The honeybee has a long history of being dragged into the wars that humans fight.  They have been used as weapons – in sieges (in attack and defence), on ships and on the battlefield.  Their honey has been used to poison opponents or, as mead, to stupefy them.  Their brains and flying skills are being copied by DARPA and others in the development of micro-air vehicles for reconnaisance and for killing.

It’s a fascinating subject.  I recently gave a lecture on the topic at the Irish Beekeeping summer school in Gormanston, Co. Meath.  For those who want more information, here are some of the more useful references:

• A good book on the subject:  http://www.amazon.com/Greek-Poison-Arrows-Scorpion-Bombs/dp/158567348X
• Good overall article with references http://www.beekeeping.com/articles/us/war_bees.htm
• Poisonous laurel honey USA www.biodiversitylibrary.org/title/17323#page/29/mode/1up
• St. Olga of Kiev http://everyhistory.org/900-999-7.html
• Good summary Conrad Berube http://www.beekeeping.com/articles/us/war_bees.htm
• Tatars massacred after eating mad honey http://www.diggingsonline.com/pages/rese/arts/other/2012/xenohoney.htm
• Source of many historical articles: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/HistoricalHoneybeeArticles/
• Solid references here http://laudatortemporisacti.blogspot.ie/2008/01/beeological-warfare.html
• Alexander the Great embalmed in honey https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=g0oZAAAAYAAJ&rdid=book-g0oZAAAAYAAJ&rdot=1 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great#After_death
• Sieges: http://academia.edu/966648/Mad_Honey_ (free registration required)
• Use of bee hive bombs at sea http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/academic/agriculture/entomology/beekeeping/general/bees_history/bee_war.txt
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3231547/ Mad-Honey (mis)use by a Married Couple
• www.rhodoniagara.org/954.pdf about mad honey effects
• Deli Bal http://www.todayszaman.com/news-185658-mad-honey-of-the-black-sea.html
• First-hand experience of Deli Bal http://inspiredbeeing.com/2011/08/01/marching-into-history-with-black-sea-crazy-honey/
• http://io9.com/5969664/how-weve-used-bees-to-poison-people-++-and-get-high
• USA Confederate soldiers http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/title/17323#page/29/mode/1up
• King Henry 1 hurling beehives: http://www.labtimes.org/labtimes/issues/lt2009/lt04/lt_2009_04_58_59.pdf
• Siege of Acre by Richard Lionheart – hurling beehives http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/crusadesproject/richard.htm
• Bees in US War of Independence http://www.harbormastershouse.com/history/war-of-1812/
• Bees as messengers: here http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2359867
• Micro air vehicles http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/02/26/honey_i_shrunk_the_surveillance/
• Robobees  https://robobees.seas.harvard.edu/
• MAV usage video from 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5YkQ9w3PJ4
• Green brain project univ Sheffield http://greenbrain.group.shef.ac.uk/
• Asmat spear http://www.primitivedestinations.com/spears/item/58-kss2012sp.html
• Battle of Tanga “Battle of the bees” http://books.google.ie/books?id=qBN37o3GMeQC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
• Bees in WW2 in UK:  http://www.bbka.org.uk/local/hexham/bm~doc/hbka-history.pdf and http://books.google.ie/books?id=RQtSPq2h2skC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
• WW2 US newspaper article on bee products in wartime: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19441117&id=DTIdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GiMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5531,917562
• WW2 Disney insignia http://2719hyperion.blogspot.ie/p/service-with-character-disney-world-war.html
• Captive Drones BKA http://barbedwire.beepworld.de/backtoschool.htm and http://www.shropshirebees.co.uk/january2010.htm
• Honeybee conditioning http://abidhussaini.com/info/research/phd/project-1/honeybee-conditioning
• Use of bees to detect explosives http://www.inscentinel.com/
• DARPA HI-MEMS project: http://www.biotele.com/robomoth.html

If you have questions or comments, please contact me.