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2007-07-18 14:18:38 · 16 answers · asked by moltogroovy 1 in Arts & Humanities History

16 answers

If you believe in the bible, it would be Joshua at the walls of Jericho, he brought them down through vibrations from the horns they blew.
More likely, Archimedes with his polished and focused shields that set the enemy fleet';s sails on fire by focusing the sun's heat.

2007-07-18 14:23:03 · answer #1 · answered by Oldvet 4 · 1 3

Well, one could say the atomic bombs which were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War Two. They inflicted maybe 200,000 deaths and also truly caused destruction, not just death, on a massive scale. However, that might not be strictly true. The strategic bombing campaigns against Germany and Japan in the same war did not use non-conventional weapons like WMDs, yet still managed to virtually obliterate cities like Dresden and Tokyo. Also, if you take a weapon such as the sword and add up every single death ever caused by the weapon, the number would far surpass the number of casualties of WMDs.
In my opinion, the introduction of disease to Native American populations has to count as the first devastating use of non-conventional weapons.

So the A-bomb was the first example of a WMD in the modern sense, but humans have always been figuring out new and more destructive ways to kill each other and have quite successful.

2007-07-18 16:33:27 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0 3

A common practice during siege was to send deceased body parts into the fortification to spread and encourage disease. This also had a certain psychological effect-especially if the bodies came from local people. By waiting until the corpses began to rot, you could spread cholera and other related diseases. The parts had to be handled to be disposed of and as many didn't wash their hands following this-the spread of disease was far more likely. Spreading infection was very common throughout history, for example, the English used infected goods to decimate Scottish and Irish populations-this predated infected blankets to the Native Americans by several decades. Other related practices have been found throughout history. Fire was also commonly used as a weapon-problem was that it was unreliable.

2007-07-18 16:20:11 · answer #3 · answered by mcdomnhal 3 · 2 2

The Black Death was instigated by the Mogols in 1340s fighting the Genoese in the Crimean as means of getting them out of the region. It spread from there throughout Europe killing half of its population!

2007-07-19 10:04:53 · answer #4 · answered by ionikon 1 · 0 2

The catapult or ballista used in ancient warefare were the WMDs of their day. Siege towers were like giant tanks that could destroy city walls.

Catapult:
http://www.fossweb.com/resources/pictures/589813144.html

Ballista:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ballista.gif

Siege Tower:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seige_tower


.

2007-07-18 15:18:29 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2 2

A| mastodon with a nuclear warhead strapped to his trunk.

But seriously, I guess when primitive man first used fire as a means to burn out his enemies.

2007-07-18 14:23:00 · answer #6 · answered by Eukodol 4 · 0 2

i m sorry, but i cannot agree with previous answers mentioning mostly some siege/artillery weapons which would be present day a howitzer for example ...which is not exactly a wmd (atomic, bio ,chemical weapons)


- infected blankets issued to native americans maybe ...

- poison gas used in ww1

2007-07-18 15:52:18 · answer #7 · answered by solarsystemsurfer2005 2 · 1 4

One person above came the closest....hurtling severed heads and diseased bodies via catapults into besieged fortresses.....

2007-07-18 17:47:27 · answer #8 · answered by Its not me Its u 7 · 0 2

Europeans introducing foreign germs to native Americans? That's at least the 1st on this continent.

2007-07-18 14:27:23 · answer #9 · answered by Raina 4 · 0 4

One of Eve's raunchy apple farts. Poor thing wasn't used to the fiber.

2007-07-18 15:06:01 · answer #10 · answered by angrycelt 3 · 2 3

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