Biological and chemical weapons have gone out of use due to the inability to control them and the inhuman effects they have on their targets. But as Machiavelli wrote, “When it is absolutely a question of the safety of one’s country, there must be no consideration of just or unjust, of merciful or cruel, of praiseworthy or disgraceful; instead, setting aside every scruple, one must follow to the utmost any plan that will save her life and keep her liberty.”

SEE ALSO: 10 Social And Biological Experiments With Freaky Results

10Siege Of Kirrha
590 BC

During the First Sacred War (Cirraean War) between the Amphictyonic League of Delphi and the city of Kirrha in Greece, chemical weaponry was employed to devastating effect. The war broke out as a result of Kirrha’s constant assault on the pilgrims passing through their lands to Delphi. The Amphictyonic League began their assault of the city by first poisoning its water supply with the toxic plant hellebore.

The plant’s high toxicity can cause vertigo, swelling of the tongue and throat, a feeling of suffocation, severe gastrointestinal problems, and cardiac arrest resulting in death. The plant did its job well, and the majority of the city was struck with severe bouts of diarrhea. The besiegers were able to walk into the city without facing any resistance.

9Dura-Europos
256 BC

When the Roman Army is at the gates, a defender will use just about any method or means to keep them at bay. Sasanian soldiers at Dura-Europos in modern Syria used bitumen ignited with sulfur within a tunnel the Romans were using to attempt entry into the city. The gas was so effective, it killed 19 Roman soldiers in under two minutes. The city was soon abandoned following the siege and remained uninhabited to this day, making it an important archaeological site due to the preservation of buildings and artifacts.

Due to the site’s preservation, archaeologists found chemical residue of sulfur crystals as well as the remains of the Roman soldiers plus one Sasanian, likely the individual who deployed the sulfur-bitumen concoction.

8Third Mithridatic War
73–63 BC

Mithridates (“the Poisoner King”) poisoned his mother and took various poisons himself to acquire an immunity over time. During his ongoing conflict with Rome, he often employed the use of poisoned arrows to thwart his enemies. During the third Mithridatic War, he used special arrows dipped in snake venom that would break off when they struck, leaving the metal tip coated with venom in the wound. The toxin would be fatal but would take days of agony to kill a man.

While retreating into modern Georgia, Mithridates left poisoned honey for the Romans to find. When consumed, the men would hallucinate and could even die from the consumption. There were not many casualties resulting from the honey, but such a large number of soldiers were high and hallucinating from the poison that they were useless for nearly a week.

7Siege Of Hatra
198

When Septimus Severus of the Imperial Roman legion attacked Hatra in 198, his soldiers scaled the walls to a very innovative weapon: terracotta pots filled with deadly scorpions. The men scaling the walls had the pots break open on and around them, releasing the scorpions as well as other stinging insects such as wasps and bees.

Some of the men died from the stings, while others became ill and perished due to the combination of the hot sun and the bites and stings. Scorpion bombs proved incredibly effective, and Septimus retreated, what remained of his army defeated.

6Battle Of Tortona
1155

The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, known as Barbarossa, assaulted Tortona during his Italian Campaign. Barbarossa personally undertook the attack of the city so that he could instigate their Milanese allies following their submission to his dominance of the peninsula.

He poisoned wells, bringing about numerous problems for the inhabitants of the city, the worst of which was a famine that crippled the population. This coincided with an ongoing drought, which made the unpotable well water an even greater problem. Barbarossa allowed the citizens to leave Tortona, and then he burned it to the ground. Modern residents of the city reenact the siege during a yearly celebration of the history of the town, which draws tourists from all over to enjoy the festivities.

5Battle Of Sandwich
1217

To repel an invading French fleet, the English navy under the command of Baron William D’Albiney used quicklime (calcium oxide), which he stocked aboard his vessels. He purposefully moved his ships upwind of the French and then let loose with the noxious compound into the wind so that the French were almost immediately blinded by the large cloud encompassing their ships.

Unable to defend themselves, they became an easy target for the English navy. The English sailors quickly stormed the French ships and slaughtered all but the knights due to the ransom they could receive. D’Albiney had long maintained a stock of calcium oxide on his vessels for just such an attack, but the Battle of Sandwich may have been the first time he was able to deploy it.

4Siege Of Kaffa
1346

During the siege of Kaffa in 1346, the invading Tatar army (part of the Mongolian Army of Genghis Khan) suffered an outbreak of the Bubonic plague. Never wanting to let an opportunity to devastate their enemy pass them by, the Tatars flung the corpses of their fallen plague-stricken brethren over the city walls to purposely infect their enemy. The plan worked, and the inhabitants of Kaffa were forced to surrender their city to the Mongol invaders.

It is believed that some of the survivors of the initial attack left Kaffa for Constantinople and other ports in the Mediterranean, which contributed to the pandemic known as the Black Death.

3Naples, Italy
1495

Spanish soldiers engaged in fighting throughout southern Italy used a method of biological warfare against their enemies that worked somewhat well. They added the blood of people afflicted with leprosy to bottles of wine they sold to the Italians. This was particularly dastardly due to the common perception that leprosy was a curse and punishment from God due to the disfiguring effects of the disease.

This method of biological warfare played the long game due to the manner in which leprosy spreads. The infection is long-term and can remain asymptomatic in a person’s body for between five and 20 years. This was not a very effective method of debilitating enemy soldiers and was likely done more for the stigma associated with leprosy than anything else.

2Siege Of Groningen
1672

During the Franco-Dutch War, Christoph Bernhard van Galen, the Bishop of Munster, used belladonna alkaloids contained within various forms of explosives and incendiary devices against his enemy. Atropa belladonna is more commonly known as deadly nightshade and is extremely toxic. Ingesting the alkaloids from the berries and leaves can cause severe delirium and hallucinations.

Van Galen’s use of deadly nightshade in warfare led to the first international agreement between nations, called the Strasbourg Agreement, to ban the use of “perfidious and odius” toxic devices. The Strasbourg Agreement came into being primarily due to the use of poisoned bullets employed by van Galen three years prior. The Strasbourg Agreement would remain the only such document until the 1925 Geneva Protocol, which included the banning of biological weapons.

1Siege Of Fort Pitt
1763

An outbreak of smallpox in the Ohio Valley was the result of an attack on the local natives in 1763 by the British Colonists besieged within Fort Pitt. Native American emissaries to the Fort received gifts, which came out of a smallpox infirmary with the hopes of spreading the disease to their populations. The emissaries pleaded with the colonists to vacate the fort due to overwhelming odds against them, but their attempts met with refusal and ultimately their deaths.

General Amherst said on July 8, “Could it not be contrived to Send the Small Pox among those Disaffected Tribes of Indians? We must, on this occasion, Use Every Stratagem in our power to Reduce them.” The British plan was very successful in deterring Native aggression due to the overwhelming infection spreading through their communities as a result of the attack.

The spread of infection didn’t stop at Fort Pitt. The Shawnee, Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw tribes carried the disease throughout the southeast. Thousands were infected as a result of the siege at Fort Pitt.

+Further Reading

If this list hasn’t depressed and horrified you enough, check out these fascinating articles from the archives:

10 Biochemical Attacks That Were Stopped Just In Time
10 Dark Facts About The Worst Chemical Terror Attack In History
10 Poisons And Their Horrifying Effects
Top 10 Obsolete Weapons That Were Shockingly Deadly

Most of us are likely to think of a science lab when we hear the term “chemical reaction.” In reality, nature is full of endless chemical reactions occurring all the time. We either just don’t see them, like the ones that take place in our own bodies all day long, or we don’t even think about them. But they’re out there, they’re happening, and some of them are more unpleasant than you might think. 

10. The Chlorine Smell In Pools is Actually a Reaction Between Chlorine and Things Like Pee

Have you ever taken a trip to the public pool and that chlorine smell was just so potent it almost made your eyes water as you approached? It’s like a sting in your nostrils and makes you think they must really take their pool cleanliness seriously if they’re adding so much chlorine to it. We have unfortunate news for you.

Chlorine doesn’t normally have a powerful smell at all. But it is a very reactive chemical and so, when it meets other compounds, it can produce a pungent and even dangerous chemical reaction. That smell from the public pool is one such reaction. 

The pool smell is not from chlorine itself but chloramines. You get chloramines when chlorine mixes with things like sweat, oils, cosmetics, and urine. This is the reason some pools tell you to shower before you swim, to remove many of these compounds from your skin. The urine is another matter. 

Even though it seems like that smell means more chlorine which means a cleaner pool, the opposite is true. When the disinfectant chlorine hits your sweat and pee it breaks down into the smelly chloramines which no longer work to clean a pool. So you may want to rethink a swim if you have a potent pool. 

9. A High School Student Lost Her Fingers to a Chemical Reaction in Art Class

Art class was, for many of us, the most fun class in school. You don’t necessarily need to think super hard and you get to be creative. Hard to go wrong with that. But it’s still possible for things to go very wrong. 

In 2007, an art class took a very wrong turn for a 16-year-old girl who was trying to make a sculpture of her hands. The plan was to put her hands in plaster of Paris to make a mold of the hands and then presumably fill the molds with whatever material she was going to sculpt with. Unfortunately, she misheard the teacher who told her to make a clay mold and then fill it with plaster. She was unaware of the chemical process of how plaster of Paris dries.

Like cement, plaster of Paris creates an exothermic reaction when water is added. The powder starts out as gypsum but then is heated, forcing moisture out. So when water is reintroduced, a reverse reaction occurs.

As the substance dries, the water molecules react with the plaster to create heat. With the girl’s hands fully immersed, the mixture heated to 60 C, or 140 F. By this time the plastic was too dry and too thickly packed for teachers to get her out in time. All she could do was endure the slow, steady burns.

By the time she was freed the damage was too severe and she ended up losing all but two of her fingers. 

8. Adipocere Is The Result of a Chemical Reaction Turning Body Fat Into a Waxy Substance In A Coffin

Have you ever thought about what happens to a corpse once it’s been buried? Most of us know that a body will rot and eventually only a skeleton remains, but the process of rotting is an interesting and off-putting one that has several stages. 

At some point in the process your body will produce a substance called adipocere, otherwise known as grave wax. As long as you have suitable conditions in which a body has moisture but little oxygen, the substance can form. 

When your adipose, or fat tissue, decomposes, it can form this waxy substance thanks to the hydrolysis of triglycerides into glycerin and free fatty acids. This is very similar to how we make soap. It gets the nickname thanks to the fact it will have a waxy texture at first but will crumble over time. That said, it can help preserve a body for years.

7. Pistachios Will Spontaneously Combust In the Right Circumstances

People seem to love pistachios. Americans eat 0.7 pounds of them each per year. That makes for a lot of nuts out there and, all things being equal, that’s potentially dangerous. Pistachios are vulnerable to a chemical reaction that can cause them to spontaneously combust.

Pistachios are one of the most dangerous nuts in the world and they need to be shipped and stored carefully. A room full of pistachios could suffocate you because, even after harvest, they absorb oxygen and give off carbon dioxide. 

Because pistachios have low water and high fat, they can be quite flammable. As the nuts absorb oxygen and give off CO2, they’re breaking fats down into fatty acids and this chemical reaction produces heat. If they get warm enough, the fat in the nuts becomes fuel and they can burst into flames. If you’re transporting millions of nuts together in shipping containers, you may ship a pistachio bomb as a result. 

6. Pit Stains Are Caused By a Reaction To Your Deodorant

The global deodorant market is worth nearly $70 billion so you can safely assume most people don’t want to stink or even look like they might stink with those telltale sweat stains. For most people this isn’t too big of an issue but for some people, especially when they wear white, it can be. Have you ever seen a dreaded yellow pit stain? It’s not a desirable thing for most people. But it’s also not technically caused by your sweat, either.

While it may seem like yellow stains are caused by poor hygiene or excess sweating, that’s not the case. Instead, it’s a chemical reaction caused by the deodorant some people choose to wear. Obviously it doesn’t happen to everyone but the aluminum in your deodorant and antiperspirant can react with proteins in your sweat to produce the yellowing agent that stains clothing. 

If it becomes an issue, using an antiperspirant made without aluminum might do the trick to make the stains go away. 

5. A Chemical Reaction Between Tin Foil and Lasagna Causes “Lasagna Cell”

Lasagna is an immensely popular food and with good reason, it’s delicious. It’s the most-loved pasta dish by Millennials, at least according to one survey. But it hides a secret danger most of us have never heard of. 

Lasagna needs to be stored in a glass or plastic dish or not covered with aluminum foil thanks to a chemical reaction called lasagna cell. In so many words, you risk turning your lasagna into a battery if you don’t.

Lasagna is a prime environment for galvanic corrosion if the dish you’re storing it in is made of metal other than aluminum. Because you have a salty solution working as an electrolyte in the form of the sauce, the lasagna will break down the aluminum in the foil and the molecules of foil act as an anode and will try to bond to the dish, which is now a cathode. 

In as little as a few hours you could notice holes in the foil if you have your lasagna stored in the fridge and tiny blobs of corroded aluminum on the surface of your meal. 

4. The Smell of Pennies Is Actually Your Own Odor After Reacting to Pennies

Have you ever smelled a penny and found the odor unusual or offensive? Before you blame that poor, mostly worthless coin you need to know that it’s not the penny’s fault. Pennies don’t smell, it’s just that they cause us to smell.

If you notice an unpleasant odor on a penny or your hands after handling them, it’s actually the result of a chemical reaction between the copper in the coin and oils in your own skin. The same thing happens when you handle iron or brass. Your body will produce different compounds in reaction to the contact with the metals, some that smell worse than others. 

Not everyone produces the same chemical compounds so what you smell after handling pennies could very well differ from what someone else smells. Regardless of how it manifests, what you think of as a metallic odor is just a misperception and it’s actually body odor. 

3. A Chemical Reaction Causes Beer, Weed, and Skunks to Smell Similar

When beer goes bad, we often call it skunky. This is because skunky beer is an unpleasant situation and if you get one that has gone skunky enough it actually reeks a bit like our smelly little mammal friend. That’s not a coincidence, either. The chemical reaction at play is in the same ballpark as what’s going on in a skunk’s hindquarters.

Beer gets skunky when it’s exposed to light. Light interacts with something called iso-alpha acids, which are released when hops are boiled in the brewing process. You want these normally as they’re part of the bitter flavor in beer. But light destroys them.

When they break down, they bind with other compounds in the beer that have sulfur in them and now we’re in skunk stink territory. The compound is called 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol or prenythiol. It’s also in weed and if it’s an especially potent or skunky weed, that’s what causes it.

2. Humans Cause Their Own Indoor Air Pollution

Air pollution has been a cause for concern for years now but usually when we talk about it we mean the air outside. It’s a global sort of concern caused by toxic chemicals being burned and pumped into the atmosphere, right? Well, yes. But that doesn’t mean the air in your house is doing a lot better. Turns out humans are polluting the indoor air, too.

Human skin interacts with chemicals in the air in your own home to produce its own sort of polluting haze. Normally, outdoors, the weather and UV rays take care of a lot of these chemicals but that can’t happen inside. Our bodies create what has been described as an “oxidation field.”

Oil in human skin can react with ozone to produce new compounds. Our bodies produce an oil called squalene. When this meets ozone, which is a compound that exists freely out in the world, it produces a compound that further reacts with ozone to make hydroxyl radicals. These can react to all sorts of things in your house and create toxic compounds.

Out in the wild, hydroxyl radicals are natural and helpful in the air. But in an enclosed space like your house they can be more dangerous. There are potential long-term health effects we can’t know about yet depending on what sort of reactions could occur in any home.

This isn’t a new thing, but it wasn’t until covid and concern over indoor air quality that scientists began inspecting the spaces in which we live and how healthy they are. 

1. Babies Produce a Chemical That Makes Women Aggressive But Does the Opposite to Men

Do you think it’s possible for a smell to change your behavior? The idea that you can use pheromones to do such a thing isn’t new, even though there’s not much evidence to suggest humans work that way. That said, there is some evidence that there are chemicals in body odor which can affect human aggression.

We’re not talking average armpit stink here, rather a chemical produced by babies. Hexadecanal is a compound produced in babies’ heads. Ever seen someone sniff a baby like it was a new car? That’s part of what they’re smelling. Research shows this compound reduces aggression in men but has the opposite effect on women, making them more aggressive. 

It’s believed that a reaction like this is a survival technique. If a baby’s smell makes the mother more aggressive, she may become more protective. Conversely, the father, being less aggressive, is less of a threat as a result. Other mammals have similar reactions to various odors.

What do you think of when you imagine spending time in the garden? For some of us, it’s a place to relax in the sunshine, read a book, and maybe do a few exercises. For others, a garden is a place to invite friends, have picnics outside, fire up the barbecue, and socialize.

At ground level, though, gardens can look like battlefields- with plants, insects, small birds and mammals all jostling for space and for food. To survive in the garden ‘jungle’, you have to make use of anything at your disposal- including some targeted chemical weapons.

Top 10 Places You Don’t Want To Visit

10 Tree-killing fungi

We do associate many fungi with poison, which is entirely fair because a lot of toadstools and mushrooms contain highly toxic chemicals (and they have associated scary names, like the ‘Death cap’ and ‘Satan’s bolete’). These poisons are a defence mechanism, discouraging insects and mammals from eating the fungus.

Some fungi, however, are a bit more proactive in their use of chemical warfare. An example is the bracket fungus (Fomitopsis betulina), which grows on birch trees. If the tree is weakened for any reason, the fungus starts to produce digestive enzymes that break down the material inside the tree; the fungus itself can then feed on the broken-down tissue material.

It’s not all bad, though; some of the other chemicals found in the ‘brackets’ (the disc-shaped structures that sprout out from the infected tree) are actually useful for humans, being antiseptic and anti-inflammatory. This type of fungus has been used in some alternative medicines, and was found among the possessions of a 5000 year-old mummy in the Alps, leading to speculation that he used the fungus for medicinal purposes.

9 Insects as a weapon of attack

Another example of a fungus that actively influences its environment is the sac fungus (Ascomycota), which affects elm trees. This fungus makes use of elm bark beetles, which lay eggs in dying elm trees. If the fungus is present, it creates a lot of spores which stick to the young beetles, which then carry it to other trees. As the young beetles feed on healthy trees, the fungus spores get lodged into the tree, especially infecting the system that the tree uses to transport water and nutrients up the tree from its roots. This is fatal; as the tree can no longer sustain itself, its leaves begin to turn yellow and shrivel all year round (not just in autumn) and its shoots begin to die back. This ‘Dutch elm disease’ is now widespread across Europe and North America and has killed a large percentage of the world’s elm trees (the name is actually a nod to the fact that it was first identified and studied in the Netherlands).

The story does not end there, however; some trees seem to have resistance to the disease, such as the European White Elm (Ulmus laevis), which synthesises a chemical called Alnulin in its bark. The elm bark beetles appear to dislike the bark of trees that contain Alnulin, so these elms escape infection. Natural chemical defences may be the key to resisting Dutch Elm disease.

8 The wood-wide web

Despite the previous two items on this list, fungi are not all bad for garden and woodland plants, in fact in most cases they are beneficial. The mushroom or toadstool that you see above ground is actually only a small part of the fungus; a large part of its mass is actually a big network of thin root-like structures underground. This network is called a mycelium, and is very favourable for plants in its vicinity, doing good work such as helping to decompose dead leaves and wood, enriching the soil, and even enhancing trees’ immune systems by triggering the production of defensive chemicals. Recently, however, researchers have found that the mycelium is even more useful than this, sometimes in some quite strange ways; it can be used as a sort of communications network (hence the nickname, the ‘wood-wide web’. This communication can be a simple transfer of nutrients from one tree to the next, but more complex interactions are possible- if some plants in the network are under attack (for example, by aphids) other plants will automatically produce defensive chemicals to fend off a potential predator. The full extent of chemical signalling that can take place is still not fully understood.

7 Insects that are good at manufacturing chemical weapons

Chemical warfare in the garden is not limited to fungi and trees, however; there are a wide variety of insects that are good at producing toxic substances to kill or annoy their predators. Ants are an obvious example of a type of insect that does this; there are over 12000 species of ants in the world, spread across most of the continents, and between them they have an array of interesting chemical defences. Some of the more exotic ones are found in Central America, including the bullet ant (Paraponera clavata) which is said to have an intensely painful sting as it injects poneratoxin into the wound (this chemical is a fairly powerful neurotoxin). However, it isn’t just the exotic species that have chemical means to defend themselves; the common black garden ant (Lasius Niger) uses formic acid as a weapon.

6 Plants manufacture natural insecticides

Left to themselves, insects will munch through a huge quantity of plant matter. Most plants can’t move to defend themselves or kill the insects (with the exception of a few carnivorous plants like the venus flytrap…) so it is no surprise that some plants have evolved chemical defenses. Of course there are the obvious candidates like deadly nightshade and poison ivy, which do contain some very intense toxins, but actually even some of our more unassuming species of garden plants can produce chemicals that are toxic enough to deter insect predators. An example is the humble mint plant- for humans, it makes a tasty sauce to go with your lamb roast, but from the point of view of an insect it produces a cocktail of toxic chemicals. The most powerful of these is a chemical called pulegone that can damage the nervous system of creatures that come into contact with it.

5 Survival strategies of aphids

Aphids are interesting little critters that are generally not favoured by gardeners- they can weaken plants by feeding on their sap, damage new growth, and spread viruses from plant to plant. They are part of the food chain though, so there are a number of natural aphid predators (such as ladybirds and wasps); however, in some situations the number of aphids can become uncontrolled and then considerable damage can be done to the plants they are feeding on. The aphids have quite a nifty chemical tactic, which is to excrete honeydew; this is a sugary liquid made from the plant sap that they are feeding on. The honeydew attracts ants, which like the honeydew so much that they display really protective behaviour towards the aphids- they have been known to fend off aphids’ natural predators, and even to move aphids from wilting plants on to fresh new plants so that they can feed.

4 Aphids don’t have it all their own way

However, despite their symbiotic relationship with ants, aphids do face some chemical dangers in the garden. Strong-smelling plants, such as garlic and onions, seem to affect certain species of aphids. Alliums such as garlic contain a complex mixture of sulphur-containing chemicals, and it seems likely that these change the aphids’ behaviour by e.g. masking the smell of the plants that the aphids would prefer to feed on.

Some plants, though, take a different tack and instead of producing chemicals to repel the aphids themselves, they produce chemicals to attract creatures that are natural predators of aphids. For example, chamomile flower buds produce a volatile compound that is attractive to ladybirds. Selecting the correct plant to attract aphid predators is a complex task, and there is some debate on whether this is an effective method of pest control.

3 The protein chemistry of spiders

Spiders are good at protein chemistry- the silk that makes up their webs is basically made up of very long protein molecules that are packed together to make a fibre. Proteins themselves are made up of many small molecules (amino acids) and the spider is able to vary which amino acids predominate in one particular strand of silk. In this way, they can make some of the strands of silk tough (to hold the web together) while other strands are more stretchy (to effectively capture and hold prey after it flies into the web).

2 Do birds rely on chemical signals?

If small birds are attracted to your garden, that’s a good sign, because it means there are plenty of bugs for them to eat. It used to be assumed that birds had no use for a sense of smell; surely they sense both prey and predators by vision and hearing only? However, more recently researchers have suggested that in some birds, smell is in fact a useful sense. Starlings and blue tits have been known to add the leaves of aromatic plants to their nests, and it is suggested that they select which plants to use based on their sense of smell; but are these plants useful to deter predators or because chemicals in these plants keep bacteria in the nest under control?

1 Venomous mammals

Very few mammals manufacture poisons, because they more usually disable their prey with claws or teeth; however, there are a few examples of venomous mammals. One of the more surprising is the European mole, which is often thought of as a pest when it arrives in a garden (somewhat unfairly, because it does do some valuable jobs in the garden, such as aerating the soil as it digs). We think of moles as cute furry little creatures that eat earthworms and other bugs, but their eating habits are actually far more interesting (and gruesome). Their saliva contains a toxin that can paralyse their prey. The mole then takes its still-living, incapacitated prey down into its underground tunnel network and stores it in a kind of earthworm larder to eat later. The European mole is the only one so far known to display this behaviour, although certain types of shrews can also deliver venomous bites to prey species.

CBR (Chemical, Biological and Radiological) Warfare seems like a modern invention, however it has its roots back to Ancient times. It was originally described in the Greek Myths, as Hercules dipped arrows in venom and plagues were unleashed upon armies. Perhaps it was those tales that inspired some of these heinous creations.

By today’s standards this may be the most inhumane form of warfare, however battle commanders and generals have always sought many ways to take advantage of the opposing forces. This often involved utilizing any means necessary. Gruesome, painful, and cruel, this list describes poison plants, venom, primitive incendiary devices, and more grizzly tactics used in ancient warfare.

10 Alleged Secret Weapons Of The US Military

10 Poison Arrows

One of the first places the ancients looked to for poisons was in botanical sources. Ancient Greeks and Romans knew of at least 2 dozen dangerous plants, these were often used for medicinal purposes and through trial and errors proper dosages were discovered. Many of them were beneficial in small amounts but became toxic in larger doses. One of the most popular plants was known as Hellebore, an all-purpose medicinal plant commonly prescribed by early doctors. These plants were not easy to gather and those who collected them were known to occasionally fall ill and die. In heavy doses it caused muscle cramps, convulsions, delirium, and heart attacks, this made Hellebore an excellent choice for arrow poisons.^[1]

9 Contaminating Water

Hellebore was not just useful for poisoning arrows, in this account the Greeks used it in a more sinister way. During the First Sacred War, around 590 BC, besiegers of the strongly fortified city of Kirrha cut the water pipes leading into the city. After which they gathered a large quantity of Hellebore and placed it in in the water source. Once the townsfolk were suffering from intense thirst, they reconnected the water supply, now poisoned. The Kirrhans became violently sick to their stomachs and were so weakened by diarrhea that they took the city without opposition. Depending on the account this military strategy has been attributed to at least 4 different Generals, but whoever contrived this plan was a twisted, yet effective leader.^[2]

8 Catapulting Corpses

Perhaps the most common story of Ancient Bio Warfare stems from this account. In 1346 the Mongols had an outbreak of Bubonic Plague amongst their troops. It did not take long for them to learn that proximity to a victim or corpse would spread the disease, so naturally they realized they could weaponize it. A few catapult shots later and the city of Kaffa was littered with plague-ridden corpses of the Mongols own troops. This would be the introduction of the dreaded disease to Europe. Spreading disease was not the only desired effect of this tactic. The psychological effects that it had on the opposing troops was demoralizing and terrifying. The idea for this type of warfare has always been to incite panic and fear, and this tactic no doubt accomplished that well.^[3]

7 Envenomated swords

While poisonous plants and herbs were effective for certain regions, during Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Middle East an even deadlier method was discovered. In 326 BC Alexander and his army arrived at the fortified city of Harmatelia, which was most likely located in modern day Pakistan. Reportedly the Harmatelians were oddly confident in their victory, the Greeks soon learned the reason why. Their swords and arrowhead were coated with a drug of mortal effect, it was said that even a small scratch would kill a man. This poison was derived from snakes, most likely a type of viper. These snakes were killed and left to rot in the sun, as the heat decomposed the flesh the venom mixed with the liquefying tissue. Descriptions of the poison’s effects are vivid. A wounded man immediately went numb, suffering stabbing pains and convulsions, next their skin became cold and they vomited bile. It is stated that black froth spewed from the wound and gangrene spread rapidly, bringing a horrible death.^[4]

6 Lime Dust

Several forms of toxic smoke and gasses were implemented by ancient people. Burning noxious items to create clouds of smoke to deter opponents was common, it was however hard to control, as a shift in the wind could cause this to fail miserably. The Chinese developed an interesting way to manage this. In AD 178 China used an early form of tear gas to quell an armed peasant revolt. Powdered limestone dust was equipped on horse drawn chariots with bellows attached to blow the dust forward with the wind. When the dust interacts with moist membranes such as the eyes and nose, the effects are corrosive, blinding and suffocating those inhaling it. This tactic created an effective fog, this combined with stampeding horses, loud gongs and drums the rioters were thrown into chaos and overwhelmed. Methods such as this are still used to this day, with modern tear gas or pepper spray, and while the wind can still be a problem modern gas masks have minimized this threat.^[5]

Top 10 Nonlethal Weapons That Are Actually Lethal

5 Beehive bombs

Among the first projectile weapons used in warfare were hornet nests and beehives. Swarms of bees had been known to invade cities, forcing evacuations, this led to a natural realization that the stinging pest could be used to repel attackers. Of course, there was danger in this for both parties. Tales suggest hornets’ nests were plugged with mud and carefully transported, and bees were persuaded to colonize special containers. Using smoke to tranquilize bees was a tactic known since antiquity, there is also evidence of special powders to calm the insects before release. In World War 1 tripwires were set up along the enemy’s route that would release hives. During a siege, nests were thrown into tunnels dug by the besiegers to deter their advance. Deploying stinging insects can be dated back to biblical times and even as recently as the Vietnam War where Vietcong soldiers set up booby-traps with Asian honeybees against American soldiers.^[6]

4 Flaming arrows

As early as the 9th century accounts describing the use of flaming arrows exist. The first of these incendiary missiles were simply arrows wrapped in plant material such as straw or hemp. In early times these were highly effective against wooden wall and structures, however as time progressed, they became less efficient. They had no effect on stone walls and could be easily snuffed out with water. The search began for chemical additives that could cause the fires to burn fiercer and become more resistant to dousing with water. The earliest additive was pitch, flammable resin tapped from pine trees. This sticky sap achieved the desired effects. Arrows dipped in the sap and ignited burned hotter and longer than their counterparts. This led to other uses, soon pitch would be poured onto invading attackers and lit bags of pitch were hurled down from the tops of walls. Also, useful to combat siege engines these tactics were used for hundreds of years.^[7]

3 Toxic honey

In perhaps the strangest tale not one but 2 invading armies were defeated, hundreds of years apart not by a weapon, but by a delicious treat. In 401 BC in the land of Colchis (near modern Turkey) Xenophon, a hoplite commander, stopped his men at a seemingly perfect place to camp. The Colchian village was well stocked with food and even offered the special treat of wild honey, which the hungry soldiers soon found and raided. Soon after the troops succumbed to a strange affliction, delirious and behaving like intoxicated madmen, they soon were collapsing by the thousands. The men were completely incapacitated and some even died. This mad honey was produced by bees that collected nectar from poisonous rhododendron blossoms. Even today a small spoonful is added to milk or alcoholic beverages for an additional kick, however one not familiar with the effects can easily overdose. 4 centuries later this would happen again to a Roman army in the same region. It is often speculated the other ways in which this honey may have been used in warfare.^[8]

2 Scorpion Bombs

Wasps and Bees were not the only insects weaponized in combat, reports also describe the use of scorpions, assassin bugs, and various beetles. These creatures were abundant in the desert and were utilized against the Romans during their attempts at controlling Mesopotamia. In the fortified city of Hatra, the citizens prepared a strong defense against the Roman invaders, clay pot “bombs” filled with scorpions. These earthenware pots were then sealed and dropped onto the invading forces. The Scorpions reportedly lurked under every stone and clod of dirt and the King would reward those who could kill the most to ensure safe travels. Bites from these insects was said to be incredibly painful inflicting a lingering death that would last three days, this was accompanied by great agitation, sweating, convulsions, and swollen genitals. Certainly, something that once witnessed would incite paranoia.^[9]

1 Greek Fire

One of the most devastating ancient weapons ever described was the notorious Greek Fire. This was reportedly based on the development of an effective distillation and siphoning pump technologies. This allowed a flammable mixture to be pressurized and pumped from boats, creating a launch-able stream of liquid fire. The main ingredient of the mixture was said to be Naphtha, a chemical that had been used in firebombs and dumped off castle walls for years. Pumping pressurized and distilled Naphtha through tubes aimed at ships was certainly a brilliant feat of engineering for the time, and the exact delivery method was a heavily guarded secret and is now lost to time. Resembling modern Napalm, this would have been a terrifying weapon to deal with, the only defenses described included draping the ship in wet hides, only sailing in stormy weather, or attempting dangerous evasive maneuvers.^[10]

10 Prototype Weapons Too Insane To Use

About The Author: Brad D Fuller is a retired US Navy Sailor living in small town Ohio. He is also a Board Game Designer and Collector.