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It started with famine... and ended with four great civilizations' utter destruction. What can we learn from the Bronze Age Collapse?

Reminder: After this episode, Extra History will be taking a short medical leave. We'll be back starting on July 29!

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The Bronze Age Collapse - IV: Systems Collapse - Extra History

It started with famine... and ended with four great civilizations' utter destruction. The Bronze Age Collapse is still a matter of scholarly debate, but our favorite theory rests on an understanding of Systems Collapse and how societies build themselves to survive disaster. Support us on Patreon! http://bit.ly/EHPatreon (--More below) Grab your Extra Credits gear at the store! http://bit.ly/ExtraStore Subscribe for new episodes every Saturday! http://bit.ly/SubToEC _________ Thanks for participating in this week's discussion! We want you to be aware of our community posting guidelines so that we can have high-quality conversations: https://goo.gl/HkzwQh Contribute community subtitles to Extra Credits: http://www.youtube.com/timedtext_cs_panel?c=UCCODtTcd5M1JavPCOr_Uydg&tab=2 ___________ Play games with us on Extra Play! http://bit.ly/WatchEXP Talk to us on Twitter (@ExtraCreditz): http://bit.ly/ECTweet Follow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/ECFBPage Get our list of recommended games on Steam: http://bit.ly/ECCurator ____________ ♪ Get the intro music here! http://bit.ly/1EQA5N7 *Music by Demetori: http://bit.ly/1AaJG4H ♪ Get the outro music here! http://bit.ly/23isQfx *Music by Sean and Dean Kiner: http://bit.ly/1WdBhnm

Comments

Anonymous

This was disappointingly Short for a First Forray into Middle Eastern History, methinks. Let's see what's next on the Schedule...hang on a Minute, the Great Northern War?...uh, oh...

Anonymous

Great series guys! If I might make a suggestion -- since David is taking sick leave and you're looking for a replacement illustrator, why not, instead of taking next week off entirely, use it for James to do the Lies episode for this series?

Anonymous

Listening to this and how civilisations collapse remind me of Richard Feynman's words when he was part of the investigation into the Space Shuttle Colombia's explosion: 'For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled' Hence, I am waiting nervously for the end result of Britain's political shenanigans thus far.

Anonymous

good job really hope dan gets better :)

Anonymous

Great episode - really glad it came back around to drawing comparisons to the current day.

Anonymous

Get to feeling better my dudes!

Jason Youngberg

"Killing each other for their next meal." I'm glad you had a picture of a guy with a sandwich otherwise things would have taken a REALLY dark turn. Do you have a bibliography of sources you used? It sounds like there are some really interesting books I'd like to read on this subject.

Anonymous

Awesome series, thanks for drawing attention to this fascinating piece. I wonder, in your research, did you encounter anything supporting a parallel between the Bronze Age Collapse and the later myths of a hostile sea power referred to as Atlantis in Plato's Timaeus dialog? The stories of ancient Greece and Egypt falling to the waves of invaders from the sea brought that to mind.

Anonymous

2:42 - Was that dark water from the cartoon?

Anonymous

My college history professor said this on the very first day of class and it stuck with me. "Civilizations rise, and civilizations fall. Their rise is never due to some moral superiority or genetic advantage, but more often than not mere chance and circumstance. Their fall is not some great lesson delivered from on high or the wrath of an angry divinity, but rather long term goals being sacrificed for short term gains."

Anonymous

But where do zombies figure into all this? Surely zombies figure into all of this!

Anonymous

Great Northern War is the most promising series for a long time, it has everything that can make a great Extra History series. Speculation series like this when we have little facts are difficult.

Anonymous

Another awesome series. I must admit to having been uninformed about the bronze-age collapse. Not anymore. Quite a baffling event even given James' compelling supposition. The famine theory is pertinent though. Consider this, of the five extinction events we know about, all but one was caused by climate change. Don't mess with Mother Earth or take her for granted!

Porcupine

Well I have a different theory - it was _totally_ subprime mortgages wot dunnit...

Michael Waisfeld

Reminds me of that moment in Shogun 2 Total War (And any of the newer ones really) when u have to destroy production buildings that cause unhappiness because u can't afford the garrisons but now you don't make enough money to pay for the extra troops that you need for a war that another faction just declared on you. In the best of scenarios you manage to scrape together enough money and military might to expand enough to get sufficient extra resources to get back on your feet. In the worst case you start losing cities, and thus resources, and enter a downward spiral from which there is no return but to press "quit to main menu"

Anonymous

theres wallpole.

Anonymous

Hello! Please please please include a bibliography for your videos!

Anonymous

Also, fantastic series. Thank you for making it

ExtraCredits

Would that it were so simple! Neither James nor I could reschedule for that. Lies will be after the one-off episodes come out.

ExtraCredits

Happily I do think we're a bit more stable than we were in the Bronze Age, so a few shakes probably won't take us down. At least we have that!

ExtraCredits

It is David (the artist) but I'll pass on the well wishes! Last I heard he was resting up well, which is exactly what we want him to be able to do.

ExtraCredits

James draws those parallels really well, I gotta say. As someone who's been trying to learn the writing style, this is still an approach I'm not very good at, so it makes me all the more impressed when I see James doing it so well! -Soraya

ExtraCredits

I don't have a bibliography (James wrote the series, and this is Soraya, hi) but I have been reading and enjoying this book which gives a good overview: <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>

ExtraCredits

James did the work on this series but I'll flag it for him and see if it's something he wants to mention in Lies!

ExtraCredits

That's chilling. I think it's correct, but it's a chilling reminder of how conscientious we need to be about safeguarding our own future.

ExtraCredits

I kind of enjoy how many civilization strategy games have kinda nailed this connected infrastructure concept, where so often the collapse of multiple pillars of the society you're building has ripple effects that reach into your other systems as well.

ExtraCredits

Glad you enjoyed it! Adding bibliographies is an ongoing discussion for us; it's not happening this time around but if you're interested in a book I (Soraya) have been reading so I'll be prepared to discuss the subject with James (who wrote this series) during Lies, I recommend this one: <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>

Anonymous

A bibliography would be great!

Anonymous

Looking at this, I think it is great that you guys get involved with the people who support you, that's important. I may have grievances here or there. ((Ahem....d-day ep2)). But you guys do amazing work, and it makes me happy to see someone take history seriously, instead of brushing it off and stuff that just happened. Keep up the great work, you defently have earned my financial support.

ExtraCredits

Thanks so much! We expect disagreements - nobody's perfect, especially not us, and we try to own up to that as best as we can during Lies. But we also try our best to provide a well-reasoned perspective and we hope you enjoy joining us here in the Patreon community!

Bill Lemmond

Thank you for "the lesson for today." You neatly refuted the Luddite path, and pointed out how much better off we are today. But you warn that we shoudn't get complacent. I have a thought. A couple decades ago, on NPR, I heard that Lloyd's of London, hard-headed, no -nonsense business people, had paid out on an insurance policy that had been written to cover crops against loss from global warming. That sould be proof enough for anyone, The remaining honest arguments are over how much warming will there be, when, why, and maybe what to do.