The Bronze Age Collapse - III: Fire and Sword - Extra History

Bill Lemmond

I was wondering if there were volcanic weather changes involved. I think I recall, from somewhere, that the Mongols started migrating after an eruption in Indonesia affected the lands that had been good enough for them.

David Burdon

I've being meaning to go back and watch that series actually but project stuff is hardcore right now. Now correct me if I'm wrong in remembering that the opposing force was caught unaware by the eruption? Usually, volcanic eruptions come with a lot of forewarning that the local population of the islands would know quite well. Then again, no eruption is ever the same. There have being cases of rapid, surprising eruptions before

Extra History

We're gonna talk about the resilience of human societies in the face of disaster pretty much head-on in Episode 4, so I hope you enjoy that one!

Extra History

Consider me educated, thank you Richard! And Djecker is indeed a cool name. -Soraya

Extra History

Thanks Dani! Connor, hope that resource was helpful for you. :)

Extra History

You must have enjoyed Kamehameha, when a battle turned because a volcano erupted. ;)

Christina Maria Jessen

The Black Death didn't cause that. Political systems remained intact enough that the Hundred Year War ground on, Valdemar Atterdag kept up his business of paying off his father's debts and restoring control over Denmark, Sweden had a civil war over the crown just fine and in general all the major kingdoms, duchies and principalities of Europe kept existing. Economically there was a period of chaos, then the peasantry had a period of good years economically as there was plenty of land to go around, but the economy certainly didn't collapse. Record-keeping and similar weren't challenged either and social movements continued unabated. If anything, it's a sign of the rsilience of human societies in the face of disaster.

Jason Youngberg

I agree that it was a famine that started things. You remove the food producers and everything else goes crashing down. The Plague, centuries later, had a similar effect in Europe.

Jonathan Luoto

The problem in the whole Bronze Age collapse thing is that loads of bad stuff seem to happen in roughly the same time, and it's really hard to say what causes what. Were there drought? Yes. Were there starvation? yes. Were there earhtquakes? yes. Were there disease? Seems so. Were there rebellions? Probably Were there outside raiders and invaders? Probably that too. So we have all these things going on, but piecing together all those pieces and how they fit together is the real challenge.

Jonathan Luoto

Oh yes, let's stage a good old chariot battle!

Dani McKenzie

A good summary is here: <a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/history-beginnings/ancient-india/a/the-indus-river-valley-civilizations" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/history-beginnings/ancient-india/a/the-indus-river-valley-civilizations</a>

Richard Fejdasz

So, at least in regards to the Sea Peoples, we know at least one of them was in the region pre-collapse: The Sherden. Under Ramses II the Egyptians captured a large Sherden pirate fleet on land and, being some what impressed by their attitude and unorthodox fighting tactics, Ramses took them into his army and trusted them enough to make them part of his personal guard. They reportedly gave a good account of themselves at Kadesh when Ramsey Rams got his command post overrun. I know the names of four groups off the top of my head: Sherden, Peliseti, Djecker and Danu; Sherden because they are cool looking Egyptian Royal Guards, Peliseti because they likely became the Philistines who are the baddies for much of the "fun" part of the central book of my faith, Djecker because they have a really cool name, and Danu because their name is weirdly similar to the Dardanians of Homer and the Hebrew Danites.

Platus

Lovely! Thank you.

Connor Raikes

How connected were the Bronze Age civilizations of the Near East with the Indus River Valley Civilization? Did the Indus Civilization collapse with the other Near East powers or did it decline separately?

David Burdon

I'm an MSc in Geological and Environmental Hazards but I also have a huge love of history. Seeing my two interests come together in terms of seismic/volcanic processes influencing historical changes. Now that is my bag

David Burdon

<a href="http://www.cracked.com/video_20229_why-231-fact-military-history-lie.html" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.cracked.com/video_20229_why-231-fact-military-history-lie.html</a>

Extra History

Doesn't seem crackpot to me. It's all about making arguments you can support with evidence!

Extra History

So we should stage a bronze age battle recreation is what you're saying...

Extra History

Glad it gave you food for thought!

Extra History

I'm pretty sure we, modern day historians, gave them the name sea people because we didn't know where else to identify their origins. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but if that's the case, then I wouldn't look too deeply for clues in the name itself!

Extra History

Yessssssss! That's the best thing we could hear. Happy researching!

Extra History

I (Soraya) did not write this series, but I enjoyed this book on the subject: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/1177-B-C-Year-Civilization-Collapsed/dp/1491581433" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/1177-B-C-Year-Civilization-Collapsed/dp/1491581433</a>

Extra History

Glad you're enjoying it!

Extra History

What Parker said. ;)

Extra History

It's an old meme but it checks out.

Extra History

Glad you enjoyed it!

Extra History

Does it wind up being relevant to saving them?

Extra History

Four! We're almost there.

Extra History

Memes so good they transcend series!

Extra History

Not yet! They're on my rainy day watchlist, but there's been a lot of good League of Legends matches to watch lately so I haven't touched the list for a while. ;D

Parker

True but it wouldn't be a rule if there wasn't an exception.

Parker

So here is my crackpot theory on the events of the Bronze Age Collapse. Feel free to prove me wrong. First came the drought. Peasants started moving away, costing the Kingdoms with not enough money to pay their mercenaries that were hired to fight in never end wars. The mercenaries companies quite the front lines and were even willing to turn traitor if they got what was promised to them to no avail. Angry with the Kingdoms, the mercenaries packed their bags and sailed far to the west (maybe to the Italian peninsula) and enformed the local chiefs of the event in the Eastern Mediterranean. The chiefs saw this and their new holy (iron) weapons as a sign from the gods that this was their moment, not for conquest, but for glory. By the time the chiefs made it to the Kingdoms, the situation was worse than the mercenaries left it due to the vicious death spiral that happens when a highly centralized government loses power. Like stealing candy from a baby.

Porcupine

Vigorous academic debate (using period-accurate weaponry) sounds like a totally legit form of seeking consensus... :)

David Burdon

The invasion of the sea-people really reminded me of the invasion of Lindisfarne. Could they have invaded under similar circumstances and motivations as the Vikings did later on in history? Furthermore, did the ash clouds affecting crop growth affect the sea people too? Probably. A large eruption in one part of the Med can affect the entire area surrounding it easily. Could the sea-people have being forced to invade due to famine and lack of resources in their part of the world? All in all, a great episode

Joo-Hwan Jun

Since the word 'people' is in the name, could it be possible that the Sea People was an alliance of all the sea-faring groups in the region? Another possibility (although I may be ripping it out of One Piece) is that because the Bronze Age was SO prosperous, it became a prototype for the Age of the Pirates.

Tammy Spiller

I just want to share that I am really enjoying this series, and I've been spending my own time after watching the videos to conduct further research. There's nothing like a good mystery to sink your teeth into. :) Thumbs up and keep up the excellent work.

Platus

This is wonderful, and I'd like to learn more. Can anyone suggest good books?

Yuval Bar

Very interesting

Pavel Yakushevich

"Never invade Russia, this doesn't seem to work" Two words: Golden Horde. Genghis Khan subdued Russian kingdoms back in the day, and they were paying tribute for something like 300 years.

Michael Jebbett

Extra Credits doesn't care about Sea People.

Martin Ockovsky

Absolutely amazing. Thank you

It's funny that you mentioned the theory of the Sea Peoples stealing iron weapons from the Hittites, but that brings up a question: why didn't you mention their knowledge of ironworking when you sized up the three major powers in the first episode?

schuyler

grate job how many ep are there going to be?

Benjamin

<a href="https://youtu.be/Lp6iqzeA2pQ?t=3s" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/Lp6iqzeA2pQ?t=3s</a>

Michael Waisfeld

Unless you're the mongols

Martin Verran

For the Benefit of any Sheep who may be watching I will now endeavour to Translate: Baaaaaaaaah!! Baaaaaaaaaahh!! Baaaaaaaaaaah!! Baaaaaaaaaah!! Baaaaaaaaaah! Baaaaaaaah!! Baaaaaaaaaaahh!! [Well you get the idea.] Baaaaaaaaahh!! P.S: Did you have a Watch of the YouTube Links I posted in Episode 1 of this Series?