDY Awards,[147] and the Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival,[148] the most prestigious awards ceremony in the advertising community.

text: IKEA launched a UK-wide "Home is the Most Important Place in the World" advertising campaign in September 2007 using estate agent signs with the term "Not For Sale" written on them as part of the wider campaign. After the campaign appeared in the Metro newspaper London the business news website www.mad.co.uk remarked that the IKEA campaign had amazing similarities with the marketing activity of UK home refurbishment company Onis living who had launched its own Not For Sale advertising campaign two years prior and was awarded the Interbuild 2006 Construction Marketing Award for best campaign under £25,000.[149][150]

text: A debate ensued between Fraser Patterson, Chief Executive of Onis and Andrew McGuinness, partner at Beattie McGuinness Bungay (BMB), the advertising and PR agency awarded the £12m IKEA account.[151][152] The essence of the debate was that BMB claimed to be unaware of Onis's campaign as Onis was not an advertising agency. Onis's argument was that its advertising could be seen in prominent landmarks throughout London, having been already accredited, showing concern about the impact IKEA's campaign would have on the originality of its own. BMB and IKEA subsequently agreed to provide Onis with a feature page on the IKEA campaign site linking through to Onis's website for a period of 1 year.

text: In 2008, IKEA paired up with the makers of video game The Sims 2 to make a stuff pack called IKEA Home Stuff, featuring many IKEA products. It was released on 24 June 2008 in North America and 26 June 2008 in Europe. It is the second stuff pack with a major brand, the first being The Sims 2 H&M Fashion Stuff.

text: IKEA took over the title sponsorship of Philadelphia's annual Thanksgiving Day parade in 2008, replacing Boscov's, which filed for bankruptcy in August 2008.

text: In November 2008, a subway train decorated in IKEA style was introduced in Novosibirsk, Russia.[153] Four cars were turned into a mobile showroom of the Swedish design. The redesigned train, which features colourful seats and fancy curtains, carried passengers until 6 June 2009.

text: Oyster cards (the ticket-free system for the London Underground) were for given with wallets sponsored by IKEA in 2008-09. IKEA also sponsored the tube map.[154][155]

text: In January 2009, just before the new store opened in Southampton, MV Red Osprey of Red Funnel was re-painted in an entirely yellow and blue livery to celebrate the opening of the new IKEA store in Southampton. This is the first time a Red Funnel ferry has been re-painted out of its own red and white colour scheme. It stayed in these colours for 12 months as part of a deal between Red Funnel and IKEA to provide home delivery services to the Isle of Wight. It was repainted with Red Funnel's red and white livery when the deal ended in January 2010.

text: In March 2010, IKEA developed an event in four important Metro stations in Paris, in which furniture collections are displayed in high-traffic spots, giving potential customers a chance to check out the brand's products. The Metro walls were also filled with prints that showcase IKEA interiors.

text: In September 2010, IKEA launched an advertisement for UK & Ireland called "Happy Inside" which had 100 cats lying on IKEA furniture in the flagship IKEA store in Wembley, London.[156]

text: In April 2011, an advertising campaign was launched aiming at discovering whether men or women are messier in the home. Created by Mother, the campaign will begin with a TV advert shot in front of a live audience, featuring four stand-up comedians, two men and two women, debating which gender is messier. The idea behind the campaign is that domestic clutter leads to arguments, and thus to an unhappy home, a conflict that IKEA wants to show can be avoided with better storage. Viewers will be directed to a new Facebook page for the brand, where they are able to vote on who they believe is messier, and submit evidence using videos and photos through an app created especially for the campaign. Meanwhile, online display banners will allow other users the opportunity to vote, with online adverts promoting IKEA products demonstrating the problems confronting people, and offering solutions.[157]

text: In 2016, in conjunction with Stokholm ad agency Åkestam Holst, IKEA released the "Where Life Happens" video campaign.[158] The series focused on taboo issues like divorce and adoption, and was filmed in a non-traditional 4:3 aspect ratio.[158][159] The campaign won an Epica gold award in Amsterdam.[160]

text: Other ventures

text: As of 2012, IKEA is in joint venture with TCL to provide Uppleva integrated HDTV and entertainment system product.[161][162]

text: In mid-August 2012, the company announced that it will establish a chain of 100 economy hotels in Europe but, unlike its few existing hotels in Scandinavia, they will not carry the IKEA name, nor will they use IKEA furniture and furnishings – they will be operated by an unnamed international group of hoteliers.[163]

text: Awards

text: IKEA was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2004 and 2005 by Working Mothers magazine. It ranked 80 in Fortune's 200 Best Companies to Work For in 2006 and in October 2008, IKEA Canada LP was named one of "Canada's Top 100 Employers" by Mediacorp Canada Inc., and was featured in Maclean's newsmagazine. Additionally, IKEA is the most popular store for college furnishings.[164]

text: Countries with IKEA presence

text: IKEA has 400 stores around the world. Among the countries that have double-digit IKEA stores are:

text:
Australia
Canada
China
France
Germany
Italy
Netherlands
Russia
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom
United States


document_title: Chemical weapons in World War I

question_text: who used the first poison gas in ww1

question_tokens: who used the first poison gas in ww1

root

text: Chemical weapons in World War I

text: History of poison gas in World War I[edit]

text: 1914: Tear gas[edit]

text: The earliest military uses of chemicals were tear-inducing irritants rather than fatal or disabling poisons. During World War I, the French army was the first to employ gas, using 26 mm grenades filled with tear gas (ethyl bromoacetate) in August 1914. The small quantities of gas delivered, roughly 19 cm³ per cartridge, were not even detected by the Germans. The stocks were rapidly consumed and by November a new order was placed by the French military. As bromine was scarce among the Entente allies, the active ingredient was changed to chloroacetone.[7]

tag: p

text: In October 1914, German troops fired fragmentation shells filled with a chemical irritant against British positions at Neuve Chapelle, though the concentration achieved was so small that it too was barely noticed.[8] None of the combatants considered the use of tear gas to be in conflict with the Hague Treaty of 1899, which prohibited the launching of projectiles containing asphyxiating or poisonous gas.[9]

text: 1915: Large-scale use and lethal gases[edit]

text: The first instance of large-scale use of gas as a weapon was on 31 January 1915, when Germany fired 18,000 artillery shells containing liquid xylyl bromide tear gas on Russian positions on the Rawka River, west of Warsaw during the Battle of Bolimov. However, instead of vaporizing, the chemical froze and failed to have the desired effect.[8]

text: The first killing agent used by the German military was chlorine. Chlorine is a powerful irritant that can inflict damage to the eyes, nose, throat and lungs. At high concentrations and prolonged exposure it can cause death by asphyxiation.[10] German chemical companies BASF, Hoechst and Bayer (which formed the IG Farben conglomerate in 1925) had been producing chlorine as a by-product of their dye manufacturing.[11] In cooperation with Fritz Haber of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry in Berlin, they began developing methods of discharging chlorine gas against enemy trenches.[12][13]

text: According to the fieldpost letter of Major Karl von Zingler, the first chlorine gas attack by German forces took place before 2 January 1915: "In other war theaters it does not go better and it has been said that our Chlorine is very effective. 140 English officers have been killed. This is a horrible weapon ...".[14]

text: By 22 April 1915, the German Army had 168 tons of chlorine deployed in 5,730 cylinders from Langemark–Poelkapelle, north of Ypres. At 17:30, in a slight easterly breeze, the gas was released, forming a gray-green cloud that drifted across positions held by French Colonial troops from Martinique, as well as the 1st Tirailleurs and the 2nd Zouaves from Algeria.[15] Faced with an unfamiliar threat these troops broke ranks, abandoning their trenches and creating an 8,000-yard (7 km) gap in the Allied line. However, the German infantry were also wary of the gas and, lacking reinforcements, failed to exploit the break before the 1st Canadian Division and assorted French troops reformed the line in scattered, hastily prepared positions 1,000–3,000 yards (910–2,740 m) apart.[8] The Entente governments quickly claimed the attack was a flagrant violation of international law but Germany argued that the Hague treaty had only banned chemical shells, rather than the use of gas projectors.[16]

text: In what became the Second Battle of Ypres, the Germans used gas on three more occasions; on 24 April against the 1st Canadian Division,[17] on 2 May near Mouse Trap Farm and on 5 May against the British at Hill 60.[18] The British Official History stated that at Hill 60, "90 men died from gas poisoning in the trenches or before they could be got to a dressing station; of the 207 brought to the nearest dressing stations, 46 died almost immediately and 12 after long suffering."[19]

text: On August 6, German troops used chlorine gas against Russian troops defending the Fortress of Osowiec. Surviving defenders drove back the attack and retained the fortress.

text: Germany used chemical weapons on the eastern front in an attack at Rawka, south of Warsaw. The Russian army took 9,000 casualties, with more than 1,000 fatalities. In response, the artillery branch of the Russian army organized a commission to study the delivery of poison gas in shells.[20]

text: Effectiveness and countermeasures[edit]

text: It quickly became evident that the men who stayed in their places suffered less than those who ran away, as any movement worsened the effects of the gas, and that those who stood up on the fire step suffered less—indeed they often escaped any serious effects—than those who lay down or sat at the bottom of a trench. Men who stood on the parapet suffered least, as the gas was denser near the ground. The worst sufferers were the wounded lying on the ground, or on stretchers, and the men who moved back with the cloud.[21] Chlorine was less effective as a weapon than the Germans had hoped, particularly as soon as simple countermeasures were introduced. The gas produced a visible greenish cloud and strong odour, making it easy to detect. It was water-soluble, so the simple expedient of covering the mouth and nose with a damp cloth was somewhat effective at reducing the effect of the gas. It was thought to be even more effective to use urine rather than water, as it was known at the time that chlorine reacted readily with urea (present in urine) to form dichloro urea.[22]

text: Chlorine required a concentration of 1,000 parts per million to be fatal, destroying tissue in the lungs, likely through the formation of hydrochloric acid when dissolved in the water in the lungs (2Cl2 + 2H2O → 4HCl + O2).[23] Despite its limitations, however, chlorine was an effective psychological weapon—the sight of an oncoming cloud of the gas was a continual source of dread for the infantry.[24]

text: Countermeasures were quickly introduced in response to the use of chlorine. The Germans issued their troops with small gauze pads filled with cotton waste, and bottles of a bicarbonate solution with which to dampen the pads. Immediately following the use of chlorine gas by the Germans, instructions were sent to British and French troops to hold wet handkerchiefs or cloths over their mouths. Simple pad respirators similar to those issued to German troops were soon proposed by Lieutenant-Colonel N. C. Ferguson, the A.D.M.S. of the 28th Division. These pads were intended to be used damp, preferably dipped into a solution of bicarbonate kept in buckets for that purpose, though other liquids were also used. Because such pads could not be expected to arrive at the front for several days, army divisions set about making them for themselves. Locally available muslin, flannel and gauze were used, officers were sent to Paris to buy more and local French women were employed making up rudimentary pads with string ties. Other units used lint bandages manufactured in the convent at Poperinge. Pad respirators were sent up with rations to British troops in the line as early as the evening of 24 April.[25]

text: In Britain the Daily Mail newspaper encouraged women to manufacture cotton pads, and within one month a variety of pad respirators were available to British and French troops, along with motoring goggles to protect the eyes. The response was enormous and a million gas masks were produced in a day. Unfortunately, the Mail's design was useless when dry and caused suffocation when wet—the respirator was responsible for the deaths of scores of men. By 6 July 1915, the entire British army was equipped with the far more effective "smoke helmet" designed by Major Cluny MacPherson, Newfoundland Regiment, which was a flannel bag with a celluloid window, which entirely covered the head. The race was then on between the introduction of new and more effective poison gases and the production of effective countermeasures, which marked gas warfare until the armistice in November 1918.[25]

text: British gas attacks[edit]

text: The British expressed outrage at Germany's use of poison gas at Ypres but responded by developing their own gas warfare capability. The commander of II Corps, Lieutenant General Sir Charles Ferguson, said of gas:

text: It is a cowardly form of warfare which does not commend itself to me or other English soldiers ... We cannot win this war unless we kill or incapacitate more of our enemies than they do of us, and if this can only be done by our copying the enemy in his choice of weapons, we must not refuse to do so.[26]

text: The first use of gas by the British was at the Battle of Loos, 25 September 1915, but the attempt was a disaster. Chlorine, codenamed Red Star, was the agent to be used (140 tons arrayed in 5,100 cylinders), and the attack was dependent on a favorable wind. However, on this occasion the wind proved fickle, and the gas either lingered in no man's land or, in places, blew back on the British trenches.[8] This debacle was compounded when the gas could not be released from all the British canisters because the wrong turning keys were sent with them. Subsequent retaliatory German shelling hit some of those unused full cylinders, releasing more gas among the British troops.[27] Exacerbating the situation were the primitive flannel gas masks distributed to the British. The masks got hot, and the small eye-pieces misted over, reducing visibility. Some of the troops lifted the masks to get some fresh air, causing them to be gassed.[28]

text: 1915: More deadly gases[edit]

text: The deficiencies of chlorine were overcome with the introduction of phosgene, which was prepared by a group of French chemists led by Victor Grignard and first used by France in 1915.[29] Colourless and having an odor likened to "mouldy hay," phosgene was difficult to detect, making it a more effective weapon. Although phosgene was sometimes used on its own, it was more often used mixed with an equal volume of chlorine, with the chlorine helping to spread the denser phosgene.[30] The Allies called this combination White Star after the marking painted on shells containing the mixture.[31]

text: Phosgene was a potent killing agent, deadlier than chlorine. It had a potential drawback in that some of the symptoms of exposure took 24 hours or more to manifest. This meant that the victims were initially still capable of putting up a fight; although this could also mean that apparently fit troops would be incapacitated by the effects of the gas on the following day.[32]

text: In the first combined chlorine–phosgene attack by Germany, against British troops at Wieltje near Ypres, Belgium on 19 December 1915, 88 tons of the gas were released from cylinders causing 1069 casualties and 69 deaths.[30] The British P gas helmet, issued at the time, was impregnated with sodium phenolate and partially effective against phosgene. The modified PH Gas Helmet, which was impregnated with phenate hexamine and hexamethylene tetramine (urotropine) to improve the protection against phosgene, was issued in January 1916.[30][33][34]

text: Around 36,600 tons of phosgene were manufactured during the war, out of a total of 190,000 tons for all chemical weapons, making it second only to chlorine (93,800 tons) in the quantity manufactured:[35]

text:
Germany 18,100 tons
France 15,700 tons
United Kingdom 1,400 tons (although they also used French stocks)
United States 1,400 tons (although they also used French stocks)

text: Although phosgene was never as notorious in public consciousness as mustard gas, it killed far more people, about 85% of the 100,000 deaths caused by chemical weapons during World War I.

text: 1916: Austrian use[edit]

text: On 29 June 1916, Austrian forces attacked the Italian lines on Monte San Michele with a mix of phosgene and chlorine gas.[36] Thousands of Italian soldiers died in this first chemical weapons attack on the Italian Front.

text: 1917: Mustard gas[edit]

text: The most widely reported and, perhaps, the most effective gas of the First World War was mustard gas. It was a vesicant that was introduced by Germany in July 1917 prior to the Third Battle of Ypres.[8] The Germans marked their shells yellow for mustard gas and green for chlorine and phosgene; hence they called the new gas Yellow Cross. It was known to the British as HS (Hun Stuff), while the French called it Yperite (named after Ypres).[37]

text: Mustard gas is not a particularly effective killing agent (though in high enough doses it is fatal) but can be used to harass and disable the enemy and pollute the battlefield. Delivered in artillery shells, mustard gas was heavier than air, and it settled to the ground as an oily liquid resembling sherry. Once in the soil, mustard gas remained active for several days, weeks, or even months, depending on the weather conditions.[38]

text: The skin of victims of mustard gas blistered, their eyes became very sore and they began to vomit. Mustard gas caused internal and external bleeding and attacked the bronchial tubes, stripping off the mucous membrane. This was extremely painful. Fatally injured victims sometimes took four or five weeks to die of mustard gas exposure.[39]

text: One nurse, Vera Brittain, wrote: "I wish those people who talk about going on with this war whatever it costs could see the soldiers suffering from mustard gas poisoning. Great mustard-coloured blisters, blind eyes, all sticky and stuck together, always fighting for breath, with voices a mere whisper, saying that their throats are closing and they know they will choke."[40]

text: The polluting nature of mustard gas meant that it was not always suitable for supporting an attack as the assaulting infantry would be exposed to the gas when they advanced. When Germany launched Operation Michael on 21 March 1918, they saturated the Flesquières salient with mustard gas instead of attacking it directly, believing that the harassing effect of the gas, coupled with threats to the salient's flanks, would make the British position untenable.[citation needed]

text: Gas never reproduced the dramatic success of 22 April 1915; however, it became a standard weapon which, combined with conventional artillery, was used to support most attacks in the later stages of the war. Gas was employed primarily on the Western Front—the static, confined trench system was ideal for achieving an effective concentration. Germany also made use of gas against Russia on the Eastern Front, where the lack of effective countermeasures resulted in deaths of over 56,000 Russians,[41] while Britain experimented with gas in Palestine during the Second Battle of Gaza.[42] Russia began manufacturing chlorine gas in 1916, with phosgene being produced later in the year. However, most of the manufactured gas was never used.[20]

text: The British Army believed that the use of gas was needed, but did not use mustard gas until November 1917 at Cambrai, after their armies had captured a stockpile of German mustard-gas shells. It took the British more than a year to develop their own mustard gas weapon, with production of the chemicals centred on Avonmouth Docks.[43][44] (The only option available to the British was the Despretz–Niemann–Guthrie process). This was used first in September 1918 during the breaking of the Hindenburg Line with the Hundred Days' Offensive.

text: The Allies mounted more gas attacks than the Germans in 1917 and 1918 because of a marked increase in production of gas from the Allied nations. Germany was unable to keep up with this pace despite creating various new gases for use in battle, mostly as a result of very costly methods of production. Entry into the war by the United States allowed the Allies to increase mustard gas production far more than Germany.[45][46] Also the prevailing wind on the Western Front was blowing from west to east,[47] which meant the British more frequently had favorable conditions for a gas release than did the Germans.

text: When the United States entered the war, it was already mobilizing resources from academic, industry and military sectors for research and development into poison gas. A Subcommittee on Noxious Gases was created by the National Research Committee, a major research center was established at Camp American University, and the 1st Gas Regiment was recruited.[46] The 1st Gas Regiment eventually served in France, where it used phosgene gas in a number of attacks.[48][46] The Artillery used Mustard gas with significant effect during the Meuse Argonne Offensive on at least three occasions.[49] The United States began large-scale production of an improved vesicant gas known as Lewisite, for use in an offensive planned for early 1919. By the time of the armistice on 11 November, a plant near Willoughby, Ohio was producing 10 tons per day of the substance, for a total of about 150 tons. It is uncertain what effect this new chemical would have had on the battlefield, however, as it degrades in moist conditions.[50][51]

text: Post-war[edit]

text: By the end of the war, chemical weapons had lost much of their effectiveness against well trained and equipped troops. At that time, chemical weapon agents inflicted an estimated 1.3 million casualties.[52]

text: Nevertheless, in the following years, chemical weapons were used in several, mainly colonial, wars where one side had an advantage in equipment over the other. The British used poison gas, possibly adamsite, against Russian revolutionary troops beginning on August 27, 1919[53] and contemplated using chemical weapons against Iraqi insurgents in the 1920s; Bolshevik troops used poison gas to suppress the Tambov Rebellion in 1920, Spain used chemical weapons in Morocco against Rif tribesmen throughout the 1920s[54] and Italy used mustard gas in Libya in 1930 and again during its invasion of Ethiopia in 1936.[55] In 1925, a Chinese warlord, Zhang Zuolin, contracted a German company to build him a mustard gas plant in Shenyang,[54] which was completed in 1927.

text: Public opinion had by then turned against the use of such weapons which led to the Geneva Protocol, an updated and extensive prohibition of poison weapons. The Protocol, which was signed by most First World War combatants in 1925, bans the use (but not the stockpiling) of lethal gas and bacteriological weapons. Most countries that signed ratified it within around five years, although a few took much longer – Brazil, Japan, Uruguay, and the United States did not do so until the 1970s, and Nicaragua ratified it only in 1990.[56] The signatory nations agreed not to use poison gas in the future, stating "the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of all analogous liquids, materials or devices, has been justly condemned by the general opinion of the civilized world."[57]

text: Although chemical weapons have been used in at least a dozen wars since the end of the First World War,[55] they were not used in combat on a large scale until mustard gas and the more deadly nerve agents were used by Iraq during the 8-year Iran–Iraq War. It killed around 20,000 Iranian troops (and injured another 80,000), which is around a quarter of the number of deaths caused by chemical weapons during the First World War.[58]

text: Effect on World War II[edit]

text: Although all major combatants stockpiled chemical weapons during the Second World War, the only reports of its use in the conflict were the Japanese use of relatively small amounts of mustard gas and lewisite in China,[59][60] and very rare occurrences in Europe (for example some sulfur mustard bombs were dropped on Warsaw on 3 September 1939, which Germany acknowledged in 1942 but indicated had been accidental).[54] Mustard gas was the agent of choice, with the British stockpiling 40,719 tons, the Soviets 77,400 tons, the Americans over 87,000 tons and the Germans 27,597 tons.[54] The destruction of an American cargo ship containing mustard gas led to many casualties in Bari, Italy, in December 1943.

text: In both Axis and Allied nations, children in school were taught to wear gas masks in case of gas attack. Germany developed the poison gases tabun, sarin, and soman during the war, and used Zyklon B in their extermination camps. Neither Germany nor the Allied nations used any of their war gases in combat, despite maintaining large stockpiles and occasional calls for their use.[nb 1] Poison gas played an important role in the Holocaust.

text: Britain made plans to use mustard gas on the landing beaches in the event of an invasion of the United Kingdom in 1940.[61][62] The United States considered using gas to support their planned invasion of Japan.[63]

text: Casualties[edit]

text: The contribution of gas weapons to the total casualty figures was relatively minor. British figures, which were accurately maintained from 1916, recorded that only 3% of gas casualties were fatal, 2% were permanently invalid and 70% were fit for duty again within six weeks.[citation needed]

text: It was remarked as a joke that if someone yelled 'Gas', everyone in France would put on a mask. ... Gas shock was as frequent as shell shock.

text:
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! — An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime ...
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

text: Death by gas was often slow and painful. According to Denis Winter (Death's Men, 1978), a fatal dose of phosgene eventually led to "shallow breathing and retching, pulse up to 120, an ashen face and the discharge of four pints (2 litres) of yellow liquid from the lungs each hour for the 48 of the drowning spasms."

text: A common fate of those exposed to gas was blindness, chlorine gas or mustard gas being the main causes. One of the most famous First World War paintings, Gassed by John Singer Sargent, captures such a scene of mustard gas casualties which he witnessed at a dressing station at Le Bac-du-Sud near Arras in July 1918. (The gases used during that battle (tear gas) caused temporary blindness and/or a painful stinging in the eyes. These bandages were normally water-soaked to provide a rudimentary form of pain relief to the eyes of casualties before they reached more organized medical help.)

text: The proportion of mustard gas fatalities to total casualties was low; only 2% of mustard gas casualties died and many of these succumbed to secondary infections rather than the gas itself. Once it was introduced at the third battle of Ypres, mustard gas produced 90% of all British gas casualties and 14% of battle casualties of any type.

text:
Estimated gas casualties[41]

Nation
Fatal
Total
(Fatal & Non-fatal)

Russia
56,000
419,340

Germany
9,000
200,000

France
8,000
190,000

British Empire
(includes Canada)
8,109
188,706

Austria-Hungary
3,000
100,000

United States
1,462
72,807

Italy
4,627
60,000

Total
90,198
1,230,853

tag: table

text: Mustard gas was a source of extreme dread. In The Anatomy of Courage (1945), Lord Moran, who had been a medical officer during the war, wrote:

text: After July 1917 gas partly usurped the role of high explosive in bringing to head a natural unfitness for war. The gassed men were an expression of trench fatigue, a menace when the manhood of the nation had been picked over.[64]

text: Mustard gas did not need to be inhaled to be effective — any contact with skin was sufficient. Exposure to 0.1 ppm was enough to cause massive blisters. Higher concentrations could burn flesh to the bone. It was particularly effective against the soft skin of the eyes, nose, armpits and groin, since it dissolved in the natural moisture of those areas. Typical exposure would result in swelling of the conjunctiva and eyelids, forcing them closed and rendering the victim temporarily blind. Where it contacted the skin, moist red patches would immediately appear which after 24 hours would have formed into blisters. Other symptoms included severe headache, elevated pulse and temperature (fever), and pneumonia (from blistering in the lungs).

text: Many of those who survived a gas attack were scarred for life. Respiratory disease and failing eyesight were common post-war afflictions. Of the Canadians who, without any effective protection, had withstood the first chlorine attacks during 2nd Ypres, 60% of the casualties had to be repatriated and half of these were still unfit by the end of the war, over three years later.

text: In reading the statistics of the time, one should bear the longer term in mind. Many of those who were fairly soon recorded as fit for service were left with scar tissue in their lungs. This tissue was susceptible to tuberculosis attack. It was from this that many of the 1918 casualties died, around the time of the Second World War, shortly before sulfa drugs became widely available for its treatment.

text: British casualties[edit]

text:
British forces gas casualties on the Western Front[citation needed]

Date
Agent
Casualties (official)

Fatal
Non-fatal

April –
May 1915
Chlorine
350
7,000

May 1915 –
June 1916
Lachrymants
0
0

December 1915 –
August 1916
Chlorine
1,013
4,207

July 1916 –
July 1917
Various
532
8,806

July 1917 –
November 1918
Mustard gas
4,086
160,526

April 1915 –
November 1918
Total
5,981
180,539

text: A British nurse treating mustard gas cases recorded:

text: They cannot be bandaged or touched. We cover them with a tent of propped-up sheets. Gas burns must be agonizing because usually the other cases do not complain even with the worst wounds but gas cases are invariably beyond endurance and they cannot help crying out.[65]

text: A postmortem account from the British official medical history records one of the British casualties:

text: Civilian casualties[edit]

text: The distribution of gas cloud casualties was not only limited to the front. Nearby towns were at risk from winds blowing the poison gases through. Civilians rarely had a warning system put into place to alert their neighbours of the danger. In addition to poor warning systems, civilians often did not have access to effective gas masks. Also, when the gas came to the towns over the wind, it could easily get into houses through open windows and doors. An estimated 100,000-260,000 civilian casualties were caused by chemical weapons during the conflict and tens of thousands (along with military personnel) died from scarring of the lungs, skin damage, and cerebral damage in the years after the conflict ended. Many commanders on both sides knew that such weapon would cause major harm to civilians as wind would blow poison gases into nearby civilian towns but nonetheless continued to use them throughout the war. British Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig wrote in his diary: "My officers and I were aware that such weapon would cause harm to women and children living in nearby towns, as strong winds were common on the battlefront. However, because the weapon was to be directed against the enemy, none of us were overly concerned at all."[67][68][69][70]

text: Countermeasures[edit]

text: None of the First World War's combatants were prepared for the introduction of poison gas as a weapon. Once gas was introduced, development of gas protection began and the process continued for much of the war producing a series of increasingly effective gas masks.[46]

text: Even at Second Ypres, Germany, still unsure of the weapon's effectiveness, only issued breathing masks to the engineers handling the gas. At Ypres a Canadian medical officer, who was also a chemist, quickly identified the gas as chlorine and recommended that the troops urinate on a cloth and hold it over their mouth and nose. The first official equipment issued was similarly crude; a pad of material, usually impregnated with a chemical, tied over the lower face. To protect the eyes from tear gas, soldiers were issued with gas goggles.

text: The next advance was the introduction of the gas helmet — basically a bag placed over the head. The fabric of the bag was impregnated with a chemical to neutralize the gas — however, the chemical would wash out into the soldier's eyes whenever it rained. Eye-pieces, which were prone to fog up, were initially made from talc. When going into combat, gas helmets were typically worn rolled up on top of the head, to be pulled down and secured about the neck when the gas alarm was given. The first British version was the Hypo helmet, the fabric of which was soaked in sodium hyposulfite (commonly known as "hypo"). The British P gas helmet, partially effective against phosgene and with which all infantry were equipped with at Loos, was impregnated with sodium phenolate. A mouthpiece was added through which the wearer would breathe out to prevent carbon dioxide build-up. The adjutant of the 1/23rd Battalion, The London Regiment, recalled his experience of the P helmet at Loos:

text: The goggles rapidly dimmed over, and the air came through in such suffocatingly small quantities as to demand a continuous exercise of will-power on the part of the wearers.[71]

text: A modified version of the P Helmet, called the PH Helmet, was issued in January 1916, and was additionally impregnated with hexamethylenetetramine to improve the protection against phosgene.[30]

text: Self-contained box respirators represented the culmination of gas mask development during the First World War. Box respirators used a two-piece design; a mouthpiece connected via a hose to a box filter. The box filter contained granules of chemicals that neutralised the gas, delivering clean air to the wearer. Separating the filter from the mask enabled a bulky but efficient filter to be supplied. Nevertheless, the first version, known as the Large Box Respirator (LBR) or "Harrison's Tower", was deemed too bulky — the box canister needed to be carried on the back. The LBR had no mask, just a mouthpiece and nose clip; separate gas goggles had to be worn. It continued to be issued to the artillery gun crews but the infantry were supplied with the "Small Box Respirator" (SBR).

text: The Small Box Respirator featured a single-piece, close-fitting rubberized mask with eye-pieces. The box filter was compact and could be worn around the neck. The SBR could be readily upgraded as more effective filter technology was developed. The British-designed SBR was also adopted for use by the American Expeditionary Force. The SBR was the prized possession of the ordinary infantryman; when the British were forced to retreat during the German Spring Offensive of 1918, it was found that while some troops had discarded their rifles, hardly any had left behind their respirators.

text: Humans were not the only ones that needed protection from gas clouds. Horses and mules were important methods of transportation that could be endangered if they came into close contact with gas. This was not so much of a problem until it became common to launch gas great distances. This caused many researchers to develop masks that could be used on animals such as dogs, horses, mules, and even carrier pigeons.[72]

text: The following are some examples of improvised animal gas masks that were implemented:

text:
A dog wearing a gas mask in WWI.
A WWI pigeon loft equipped with gas protection.

text: For mustard gas, which could cause severe damage by simply making contact with skin, no effective countermeasure was found during the war. The kilt-wearing Scottish regiments were especially vulnerable to mustard gas injuries due to their bare legs. At Nieuwpoort in Flanders some Scottish battalions took to wearing women's tights beneath the kilt as a form of protection.

text: Gas alert procedure became a routine for the front-line soldier. To warn of a gas attack, a bell would be rung, often made from a spent artillery shell. At the noisy batteries of the siege guns, a compressed air strombus horn was used, which could be heard nine miles (14 km) away. Notices would be posted on all approaches to an affected area, warning people to take precautions.

text: Other British attempts at countermeasures were not so effective. An early plan was to use 100,000 fans to disperse the gas. Burning coal or carborundum dust was tried. A proposal was made to equip front-line sentries with diving helmets, air being pumped to them through a 100 ft (30 m) hose.

text: However, the effectiveness of all countermeasures is apparent. In 1915, when poison gas was relatively new, less than 3% of British gas casualties died. In 1916, the proportion of fatalities jumped to 17%. By 1918, the figure was back below 3%, though the total number of British gas casualties was now nine times the 1915 levels.

text: Delivery systems[edit]

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: The first system employed for the mass delivery of gas involved releasing the gas cylinders in a favourable wind such that it was carried over the enemy's trenches. The Hague Convention of 1899 prohibited the use of poisons gasses delivered by projectiles. The main advantage of this method was that it was relatively simple and, in suitable atmospheric conditions, produced a concentrated cloud capable of overwhelming the gas mask defences. The disadvantages of cylinder releases were numerous. First and foremost, delivery was at the mercy of the wind. If the wind was fickle, as was the case at Loos, the gas could backfire, causing friendly casualties. Gas clouds gave plenty of warning, allowing the enemy time to protect themselves, though many soldiers found the sight of a creeping gas cloud unnerving. Also gas clouds had limited penetration, only capable of affecting the front-line trenches before dissipating.

text: Finally, the cylinders had to be emplaced at the very front of the trench system so that the gas was released directly over no man's land. This meant that the cylinders had to be manhandled through communication trenches, often clogged and sodden, and stored at the front where there was always the risk that cylinders would be prematurely breached during a bombardment. A leaking cylinder could issue a telltale wisp of gas that, if spotted, would be sure to attract shellfire.

text: A British chlorine cylinder, known as an "oojah", weighed 190 lb (86 kg), of which only 60 lb (27 kg) was chlorine gas, and required two men to carry. Phosgene gas was introduced later in a cylinder, known as a "mouse", that only weighed 50 lb (23 kg).

text: Delivering gas via artillery shell overcame many of the risks of dealing with gas in cylinders. The Germans, for example, used 5.9-inch (150 mm) artillery shells ("five-nines"). Gas shells were independent of the wind and increased the effective range of gas, making anywhere within reach of the guns vulnerable. Gas shells could be delivered without warning, especially the clear, nearly odorless phosgene — there are numerous accounts of gas shells, landing with a "plop" rather than exploding, being initially dismissed as dud HE or shrapnel shells, giving the gas time to work before the soldiers were alerted and took precautions.

text: The main flaw associated with delivering gas via artillery was the difficulty of achieving a killing concentration. Each shell had a small gas payload and an area would have to be subjected to a saturation bombardment to produce a cloud to match cylinder delivery. Mustard gas, however, did not need to form a concentrated cloud and hence artillery was the ideal vehicle for delivery of this battlefield pollutant.

text: The solution to achieving a lethal concentration without releasing from cylinders was the "gas projector", essentially a large-bore mortar that fired the entire cylinder as a missile. The British Livens projector (invented by Captain W.H. Livens in 1917) was a simple device; an 8-inch (200 mm) diameter tube sunk into the ground at an angle, a propellant was ignited by an electrical signal, firing the cylinder containing 30 or 40 lb (14 or 18 kg) of gas up to 1,900 meters. By arranging a battery of these projectors and firing them simultaneously, a dense concentration of gas could be achieved. The Livens was first used at Arras on 4 April 1917. On 31 March 1918 the British conducted their largest ever "gas shoot", firing 3,728 cylinders at Lens.

text: Unexploded weapons[edit]

text: Over 16,000,000 acres (65,000 km2) of France had to be cordoned off at the end of the war because of unexploded ordnance. About 20% of the chemical shells were duds, and approximately 13 million of these munitions were left in place. This has been a serious problem in former battle areas from immediately after the end of the War until the present. Shells may be, for instance, uncovered when farmers plough their fields (termed the 'iron harvest'), and are also regularly discovered when public works or construction work is done.[73]

text: An additional difficulty is the current stringency of environmental legislation. In the past, a common method of getting rid of unexploded chemical ammunition was to detonate or dump it at sea; this is currently prohibited in most countries.[74][nb 2]

text: The problems are especially acute in some northern regions of France. The French government no longer disposes of chemical weapons at sea. For this reason, piles of untreated chemical weapons accumulated. In 2001, it became evident that the pile stored at a depot in Vimy was unsafe; the inhabitants of the neighboring town were evacuated, and the pile moved, using refrigerated trucks and under heavy guard, to a military camp in Suippes.[75] The capacity of the plant is meant to be 25 tons per year (extensible to 80 tons at the beginning), for a lifetime of 30 years.[76]

text: Germany has to deal with unexploded ammunition and polluted lands resulting from the explosion of an ammunition train in 1919.[76]

text: Aside from unexploded shells, there have been claims that poison residues have remained in the local environment for an extended period, though this is unconfirmed; well known but unverified anecdotes claim that as late as the 1960s trees in the area retained enough mustard gas residue to injure farmers or construction workers who were clearing them.[77]

text: Gases used[edit]

text:
Name
First use
Type
Used by

Xylyl bromide[78]
1914
Lachrymatory, toxic
Both

Chlorine[79]
1915
Corrosive. Lung Irritant
Both

Phosgene[79]
1915
Irritant - Skin and mucous membranes. Corrosive, toxic
Both

Benzyl bromide[78]
1915
Lachrymatory
Central Powers

Chloromethyl chloroformate[78]
1915
Irritant - Eyes, skin, lungs
Both

Trichloromethyl chloroformate[78]
1916
Severe irritant, causes burns
Both

Chloropicrin[79]
1916
Irritant, lachrymatory, toxic
Both

Stannic chloride[78]
1916
Severe irritant, causes asphyxiating
Allies

Ethyl iodoacetate[78]
1916
Lachrymatory, toxic
Allies

Bromoacetone[78]
1916
Lachrymatory, irritant
Both

Monobromomethyl ethyl ketone[78]
1916
Lachrymatory, irritant
Central Powers

Acrolein[78]
1916
Lachrymatory, toxic
Central Powers

Hydrogen cyanide[78] (Prussic acid)
1916
Toxic, Chemical Asphyxiant
Allies

Hydrogen sulfide[78] (Sulphuretted hydrogen)
1916
Irritant, toxic
Allies

Diphenylchloroarsine[79] (Diphenyl chlorasine)
1917
Irritant/Sternutatory (causes sneezing)
Central Powers

α-chlorotoluene (Benzyl chloride)
1917
Irritant, lachrymatory
Central Powers

Mustard gas[79] (Bis(2-chloroethyl) sulfide)
1917
Vesicant (blistering agent), lung irritant
Both

Bis(chloromethyl) ether (Dichloromethyl ether)
1918
Irritant, can blur vision
Central Powers

Ethyldichloroarsine[79]
1918
Vesicant
Central Powers

N-Ethylcarbazole 679
1918
Irritant
Central Powers

text: Long-term health effects[edit]

text: Soldiers who claimed to have been exposed to chemical warfare have often presented with unusual medical conditions which has led to much controversy. The lack of information has left doctors, patients, and their families in the dark in terms of prognosis and treatment. Nerve agents such as sarin, tabun, and soman are believed to have the most significant long-term health effects.[80] Chronic fatigue and memory loss have been reported to last up to three years after exposure. In the years following World War One, there were many conferences held in attempts to abolish the use of chemical weapons all together, such as The Washington Conference (1921–22), Geneva Conference (1923–25) and the World Disarmament Conference (1933). Although the United States was an original signatory of the Geneva Protocol in 1925, the US Senate did not formally ratify it until 1975.

text: Although the health effects are generally chronic in nature, the exposures were generally acute. A positive correlation has been proven between exposure to mustard agents and skin cancers, other respiratory and skin conditions, leukemia, several eye conditions, bone marrow depression and subsequent immunosuppression, psychological disorders and sexual dysfunction.[81] Chemicals used in the production of chemical weapons have also left residues in the soil where the weapons were used. The chemicals that have been detected can cause cancer and can affect the brain, blood, liver, kidneys and skin.[82]

text: Despite the evidence in support of long-term health effects, there are studies that show just the opposite. Some US veterans who were closely affected by chemical weapons showed no neurological evidence in the following years. These same studies showed that one single contact with chemical weapons would be enough to cause long-term health effects.[83]

text: Notes[edit]

text:
Jump up ^ The U.S. reportedly had about 135,000 tons of chemical warfare agents during WW II; Germany had 70,000 tons, Britain 40,000 and Japan 7,500 tons. The German nerve gases were deadlier than the old-style suffocants (chlorine, phosgene) and blistering agents (mustard gas) in Allied stockpiles. Churchill, and several American Generals reportedly called for their use against Germany and Japan, respectively (Weber, 1985).
Jump up ^ See the Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping from Ships and Aircraft and the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter.