Gemstones and Minerals and their use in wars and combat

I haven’t actually read a post quite like this before, so I decided to write one. It focusses on two of my favourite subjects; minerals, and military history.

The information in this post is backed up by various sources where possible; given the nature of some of the stories it can be hard to truly verify them, however.

Now – before I write any more, I’d like to point out that a fair few things have been left out of this article, specifically, metals. We have all heard of the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, and the weapons used in those times, which eventually led to steel blades, of which more modern versions are still used in war (and every day life) today.

I have also left out the majority of modern weapons – explosives and other weapons do contain minerals, elements, chemicals, and combinations thereof, but this article is intended to be reasonably specific, and not necessarily an overview of chemistry in weapon manufacture.