Siege of Caffa

Siege of Caffa
	Part of Genoese–Mongol Wars
	; The remains of a Genoese fortress in Feodosia
Date	1345–1347
Location	Caffa, Crimea45°01′N 35°13′E / 45.02°N 35.22°E
Result	Indecisive
Belligerents
Republic of Genoa	Golden Horde
Commanders and leaders
Simone Boccanegra (1345); Giovanni I di Murta (1345–47)	Jani Beg
Strength
Several thousand	Several thousand
Casualties and losses
Several thousand	Several thousand

The Siege of Caffa was a 14th century battle between Jani Beg's Golden Horde army and the city of Caffa, today Feodosia. The city was then part of Gazaria, a group of seven ports located in Crimea and belonging to the maritime empire of the Republic of Genoa.

After two years of siege, the Mongol armies were forced to withdraw after being decimated by the Black Death, which also infected the Genoese when Jani Beg had plague-ridden corpses thrown over the city walls. Following what is considered one of the earliest acts of biological warfare,^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] the epidemic quickly spread to Caffa and forced the Genoese to also abandon the city after the siege was lifted by the Mongols.

The dispersal of Italian merchants in the Mediterranean, carrying with them flea-infested rats, caused the second plague pandemic in Europe.^[1]^[6]^[7]

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

^ ^a ^b Wheelis, Mark (2002). "Biological Warfare at the 1346 Siege of Caffa". Emerging Infectious Diseases. 8 (9): 971–975. doi:10.3201/eid0809.010536. PMC 2732530. PMID 12194776. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ "Decameron Web | Plague". www.brown.edu.
^ Weapons of Mass Destruction: Nuclear weapons. ABC-CLIO. 2005. p. 173. ISBN 978-1-85109-490-5.
^ Pommerville, Jeffrey C. (2014). Fundamentals of Microbiology. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. p. 390. ISBN 978-1-4496-4796-4.
^ Termanini, Rocky (18 August 2020). Storing Digital Binary Data in Cellular DNA: The New Paradigm. Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-12-823458-7.
^ "de Mussi and the Siege of Caffa: Origin of a Biological Warfare Allegation - The Trench - Jean Pascal Zanders". JPZanders. 19 December 2021.
^ Frankopan, Peter. The Silk Roads. p. 183.

[b-4] Wheelis, Mark (2002). "Biological Warfare at the 1346 Siege of Caffa". Emerging Infectious Diseases. 8 (9): 971–975. doi:10.3201/eid0809.010536. PMC 2732530. PMID 12194776. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

[de-5] "Decameron Web | Plague". www.brown.edu.

[mass-6] Weapons of Mass Destruction: Nuclear weapons. ABC-CLIO. 2005. p. 173. ISBN 978-1-85109-490-5.

[7] Pommerville, Jeffrey C. (2014). Fundamentals of Microbiology. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. p. 390. ISBN 978-1-4496-4796-4.

[8] Termanini, Rocky (18 August 2020). Storing Digital Binary Data in Cellular DNA: The New Paradigm. Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-12-823458-7.

[9] "de Mussi and the Siege of Caffa: Origin of a Biological Warfare Allegation - The Trench - Jean Pascal Zanders". JPZanders. 19 December 2021.

[10] Frankopan, Peter. The Silk Roads. p. 183.

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