The Bronze Age Collapse

Within about 50 years the connected world of the great powers fell apart. Hattusa, Ugarit and the Mycenaean palaces were burned; Egypt and Babylon were badly weakened.

There was no single cause. Drought and famine, earthquakes, revolts, broken trade routes and raiders known as the Sea Peoples hit at the same time, and each failure made the others worse.

From the ruins came a different world: iron instead of bronze, small kingdoms such as Israel and the Phoenician cities, and the alphabet.