What caused the Bronze Age collapse? #shorts

[ragoth]

Honestly need more fantasies that are based on this reality

[EricDaMAJ]

Based on my research for my college paper some years ago it seems likely “The Sea Peoples” were Greek. They lived in small kingdoms isolated by Greece’s rough terrain.

It seems a famine combined with migrating tribes moving out of the north put enormous pressure on them. Their isolation and lack of roads meant one kingdom couldn’t support another readily. This provided a domino effect where each kingdom’s people fled to another kingdom moving south to the sea and took to it in ships. They invaded multiple nations by sea including the Egyptian and Hittite Empires.

The Egyptians beat them off at great cost but were never the same afterwards. The Hittite Empire may have been utterly destroyed by them. At least at the time of my research the last recovered Hittite records stated their monarch was marching out with his army to meet invaders from the sea. Ominously there was nothing more. The destruction proved so complete and combined with the gulf of time scholars weren’t aware the Hittites were an actual empire until the 19th century.

But who knows. Recent discoveries may completely disprove all that. Maybe it was aliens.

[phillylove]

I like how China just lived through this period and was like "nah, where in our own historical timeline"

[adambarrow]

Had not heard about the tin mines potentially being a factor.

[maddiepaige]

"Sometime between "x" and "y" things just seemed to go to shit." - Yeah, we do that a lot, don't we?

[therealdarklizzy]

This is precisely laid out in the Illiad and Odyssey. Following the Trojan War, Odysseus and his men wander around the Mediterranean for years. I've even heard of one instance where Odysseus reportedly fought as a mercenary for the Egyptian Pharaoh, but I don't recall the source. We often think of these stories as myth, but the description of historical events, combined with mythic genealogy, and archeology all point to a large cataclysm like the Trojan War. Hittite records mention the 'Ahhiyawa, ' believed to be the Acheans, a.k.a Mycenean Greeks. They mention a king whose name corresponds to a mythical king of Thebes, I believe, who lived a generation or two before the Trojan War. Archeological evidence shows evidence of multiple sacking of that same city only a few decades before the widely accepted sack of historical Troy/Hisarlik around 1180 BC. The Hittite records even mention an Anatolian, possibly Trojan royal called 'Aleksandu.' Alexander was another name for either Paris or Priam, I don't remember which one. According to historians, the most likely date for the sack of Troy is 1180 BC, only 400-500 years before Homer. I think we need to accept that these legends may represent some historical truths.

[vaynevalerius]

My favourite theory is that of Total systems collapse. Again a combination of factors that lead to the destruction of the systems that kept the societies functional/operational. These were heavily authoritarian states that relied on the systems in place just to function. These systems were often intertwined so if one system began to falter, it would take others with it. Some of these systems just for example were;
- Central planning, deciding what, where and when the peasants would grow.
- "Global" trade networks that if disrupted would have major consequences on militaries, civilian quality of life etc
- An educated scribe class, which was expensive. If this class suffered so did everyone. They decided the crops etc
- Expensive chariot militaries which were irreplaceable due to the craftsmanship and the riders themselves - usually nobility who were educated

[erossenpai]

An evil sorcerer rose to take over the world.
He was eventually defeated by unsung heroes but not before causing huge society destabilization.
Thus the bronze age was brought to an end.

-me, probably

[frostedfur]

Do one on the Uranium Mine at Great Bear Lake NWT. Local legend states it was used in the bombs dropped on Japan

[Georgieastra]

Two important developments occurred at this time:

Iron was first produced in small but significant quantities... prior to this there were a few high value items made out of meteoric iron but the first iron ore processing occurred at this time in what is now eastern Turkiye and northern Iraq.
This extremely useful technology spread rapidly East West South and North. Cheap iron nails were a huge game changer allowing people to build bigger better and more sea worthy ships which could be used for raiding against societies that had yet to adapt to the new reality.

Horses had been domesticated for 2, 000 years but they were only used to pull carts and chariots. It's at this time that we first see pictures on pottery and walls of people actually riding on horseback and we find evidence of things like specialist riding gear like saddles. Again the horsemen like the sea raiders are far more mobile than their opponents and they can cause havoc and disruption.

[Stoffies]

Hey Stakuyi! Can you please make a video about The Battle of Bloodriver / Die Slag van Bloedrivier

[Willothemask]

Probably my favourite fact about the Bronze Age Collapse is that the Hittite Empire, a well established nation with cities and writing and culture and palaces and armies, got wiped out SO HARD that the only evidence we had they even existed were references to them in the Bible. People thought they were just made up. Until the Hittite ruins began to be found in the 1930s.
THAT is how devastating the Bronze Age Collapse was. We almost went back to cavemen times.

[chris]

Something I have wondered along these lines is: How did the ancient civilization find deep metal deposits? Did they look for scraps in streams and dig nearby? What methods did they have to reliably find deposits large enough to fuel an army?

[Reaverisgrovy]

Think you could talk about H.H. Holmes and his Murder Castle™️?
Been reading up on this guy and dude was terrifying!

[jasoncaldwell]

Bronze Age TIN MINE:
"You'll never take me alive, copper!"

[stuartwhelan]

I do enjoy your shorts. Keep up the good work.

[compatriot]

I've heard of theories linking the fall of Troy to the Bronze age collapse as large amount of casualties/destruction, broken trade routes, and dead monarchs/sucession crisises resulted in a domino effect for the rest of the world with Greek sea people being previously soldiers having to resort to raiding

[gornser]

Just think what one ship being stuck did to our economy. Bronze age was very connected and dependent on trade

[EarnestWilliamsGeofferic]

Your 'personal' theory being the predominant theory is ... fascinating.

[juderielly]

Me about to release my ADHD creativity to write a book about the wildest possible versions of this event