WTF Happened in the Bronze Age Collapse? (This Video Broke Me) DOCUMENTARY

We just had a follw up interview with Dr. Jesse Millek on the Destruction that Wasnt: https://youtu.be/J5Zzth92tEQ?si=fHLLorNNZSb697Z7

This topic broke me. The research process uncovered a confusing web of posited explanations which in many cases were contradictory, unproven, or outright false. In attempting to piece it all together into a concise video I found that we would have to lose too much nuance. This would have resulted in a video which checked the boxes in terms of listing the leading academic hypotheses but without providing enough context to properly understand them and their nuances. My ultimate decision was to ditch our usual format and just present the academic research to you directly. I believe this "pulling back of the curtain" on this video specifically will help give you a much better understading of the subject and hopefully a more healthy relationship with proper skepticism and inquiry. I'll be listing all my sources in the description so you can read more and I look forward to hearing more from the public/scholars about what we got wrong here. The quest for understanding should be a lively conversation between all of us : )

I majored in history, but don’t get to do a lot of research anymore unfortunately. Showing laypeople the research process is actually THE BEST public utility your channel can have. Educational material must always teach people how to teach themselves, and it shows people the actual work of being a historian. You should do many more videos like this.

a dog walks into a tavern, and cannot see anything. therefore the whole bronze age collapsed.

First-time viewer of your channel, so I don’t know what your other ones are like, but I love the approach you took. Actually citing and comparing sources is too uncommon in YouTube videos, and then making the effort to look at how the research has evolved over time is pretty commendable. I also think you do an excellent job of talking in what sounds like your actual speaking voice. Feels like i’m in the room with you. Kudos!

This is almost certainly one of the most difficult subjects to tackle, and your acknowledgment of the medium’s difficulty is so true. I have honestly the highest level of respect for not only your integrity, but your ability to grind through it, accept the challenges, and deliver something that isn’t denigrating or reductive to the form. Stellar work, and you’re one of the best in the business. Cheers!

Im from Iran and due to sanctions i cannot possibly support you in any way, but i want to say, i appreciate your efforts and your absolutely beautiful content and they mean a world to me as you along with other colleagues gave me so much understanding and knowledge of the world and helped me through my intellectual journey in life so far, i feel for ever in debt to you and i believe you deserve all the best for what you do on this platform...i really wish more people supported these types of materials as the world today more than ever needs a better look at where humanity was and how it came to be here today...

My highest qualification is ResM - I literally have a Masters in Research - this documentary fed my soul in so many ways! I think it's so important to 'show your workings' like this, to show the critical thinking and the rabbit holes and the wide reaching various paths you have to walk down to bring together a coherent story that inevitably tells you "We don't know, but here's our best guess based on these stressors". AND ALWAYS GOING BACK TO THE PRIMARY SOURCES!!!! Just brilliant! Thank you!

You know how people say they feel like they are losing brain cells when they watch something dumb. I feel like I gained a brain cell in this case lol.

I, for one, am shocked the Egyptians lied. Next you'll tell us their pharaohs weren't 20 feet tall and didn't defeat entire armies by themselves.

I just blame Heaven's malevolent interference. That basically explains every extremely bizarre event in history.

Sir, this is astonishing work. What an achievement. The spirit of true enquiry is so evident in this project. I've learned much less during whole university courses than I have in the past hour. Thank you! And congratulations on your achievement!

This is actually an incredible format. Love this and would love to see even more of this behind the scenes meta history! Good work!

It's easy enough to see now with your explanation that it was an Alien xenomorph event that spread through the Mediterranean, and Predator kill-teams had to be tagged in and wipe the slate clean. Thanks, Invicta!❤

Saying that the bronze age collapse took place simpy because of the sea peoples, is like saying that Rome fell solely because of barbarian incursions. Theres always more to the story than a single, convenient answer. Another awesome and informative video, invicta and the team! Keep up the great work 👍

Invicta: "systems collapse is a Gish gallop" Invicta: "let's see what really happened" Invicta: describes systems collapse in detail Hell of a deep dive tho 😁

To put it bluntly. History YouTube channels are fundamentally changing how society can view and interpret history. I don't think most creators realize just how innovative and important their work is. Edit: Very glad the comments are talking about the negatives of YouTubers who do not try and spout misinformation but it gets it out to more people who then might take a bigger interest in the subject. The real problem is people who know the secrets of the universe but refuse to share

As a history major in college who also grew up playing Total War games and the like, when I found your channel, I was exuberant. This video is probably my favorite video that you have made because it truly shows what historical research should look like and how to approach historical controversies and mysteries. I can only hope that you would make this sort of video more often because I truly do love this content. I appreciate what you do.

we recently had a guest speaker (Dr. Eric H. Cline) on the bronze age collapses from the Archaeological Institute of America at my old university, got to sit in and ask what was the impact of the collapse on central Asia since its heavily believed that the majority of the tin came from there, bro he said we don't even know who mined the tin we just know that they must have gotten it from there... this was probably the best answer I could've gotten, it is such an exciting time in archaeology, i was able to partake in archaeological practicum in Crete last summer and actually work on an active Minoan excavation site, got to see the emerging techniques and technology, I strongly believe we will find satisfying answers to the bronze age collapse in our lifetimes, and I want to be a part of it.

I wanted to say thank you for all of your hard work tackling this era. It's hard to put in words how interconnected history is. What happens in one place because of a drought can easily become an assassination in another. I really enjoyed your video.