The History of Bioterrorism

Throughout the progression of mankind, there has always been a need to become superior in tactics and technology over an opponent. It did not take long for man to discover the effective and deadly tactic of Bioterrorism, which is the deliberate release of viruses, bacteria or other germs used to cause illness or death in people, animals, or plants. As time passes, everything about bioterrorism becomes more and more sophisticated, making it very difficult to combat with. By examining the history of bioterrorism, one can learn how military forces utilize this deadly weapon.

First we will discuss the first known utilization of bioterrorism, in the 6th Century BCE. The Assyrians used Rye Ergot to poison the Israelite’s water supply. The goal was to infect the enemy with Ergotism which created symptoms such as hallucinations, gastrointestinal upset, and in even gangrenous development on the fingers and toes due to massive vasoconstriction. What the Assyrians didn’t realize was that for the poisoning to be successful enough to show any sign of infection, the poisoning had to be chronic, which was not the case in this instance. Therefore the first incident of bioterrorism was unsuccessful.

In the same century, a very similar instance of bioterrorism occurred. In the year 585 BCE, the Siege of Kirrha (“the first sacred war”) was raging in Greece. The city of Kirrha controlled all lands from the city of Delphi to the Corinthian Gulf. The cause of the war was Kirrha’s constant abuse of power by taxing and tolling pilgrims traveling to Delphi. With the help of the Amphictionic League, the citizens of Delphi revolted against Kirrha. One of the tactics used against them was the poisoning of their water supply with Hellebore, a...

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...c has not yet been gathered, and will be gathered this week [he was out of the office last week])

In the beginning, groups of people used plants to take control of cities, and since that day bioterrorism hasn’t stopped evolving, and neither shall it ever stop evolving. Every day new technologies, new protocols, new vaccines and even new diseases are produced. I have showed you where bioterrorism has come from, and the path it has taken to be where it is today, and even given a glimpse of where it might go in the future. But until we actually get to the time in the future where we can see it with our own eyes, we will never know for sure.

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(Considering this is already a week late, I thought it would be irresponsible to take more time to do this page, however I will have it done within the week)

Works Cited

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