The End of Civilization (In the Bronze Age): Crash Course World History 211 

Plot twist: the sea people were actually underwater archaeologists.

Came from the sea, burned the land and changed everything? Fire Nation =_=

Moral of the Story: Intereconected and interdependant globalized societies based on trade and diplomatic treaties should be wary of the sea people.We should start fearmongering and maybe, just maybe, invade the sea and call it a "preventive invasion". Even if it's the wrong sea

"Singlehordedly" gotta be best word since the bronze age, certainly.

"Might I recommend an American film Transformers: Dark of the Moon?" No, John. You cannot.

I miss crash course world history. I have learned so much from them. Season 3 please.

1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed was a great book.

Sponge Bob invaded Egypt. I'm done.

I love Spongebob, Aquaman, and Admiral Ackbar in the Sea People animation at 5:15 . Finally Aquaman does something bold, and Spongebob is ready to kick some ass!

My professor suggests that famine, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions caused an unstable region that made agricultural production incredibly difficult. To feed oneself, people often formed groups and raided others that were doing more well off (hence the sea people). these raids would displace more people who often would have to resort to raiding themselves for subsistence when governments were weak. It was a vicious cycle.

What History Channel scientists would say for the sea people: ALIENS!!!

Like WWI, it could have been the result of a chain reaction. Droughts and/or earthquake storms weaken civilizations -> Sea People respond by going nomadic and begin supporting themselves via successful raids -> One success against a kingdom weakened by mentioned droughts and/or earthquake storms weakens said kingdom's trading partners -> they fall more easily to Sea People -> With enough kingdoms taken out, whole system of kingdoms collapses.

Nothing raises my level of anxiety quite like Crash Course World History.. Thank you, John Green. Thank you for reminding me that a life altering catastrophe occurring within my lifetime is not only plausible, but likely. Best wishes.

"Single-horde-dly brought down a civilization." Oh John, always making me smile.

“Nation-states like war, city-states like commerce, families like stability, and individuals like entertainment.” - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

I have only just discovered you wonderful series of online films. I wish as a 50 year old man that Mr Green had been my History teacher. I would have become a kickass archeologist, historian or teacher instead of wasting 30 years working in mainstream media. You are insightful, humorous and above all human. Love you all and more power to you. Mike Sampey, Tasmania.

What if the Sea People were actually,... ALIENS. -a History Channel writer

"it is a good idea to be suspicious of a single cause imagining why historical events happened" Great point John!!! History is far too complicated to ever accept a single cause, as the study of history (as I tell my students) is far too plural to accept single causes and single results.

Theory: The 'Sea People' were actually refugees and migrants fleeing unfavorable climatic conditions and the resulting famines and unrest the conditions caused, this irritated by seismic disturbances and 'peasant uprisings' led to various states being unable to fend for themselves, let alone the tide of the refugees and the lack of any consolidated response to this meant that as each civilization fell, they too would join the droves of migrants and refugees seeking respite. It wasn't military decimation, it was economic decimation exacerbated by unfavorable climatic conditions.

I found Spongebob running out to attack ancient civilizations hilarious.

I never trusted Spongebob anyway. He always looked fishy to me.

Maybe sea people was a mistranslation of sea armies which was a way of describing tsunamis.

I've found the Bronze Age collapse very interesting for years but our current crisis (speaking from June 2020 in the United States) has really reignited my interest in the topic anew. I'm a buyer, and so I have an on-the-ground perception of the global supply chain and I'll be honest, I am mildly horrified at how fragile it is. It's unnerving to see how delicate the strings that hold our society up really are.

Wow, watching this in March 2020, with the covid19 situation going on, collapse of economy in a globalized world seems relevant.

In which John Green teaches you about the Bronze Age civilization in what we today call the middle east, and how the vast, interconnected civilization that encompassed Egypt, The Levant, and Mesopotamia came to an end. What's that you say? There was no such civilization? Your word against ours. John will argue that through a complex network of trade and alliances, there was a loosely confederated and relatively continuous civilization in the region. Why it all fell apart was a mystery. Was it the invasion of the Sea People? An earthquake storm? Or just a general collapse, to which complex systems are prone? We'll look into a few of these possibilities. As usual with Crash Course, we may not come up with a definitive answer, but it sure is a lot of fun to think about.

Sorry to be a pain, John. There always appears to be a lack of volume in your recordings, whether this is due to compression of your sound files or your recording equipment I do not know. Great show as always, keep up the good work.

*The FIRE NATION Attacked*

Love that you use Canada as the bubble for "Confederation". :)

This is why it's so important for everybody (not just historians and world leaders) to know about the past. Modern globalization is amazing, but is also a constant threat to global security. Thanks Crash Course team, you are the reason I someday want to become a world historian!

John, as an underwater archaeology student at ECU, thanks for that awesome shout out!

Expectation: Giant transforming cars that turn into robots Reality: *Coronavirus*

Did someone say Crab People?! Oh, you said Sea People? ... Sea People, Sea People, Sea People...

well done and entertaining, thanks alot for the modern historical perspective

Ok, seriously! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Stan and/or Brandon reduce the volume on the intro as the volume is super high. I literally have to mute it because it is so loud compared to everything else.

"come from the sea, burn the land." everything changed when the fire nation attacked

These animators are so funny.

I really liked this episode. It was a perfect combination of humor, interesting questions and facts I didn't know about. Great work

How about the 'Sea Peoples' being the last nail in the already broken coffin?

Go forth, lead the sea army, Spongebob!

I always enjoy this series, but I especially love how much calmer he is in these more recent videos. It makes it easier to keep up.

6:05 PUPPYCAAAAT

Before I watch this vid I have to say I'M SO EXCITED. this is exactly the thing I'm covering for my History assignment!

Most historians and theories I've seen concerning the collapse at the late bronze age put the blame on a mix of these things, stating that that the Sea peoples were more of a finishing blow to a group of nations devastated by natural disasters and a collapse of their inter connectivity

While there is no record left by the Sea Peoples themselves, there are records left by the Egyptians. Ramesses III (considered to be the last great New Kingdom pharaoh) fought many foreign invaders, among whom the Libyans and the Sea People. Three succesful campaigns (considered to be bona fide) against the Sea Peoples are recorded, and a personal favorite bad-ass quote: "As for those who reached my frontier, their seed is not, their heart and their soul are finished forever and ever. As for those who came forward together on the seas, the full flame was in front of them at the Nile mouths, while a stockade of lances surrounded them on the shore, prostrated on the beach, slain, and made into heaps from head to tail." So there is definitely truth to the Sea Peoples, although their exact origing and nature is not clear. I would say that it is indeed a bit too easy to consider these a single, unified people, rather I would think it's more likely that it's a catch-all term used to refer to any foreign people that invaded through sea. But I agree that it sounds unlikely that the Sea Peoples are the sole reason for the collapse, although they definitely seem to have played a part in it, (perhaps they took advantage of the already weakened civilization to invade and deal the finishing blow? there's many possible scenarios here) Either way, the Mitanni, Mycenaean and Hittite cultures were destroyed, the Egyptians survived and fought off many foreign invasions (did they survive because they fought off the Sea People, or did they manage to fight off the Sea People because they survived?), although it was much diminished (and for this I would indeed argue that it is a result of the collapse of other Empires). The Sea People definitely had a part to play and were not wholly a myth, although the extent of their actions is uncertain. Also, the Minoan civilization had already declined and been mostly absorbed into Mycenean civilization at this point. The reason for that seems to indeed have been a natural disaster of some sort, indeed possibly an earthquake. But this was around 1450BC, at least 200 years before the Bronze Age collapse.

So here's my theory - all of these factors contributed. There were earthquakes and climate change, and famine and all that fun stuff, which lead to an upheaval in the Western Meditarranean. That uprooted a bunch of tribes that had some advanced knowledge of ship-building and lack of food forced them to migrate east in search of it. Thus, they became the Sea People, raiding the stronger civilizations, which were still weakened by the same factors that uprooted the Sea People.

John Green I would really like to see you do videos on mythological history. History that isn't actually real per se. It can be argued that fiction has just as real consequences as fact anyways. After all who are our planets named after?

Wait a second, I just realized you are the dude That wrote the Fault In Our Stars

I like the way John challenges viewers to realize the presumptuous categorization of peoples and nations, so that we may think of the world and it's happenings more flexibly. :D Sometimes it helps to categorize, but let's not get stuck in those lines we draw.

I wonder what our age will be called? I'm inclined to agree with Karl Pilkington - "it's the age of pissing about". :)

The Sea People weren't a unified group, so they should be called The Sea Peoples, as the archaeologists call them. Off all the major theories regarding the Sea Peoples, none of them involves them not being real. The Boghaz Keui Hittite inscriptions mention The Sea Peoples raiding their southern cities, and this inscription was dated as being contemporary with the Egyptian records of the raids. These people were active long before the Bronze Age collapse, being mercenaries to whatever nation would have them. They are described raiding during the reign of Akenhaten, and were defeated by Ramesses II as well. They were a real people, most likely a confederation of displaced Mycenaeans (resulted from the Dorian Invasion) and western Mediterranean tribes. Did they cause the Bronze Age collapse? No. They were a product of the collapse.

LOL I love how Spongebob just appears in the middle of a informational video about civilization! XD I don't even really like Spongebob but I love that!

Sooooo... Terror From The Deep?

6:48 Fire Nation ship?

you lost me when you recommended watching transforners

I would imagine that an earthquakestorm might lead to serious disruptions in the trade systems in a multitude of ways.

Whenever one asks, "What was the cause of World War Two or the current mess in the Middle East, I always say, "Track back to the first war ever fought and there you go!"

Is it just me or have there been issues with the sound the last couple of episodes? Like the whole video is too quiet, but at the end the outro music is too loud and so it drowns John out.

I thought that the Sea people explanation was a going to be a gag. THEY EXIST, BURN THE SEAS!

Really helped my project and my professor shows these all the time in class. Thank you for being helpful and entertaining!

How an awesome way to learn History and English at the same time! Thank you very much!

You added that last bit just so you could say 'single horde-idly', didn't you? I approve.

Where can I get a "Mongols: We're the exception." shirt? :P

Hey John/ Stan If you guys ever do another episode on British colonization/ trade please could you cover South Africa? Or do an episode on SA even? It has a fascinating history, and I feel like Africa could b represented a bit more in these lessons. Thank you so much for the great episodes so far!

The analogy of Bronze Age with the present was really great. Please continue to do awesome stuffs :)

Personally I subscribe to the theory on the fall of bronze age civilization which goes “Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet.”

Can the next crash course series be about mythology? I feel like its something a lot of people would love to learn more about and it's so intresting

Mr. Green, I have SEVERELY underestimated you!! Never would I have guess you to be the same man that wrote "The Fault in Our Stars"! It seems judging books by their covers takes new shapes once more, because I am both surprised and impressed. Well done!

Rewatching this video in 2023 is a real mind trip

Odd to leave out the volcanic eruption of Santorini especially when many historians think the Sea Peoples could have been displaced Minoans (who were attacked by the Mycenaeans after the devastating eruption).

Gotta say, the Bronze age (and more specifically the transition from the Bronze to Iron Age) is one of the most fascinating times to study in world history 12:20 That and the Migration of the Huns and Germanic tribes into the Western Roman Empire ;P

I absolutely love these videos just discovered them yesterday and watching them on my phone whilst in hospital.

i hope you will make more of these history videos sometimes soon, really enjoy them

11:01 Plot twist, drunken man ate a bat in China, and the whole world has a pandemic on its hands.

Bee and Puppycat at 6:08!!! Hahaha, WTF?!

I learned a lot from this series. keep it up

Crash Course, in your last 2 videos who started WW1 and this one the audio levels have been super low compared to all your other videos. Just wanted to let you guys know it was noticeably quieter. I love the videos and often run them while i am doing other work that is how i noticed I couldn't hear them over the running water when the others were perfectly fine. any way keep up the good work love the videos.

I really love the discussions and theories around the "bronze age collapse", I agree with so much you said here, but I had not considered the potential severity of something like an "earthquake storm" occurring and the obvious effect that would have on power structures of the time, and you introduced me to a profession I never new about in archaeoseismology, interesting stuff, and yes agreed again on the point of the relevancy of interconnected and interdependent economic systems today. History rhymes and repeats too often to ignore it.

ugh if only there was a Total War game taking place at this time DX

Thanks John, now I have to worry about sea people too. Run for the hills, just don't do it in waves- I suspect sea people like waves

This is great +John Green and +Crash Course. I'll probably be using this video in a paper I'm writing on the same topic.

Scrolled down to count how many comments were made about Atlantis. They were all about Spongebob. I feel old as the sea itself.

I love the Avatar references at about 6:50

Writing a paper on the Minoans searching RU-vid for videos ended up binging all your videos.

Glad you credited Eric Cline, I just watched a lecture of his on 1177bc and he's who I was thinking of when you had other explanations than sea people and drought.

'Sea People'? 'That's it? What am I supposed to imagine. But nonetheless very interesting.

But then, everything changed when the Sea People attacked.

I really appreciate how you always make room for a mongols reference

Sea Peoples !! Haha Now it makes sense why Caligula declared war on neptune !!

I took a Egyptian Archaeology course and what the professor talked about was that the interconnected empires of this time started to go through a lot of economic problems and the environment was reducing food production due to drought. The final nail in the coffin was the Sea People who might have been displace people from Europe looking for food to keep themselves alive (think pre-Roman Vikings). The Earthquake storm sound very interesting and I think that it helped lead to the destabilization of this civilization, but like I said the final nail in the coffin to me were the Sea People, even if a lot of the work had been done before they got there.

Audio is super low, fine on other videos, fine on other media. Anyone else?

That keyblade... This show just keeps getting better and better

06:10 I am awed by the fact that puppycat is sitting in john greens study listening to his stories :D

This video hits different after covid and supply chain issues become prevalent

From where did the "John Green From The Past", arise? I ask because it is an ingenious mechanism. Being of roughly the same generation as Mr. Green, I find it personally, as well as generally, appealing and effective.

Watching this with my "We're The Exception" Mongol t-shirt, and thinking a combination of "Yeah man, the Mongols kicked ass!" and "Oh god, I'm glad I wasn't around back then..." Love this series!!

I was watching Age of Empires II videos, and RU-vid recommends me this.

Earthquake storms: The Fault In Our Tectonic Plates.

So am I the only one who say puppycat and Chris' bee (Bravest Warriors) at 6:08?

Fascinating, astounding, I lack superlative to describe the Crash Course history show!! The talent to vulgarise events of the past in their proper complexities and to insist in trade and ressources rather than specific individuals and war details is amazing! Also for the intertainment in learning the vlog brothers are AW some! One thing only, id be great that you would show the dates or periods of the things you're talking about, for instance at the top right of the screen. Also could you explain the economic crash of 2008 please. Thank you, fantastic work guys!

Great stuff!