The siege is notable as an early instance of biological warfare, with plague-infected corpses reportedly catapulted into Caffa, possibly spreading the Black Death westward.
Key Facts
- Besieger
- Jani Beg of the Golden Horde
- Besieged City
- Caffa (modern Feodosia), Crimea
- Colony Owner
- Republic of Genoa
- Century
- 14th century (1340s)
- Alleged Biological Weapon
- Plague-infested corpses catapulted over walls
- Key Source
- Account by Italian notary Gabriel de Mussis
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Caffa was a prosperous Genoese trading colony in Crimea, part of the maritime network known as Gazaria. Tensions between the Golden Horde and the Genoese colonists led Jani Beg to launch a sustained military campaign to seize the strategically valuable port city during the 1340s.
Jani Beg's forces besieged Caffa across two periods in the 1340s. The Golden Horde employed intense military pressure, but was ultimately forced to withdraw. Before or during the retreat, according to Gabriel de Mussis, the Horde catapulted corpses of plague victims over the city walls in what is considered one of the earliest recorded acts of biological warfare.
Survivors and traders fleeing Caffa are believed to have carried plague westward into the Mediterranean world. This has led historians to identify the siege as a possible vector for the spread of the Black Death into Europe, one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, which killed tens of millions across the continent.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Jani Beg.
Side B
1 belligerent