The Siege of Caffa: When Biological Warfare Changed World History

In 1346, the Mongol army besieging the Genoese trading city of Caffa in Crimea faced a serious problem - plague was ravaging their camp, killing soldiers by the hundreds. Their solution? Use giant catapults to hurl the infected corpses over the city walls. This act of medieval biological warfare may have accidentally triggered the Black Death pandemic that killed half of Europe.

The defenders watched in horror as diseased bodies rained down into their city. They threw the corpses into the sea as fast as they could, but it was too late - plague broke out inside Caffa's walls. When Genoese merchants fled the city by ship, they carried the disease to Mediterranean ports. Within months, the Black Death was spreading across Europe like wildfire.

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