They blame "blankets" for spreading the diseases, and what is a common requirement for ridding a horse? It think we can reasonably extrapolate that horses accelerated the spread, as they also allowed a much faster form of travel and therefore trade than they had access to prior.
"They" claim our government deliberately gave Indians blankets contaminated with small pox. Before germ theory was discovered.
Does not check out.
Why would they need to understand germ theory to know that corpses are associated with disease? The Golden Horde and other armies throughout medieval history (and previously?) lobbed disease-ridden corpses into besieged castles and fortifications in order to worsen the situation of the besieged. And well-poisoners and poisoners are well-known from ancient times as far as I know.
Europeans hurled cows that died of disease over castle walls during siege. Imagine how much easier it would have been to infect something smaller with the disease and hurl that instead.
They didn't.
Same concept. A blanket is not a corpse. Nobody deliberately spread small pox by blanket to Indians. Small pox spread WAY before the alleged events took place.
The notion should never have been in a history book.
Imagine how much easier it would have been to infect something smaller with the disease and hurl that instead.
Hmmmmm... I wonder whether a smaller animal would have had the mass or density if you sought to hurl or lob something that small over long distances and heights. Would the wind have caught it or wind resistance slow it down? Though I am not a ballistics or physics expert.
Nobody deliberately spread small pox by blanket to Indians. Small pox spread WAY before the alleged events took place.
I can easily imagine you being full correct about this, though I am not certain. But I am still not convinced about lack of knowledge being the reason for it. Your argument that small pox was very good at spreading by itself seems like a much, much better argument to me, and that might very well be what happened. Small pox was a highly contagious disease as far as I can tell, after all, before small pox was eradicated.
They blame "blankets" for spreading the diseases, and what is a common requirement for ridding a horse? It think we can reasonably extrapolate that horses accelerated the spread, as they also allowed a much faster form of travel and therefore trade than they had access to prior.
"They" claim our government deliberately gave Indians blankets contaminated with small pox. Before germ theory was discovered.
Does not check out.
Also, Indians rode bareback. Blankets are a hoax. Except for one time a Jesuit distributed some.
Why would they need to understand germ theory to know that corpses are associated with disease? The Golden Horde and other armies throughout medieval history (and previously?) lobbed disease-ridden corpses into besieged castles and fortifications in order to worsen the situation of the besieged. And well-poisoners and poisoners are well-known from ancient times as far as I know.
Europeans hurled cows that died of disease over castle walls during siege. Imagine how much easier it would have been to infect something smaller with the disease and hurl that instead.
They didn't.
Same concept. A blanket is not a corpse. Nobody deliberately spread small pox by blanket to Indians. Small pox spread WAY before the alleged events took place.
The notion should never have been in a history book.
Hmmmmm... I wonder whether a smaller animal would have had the mass or density if you sought to hurl or lob something that small over long distances and heights. Would the wind have caught it or wind resistance slow it down? Though I am not a ballistics or physics expert.
I can easily imagine you being full correct about this, though I am not certain. But I am still not convinced about lack of knowledge being the reason for it. Your argument that small pox was very good at spreading by itself seems like a much, much better argument to me, and that might very well be what happened. Small pox was a highly contagious disease as far as I can tell, after all, before small pox was eradicated.