The Super Summary of World History - Alan Dale Daniel [22]
Thus, in Mesopotamia, we have the rise and fall of numerous empires. King after king, and empire after empire, conquered, grew wealthy, and then grew weak, eventually becoming the conquered. This cycle continues even today, on both a local and worldwide scale. Will governments always continue in this fashion?
The Bronze Age Collapse
In approximately 1200 BC, there was a widespread collapse of eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age civilizations. This collapse threw the eastern Mediterranean world into a Dark Age, and it took hundreds of years to recover. The shattered empires include the Minoan civilization on Crete, cities around the coast of Turkey, the Hittites of inland Turkey, and civilizations along the Palestinian coast. Their protective walls fell, the interior structures collapsed and burned, plus the population of the area decreased rather substantially. Egypt repelled a mighty invasion; however, the conflict substantially weakened the kingdom. Some scholars believe a physical disaster struck the area and destroyed these sophisticated civilizations. The massive super-eruption of the island of Thira may have caused the destruction of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete about 1450 BC; although others think the Dark Age came due to invasions launched in 1200 BC by a mysterious Iron Age group named the “Peoples of the Sea.” Warriors with iron weapons could have easily defeated opponents wielding bronze weapons. The evidence for invasion comes from the extension and heightening of walls protecting cities in the area almost simultaneously with the rise of problems. The cities fell after the walls were improved, which implies some warning of an invasion and an attempt to prepare. In Egypt, the Pharaoh and his advisors decided to meet the invader at sea. This change in strategy may have saved the Egyptians, who won a significant naval victory by destroying the invading force before it landed. Whether or not these invaders were the same “Peoples of the Sea” or “Sea Peoples” described by others is unknown; however, the Egyptians repelled the invaders after cities around the Mediterranean fell in sequence from Crete, to Turkey, and then Palestine, leading to speculation the invaders proceeded around the northern and eastern Mediterranean before descending on Egypt. In addition, after the Egyptian victory the Peoples of the Sea disappear from history.
Apparently, the marauders did not care to settle in or near the cities they sacked.[18] The invaders appeared, destroyed, and then disappeared. It is possible that natural disasters contributed to the fall of the ancient Bronze Age cities, but the extension and heightening of the city walls indicates the disasters were manmade. More research may turn up better evidence, but for now, this inexplicable collapse of the high Bronze Age civilizations of the eastern Mediterranean remains a tantalizing enigma. Some authors hold the “invasion” was actually a great migration from the Black Sea and Caspian Sea area, rather than an invasion coming from the west to the east.[19]
Here we should note the importance of great migrations of peoples. The mystifying Bronze Age collapse could be the result of mass migrations from central Europe, most of which were Indo-European stock carrying iron weapons. We cannot know for certain. About 1300 BC, Iron Age peoples of the “Urnfield Culture”[20] were expanding out of their original territory in central Europe, leading some scholars to think this migration resulted in the Mediterranean problems. Dates can be most uncertain in ancient history. Other great migrations taking place throughout history influenced civilization in remarkable ways. In fact, there is an ongoing debate about which has more historical importance, the rise of large cities and empires, or the mass migrations