British Tear Gas Doctrine between the World Wars

Abstract

This article argues that the refusal of the British authorities to explore tear gas use in the 1920s was a result of public relations fears, growing out of British abhorrence for lethal gas use in the trenches during the First World War. Despite continuing strong advocacy from individuals scattered throughout the civil and military hierarchies, and evidence of the efficacy of tear gas emanating from the United States, the British resisted the introduction and technical development of tear gas until the mid-1930s. By this time they had fallen so far behind, technically speaking, that it proved impossible to introduce a viable, British-based tear gas industry, and the British were left to introduce tear gas in tiny, hesitant, incremental steps, using equipment from the United States.