History of biological warfare

Biological warfare is like when someone tries to use germs and tiny little things to make people sick. People have been using germs and bacteria to fight their enemies for a very long time. Even in ancient times, people would catapult bodies of dead animals or people over the walls of cities to try and make the people inside sick.

One of the most famous stories of biological warfare happened during a war between the Europeans and Native Americans in the 1700s. The Europeans brought with them smallpox, a very dangerous disease that the Native Americans had never been exposed to before. Since they had no immunity to the disease, many of them got sick and died.

In the 1900s, countries started to create labs where they could experiment with different bacteria and viruses to try and make new weapons. During World War II, the Japanese military used biological warfare to kill thousands of Chinese civilians. They released fleas infected with the bubonic plague in several different cities, causing a massive outbreak.

After this, many countries signed a treaty saying that they would not use biological weapons in war. However, some countries have continued to experiment with germs and bacteria in labs and it is still a worry today.