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For most of its history, however, biological warfare has not had to take these niceties into account. Early examples of biowarfare indicate that biowarriors were highly opportunistic in their use of biological agents. A typical story of this sort is that of the siege of Caffa (what is now Fedosia, Ukraine). In 1346, or so the story goes, Muslims laid siege to the city which was held by Christian defenders. Midway through the siege, bubonic plague broke out. Although the plague was a completely new and unknown disease, the invaders seized the opportunity presented by the disease and began to catapult their dead over the city walls into Caffa, hoping to infect its inhabitants. The disease spread quickly and forced the fall of the city.

As a story, the siege of Caffa presents all of the elements of biological warfare which would characterize the use of these weapons until the twentieth century. Warriors use an existing epidemic to launch their attack; their use of this weapon is perceived as being slightly underhand (you'll notice that those who employ these weapons are Muslim); the use of this type of warfare results in havoc among not just the military but also the civilian population and finally, this warfare requires no real investment in terms of either manpower or military weapons. The siege of Caffa is a perfect example of the power and the limitations of pre-nineteenth century biological warfare-a perfect example because the story was probably manufactured by Christian chroniclers.⁵ But while the story of Caffa is not true, its repeated telling (even in today's press) tells us a great deal about the ways in which we view biowarfare.⁶ At the most basic level, this seven hundred year old story reminds us of the power of the microbe---cheap, easy to employ and guaranteed to break both military and civilian opposition, biological weapons have and always will have a strong lure. For scientists and laypeople alike, these weapons are the monster in the closet-a threat which may or may not exist and a threat, which if it does exist, is often hidden in the dark. Separating the truth from the myths and determining the extent of this threat is not always possible.

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