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“ The arms are fair when the intent for bearing them is just. ” Shakespeare - Henry IV

“ The arms are fair when the intent for bearing them is just. ” Shakespeare - Henry IV. Pests, Plagues & Politics Lecture 21 INSECTS AND WARFARE. Key Points: Insects and the principles of warfare

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“ The arms are fair when the intent for bearing them is just. ” Shakespeare - Henry IV

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  1. “The arms are fair when the intent for bearing them is just.” Shakespeare - Henry IV Pests, Plagues & Politics Lecture 21 INSECTS AND WARFARE

  2. Key Points: • Insects and the principles of warfare • Which principles used by insects in general and social insects in particular influenced warfare • What principle do bee-boles make use of? • In the Vietnam War: Cu Chi, what principle resulted was used against US troops. • In which way did the hessian fly undermine the Americans in the revolutionary war?

  3. There’s even a book on the subject

  4. Insects and Principles of Warfare A long history: >10,000 years • *“…insects in general and social insects in particular, • with their spears (stings), (weapons) • chemical poisons (venoms), (bombs, poisons) • and the apparent discipline of their social existence, • have served as models for man to emulate in his • development of the art of warfare.“ • J.T. Ambrose (1974) in the journal ARMY

  5. HYMENOPTERA(membranous wing) • The bees, wasps & ants • The STINGING insects • The leading cause of ENTOMOPHOBIA • for good reasons = venomous • Venom • complex with large inter-generic differences • mostly proteinaceous & almost always ALGOGENIC – producing pain • Wasps & Ants: food gathering & defense • Bees: defense only

  6. Qualifications of social insects as weapons • Social • lots of individuals in a compact space • the original “cluster bomb” • Irony: Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 - Israel charged with an illegal use of American supplied cluster bombs. • Ha!! The Tribes of Israel were using biologic “cluster bombs” thousands of years earlier!!

  7. Living with insects

  8. Merrily we grow along, grow along…………….

  9. Feed me, feed me

  10. BIBLICAL REFERENCES • Exodus 23:28 “And I will send HORNETS before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, Canaanite, the Hittite, from before thee.” • Deut. 7:20 “Moreover the Lord thy God will send the HORNET among them until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.”

  11. BIBLICAL REFERENCES, cont. • Josh. 24:12 “And I send the HORNET before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with thy sword nor with thy bow” [“…it would only be reasonable to regard these (biblical) narratives as excellent illustrations of the early form of biological warfare.”E. Newfeld]

  12. Chinese bee nests

  13. Honey Bees as bio-warfare: Medieval Europe

  14. Bee boles in an English castle wall

  15. Honey Bees and the U.S. Civil War • The battle of Antietam/Sharpsburg • Antietam; a small creek • Sharpsburg; a small town in western Maryland • Time: September of 1862 • Situation: A Confederate army had crossed into Maryland and was poised for a strike north: Pennsylvania, or worse, Washington, D.C.

  16. Honey Bees and the U.S. Civil War • Troops • Union: 87,000 • Confederate: 25,000, later reinforced to 40,000 • The Battle • Produced the greatest number of casualties of any Civil War battle (4,000 dead; 20,000 wounded. • A near victory for the Union, but indecision & fear prevented a complete victory

  17. Cannon Ball Through the Bee Hives

  18. The Roulette Apiary, AFTER the cannon ball!!!

  19. Hunger games Tracker Jacker: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AYElSbTxYA

  20. American Revolutionary War • HESSIAN FLIES • What’s a Hessian? • Native of the present day state of Hesse in Germany • formerly an independent kingdom/duchy of Germany • In the Revolution, they were mercenary troops hired by the British. • What’s a Hessian Fly? • Order Diptera • family Cecidomyiidae - the gall midges

  21. American Revolutionary War • Hessian flies are pests of wheat • eggs laid in stem of young wheat plant • larval flies feed within the stem, weakening it and ultimately killing the plant. • Hessian troops accused of bringing the fly with them and spreading it about the northeastern colonies to sabotage the food production by the “rebels.”

  22. A Hessian mercenary 30,000 “hired” by the British Ca. 7,000 K.I.A. Ca. 4,500 stayed in America

  23. Cricket Fighting Ancient & Primarily Asia

  24. Key Points: • Insects and the principles of warfare • Which principles used by insects in general and social insects in particular influenced warfare • What principle do bee-boles make use of? • In the Vietnam War: Cu Chi, what principle resulted was used against US troops. • In which way did the hessian fly undermine the Americans in the revolutionary war?

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