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May 7, 1346
Seige of Caffa
During the siege of Caffa, the attacking Tartars were devastated by an outbreak of the plague. They were subsequently forced to abandon the siege, but before leaving they used catapults to hurl the plague-infested bodies of their dead over the walls of the city. spreading the plague throughout the city, which then spread to the rest of Europe. -
Aug 10, 1518
Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes exposes the Aztec to smallpox
In Latin America,Hernando Cortes exposes the Aztec to smallpox, which soon devastates the native population, paving the way for Cortes' complete victory in 1521. -
Use of Plague infected cadavers during the great northern war
During the war between Russia and Sweden, Russian troops are claimed to haver used the cadavers of plague victims to provoke an epidemic among the enemy. -
During the French and Indian war Smallpox used
During the French and Indian War in North America, English general Sir Jeffery Amherst, gives blankets infected with smallpox to Indians who are helping the French defend Fort Carillon, causing an epidemic that decimates the Indians and allows Amherst to capture the fort and rename it Fort Ticonderoga. -
World War I Begins
WWI brings the widesapread use of chemical warfare as well as a plot by the German military to spread anthrax and glanders among the allied forces in Europe through innoculated cattle and horses. -
Chemical Warfare in WWI leads to Geneva Protocol
The Geneva Protocol prohibits the use of biological or chemical weapons in warfare, but does not ban the research or production of these agents. Every world power ratifies the protocol except the US and Japan. -
Japan experiments with Biological agents on local populations in Manchuria
From the 1930's through 1940's Japan experiments with biological agents and uses biological weapons in China and Manchuria. -
Russian forces use Tularemia agains Germans
The Soviet troops deployed Tularemia as a Bioweapon against advancing German troops halting the Germans near Stalingrad. -
The first Russian Smallpox factory opens
The first smallpox weapons factory in the Soviet Union was established in 1947 in the city of Zagorsk, close to Moscow.[3] It was produced by injecting small amounts of the virus into chicken eggs. -
Entire US stock of Biological weapons destroyed
Entire US stock of Biological weapons destroyed except for smaples for defense purposes. -
Industrial scale production of Smallpox begins in Russia
A production line to manufacture smallpox on an industrial scale was launched in the Vector Institute in 1990.[3] The development of genetically altered strains of smallpox was presumably conducted in the Institute under the leadership of Dr. Sergei Netyosov in the mid-1990s -
The Biological Weapons Convention Signed
The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the production of an entire category of weapons. -
Nixon announces a new National policy on Bioweapons at Ft. Detrick MD
President Richard Nixon announces a new national policy on biowarfare: "The U.S. shall renounce the use of lethal biological agents and weapons, and all other methods of biological research." Nixon pledges the nation will never use biological weapons under any circumstances. The entire U.S. arsenal is destroyed by 1973, except for seed stocks held for research purposes.
