Biological weapons are one of the most dangerous and difficult weapons in the world today. But in fact, not everyone realizes that biological weapons are one of the most primitive, simplest, oldest but also most modern weapons of human history.
Why do we have to assert that?
First, we need to understand what is the definition of “biological weapon” ? A biological weapon is a type of weapon of mass destruction based on the pathogenicity or disease-transmitting properties of microorganisms such as germs and bacteria; or toxins secreted by some bacteria to cause disease or death to humans, animals or plants, destroy crops, pollute the ecological environment.
Indeed, biological weapons can indeed come from the simplest of things. For a simple example, it is when you were a child “unfortunately” playing with a friend full of chickenpox, or he intentionally approached and touched you, causing you to get chickenpox and then Treatment and vaccination of all kinds of diseases. You can basically think of it as a low-level example of a biological weapon.
Chickenpox is also a biological weapon.
According to historians, biological warfare weapons and techniques are not new to modern times, but were actually first used by the Hittites several thousand years ago. With the ambition to expand their kingdom, the Hittite empire once occupied a territory stretching from Turkey to present-day Syria.
Unlike some empires that used violence, the Hittites used much more interesting and profound tactics. Whenever they wanted to capture a city, they would send sick sheep and donkeys to spread a disease called the “Hittite plague”. After that, they would patiently wait for a few years for the enemy’s forces to decline before attacking and occupying.
The Hittites had a very sinister way of conquest.
Although, in fact, this plan would have been very wise if the Hittite army itself was not infected with this same plague. That was the plague – one of the most feared pathogens in the ancient world, and it was also the beginning of the movement to adopt other dirty forms of chemical warfare, as they immediately became popular. over the next few centuries.
In the biography of General Hannibal – a general of the city-state of Carthago, the ancient Roman historian Cornelius Nepos said that this general had thrown vials of venomous snakes on the Pergamon army ship in one day. naval battle.
Around the 2nd century AD, the inhabitants of Hatra entrenched themselves against the Roman invaders using biological weapons: throwing out terracotta pots filled with scorpions . In addition, medieval people also knew how to use hallucinogenic mushrooms or even decomposing corpses to infect germs.
This weapon is also known as… scorpion bomb.
But perhaps, the most terrible biological war, the most horrifying was the siege of Kaffa by the Tatars in 1346. After being heavily damaged by the plague, the Tatars used catapults to throw dead soldiers. I crossed the wall into the city. The reason they did this was because they believed that the smell of corpses would lower the morale of the enemy defenders.
The Tarta army besieged Kaffa.
However, things are not that simple. The main effect of this method was: the plague spread . The Kaffa had to flee their home city, taking the disease with them to all four lands. According to many historians, this is how the Black Death – acute anthrax spread to Europe and killed a third of the population here . Basically, the Tatars were once able to destroy an entire continent?
The plague spreads.
In general, biological weapons lead to unpredictable consequences , depending on their ability to spread in the body of animals or plants. However, those pathogens can disappear very quickly or cause epidemics that cannot be controlled or reversed.
Therefore, if they do not know them well and use them, the military using them may also suffer the consequences. Understanding and controlling pathogens, as well as “correct” use time is extremely necessary.