plague epidemic known as the Black Death, Mongol and Turkish armies were reported to
have catapulted diseased corpses into besieged cities.
During the Middle Ages, victims of the bubonic plague were used for biological attacks,
often by flinging their corpses and excrement over castle walls using catapults. The last
known incident of using plague corpses for biological warfare occurred in 1710, when
Russian forces attacked the Swedes by flinging plague-infected corpses over the city
walls of Reval (Tallinn).
The Native American population was decimated after contact with the Old World due to
the introduction of many different fatal diseases. The British army at least once used
smallpox as a weapon, when British soldiers at Fort Pitt in what is now Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania gave contaminated blankets to the Lenape during Pontiac’s War. It is
suspected that biological warfare was used against the Native Americans at other times as
well.
Native peoples in Aptos gave Spaniards gifts of freshly cut flowers wrapped in leaves of
poison oak.
During the United States Civil War, General Sherman reported that Confederate forces
shot farm animals in ponds upon which the Union depended for drinking water.
Use of such weapons was banned in international law by the Geneva Protocol of 1925.
The 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention extended the ban to almost all
production, storage and transport. However, the Soviet Union continued research and
production of offensive biological weapons in a program called biopreparat, despite
having signed the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. The United States was
unaware of the program until Dr. Kanatjan Alibekov, the first deputy director of
biopreparat defected in 1992. It is, however, believed that since the signing of the
convention the number of countries capable of producing such weapons has increased.
During the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and World War II, Unit 731 of the Imperial
Japanese Army conducted human experimentation on thousands, mostly Chinese and
Korean. In military campaigns, the Japanese army used biological weapons on Chinese
soldiers and civilians. This employment was largely viewed as ineffective due to
inefficient delivery systems. However, new information has surfaced within the last
decade, which alleges a more active Japanese usage. For example, firsthand accounts
testify the Japanese infected civilians through the distribution of plagued foodstuffs, such
as dumplings and vegetables. There are also reports of contaminated water supplies. Such
estimates report over 580,000 victims, largely due to plague and cholera outbreaks. In
addition, repeated seasonal outbreaks after the conclusion of the war bring the death toll
much higher.
In response to suspected biological weapons development in Germany and Japan, the
United States, United Kingdom, and Canada initiated a BW development program in
1941 that resulted in the weaponization of anthrax, brucellosis, and botulism toxin. The
center for U.S. military BW research was Fort Detrick, Maryland. Some biological and
chemical weapons research was also conducted at “Dugway Proving Grounds” in Utah.
Research carried out in the United Kingdom during World War II left Gruinard island in
Scotland contaminated with anthrax for the next 48 years. During WWII, US