tl;dr: The Bronze Age collapse around 1200 BC wasn't just caused by droughts, invasions, or famines—those alone don't explain why empires failed to reconsolidate for centuries afterward. The key factor was iron: unlike bronze (which required rare tin transported across thousands of miles, giving elites a monopoly on weapons), iron ore was abundant and could be smelted locally, democratizing access to weaponry and making large empires harder to sustain. The author draws parallels to modern shifts in military technology like cheap drones and AI, which similarly redistribute—or concentrate—the power to wage war.