Biological Weapons In History
If used in numbers, atomic bombs not only can nullify any nation's military effort, but can demolish its social and economic structure and prevent their re-establishment for long periods of time. With such weapons, especially if employed in conjunction with other weapons of mass destruction such as pathogenic bacteria, it is quite possible to depopulate vast areas of the earth's surface, leaving only vestigial remnants of man's material works.-Report of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Operation Crossroads, June 30, 1947 Biological weapons have a long history in warfare. The first accounts of biological warfare date to the 6th century B.C. when the Assyrians poisoned the wells of their enemies with rye ergot (a disease of rye and other cereals caused by ergot fungus, similar in effect to LSD) and again when Solon of Athens poisoned an aqueduct with hellebore, (an herb purgative) during the siege of Kirrha. During a naval battle in 184 B.C. against King Eumenes of Pergamon, Hannibal's forces hurled clay pots filled with venomous snakes onto the enemy's decks. Hannibal defeated the Pergamene, as they were forced to fight man and snake. Can biological weapons used throughout history be classified as weapons of mass destruction suc
The article contained a description of a technique used by a physician, Giacomo Pylarini of Smyrna, to offer some protection against smallpox. I hope it will have the desired effect. But the existing theories of how disease was transmitted, coupled with the lack of knowledge about how to direct a disease only against an enemy, made the use of disease as a weapon seem little more than a fantasy. But the Americas had been isolated from these European diseases. From today's perspective, and certainly mine, these attacks are clearly considered biological warfare. The documentation that survives, including the ledgers (which had to be approved by British authorities up to the level of General Gage, the Commander-in-Chief of British forces in America), makes it clear that this action was not seen as something extraordinary, or an action taken under unusual circumstances by a local commander. The effects of such attacks show without a doubt, the deadly potential of biological weapons. "To Sundries got to replace in kind those which were taken from people in the Hospital to Convey the Smallpox to the Indians. On June 23rd, two Delaware Indians appeared at the fort, asking to speak with Alexander McKee, the Assistant Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Crown. Though biological weapons in use today may be more sophisticated due to advances in science, the means of delivery are very much the same. Biological agents are defined as microorganisms (bacterial or virulent) or toxins that cause disease in man, plant, or animal. In the cases of the poisoned water supplies in the 6th century B. Those living in the countries where variolation was popular could be presumed to know four facts; (1) that smallpox in previously unexposed population could be devastating, (2) that smallpox could reliably be produced by exposing healthy individuals to materials obtained from smallpox victims, (3) that individuals seemed to become infected only once, and (4) that the dangers of smallpox could be significantly reduced by the practice of variolation. The possible impact of biological weapons had always been obvious to commanders who usually found disease to kill more men in the course of a campaign than did enemy fire.
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