Secret History #15: Capital and the Bronze Age Collapse

All four major early civilizations—Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and China—engaged in constant warfare, creating intense competition for bronze weaponry and forcing them to establish global tin trade networks.

The Bronze Age civilizations—Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and China—created the first protocapitalistic global economy based on bronze as universal capital.

These principles emerge from historical analysis of various commodities that served as proto-currencies throughout human history, analyzed by economists studying capital formation.

All major Bronze Age civilizations—Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and China—participated in this bronze-based economic system, using it as universal currency.

Entire societies transform when capital enters their economic systems, affecting leaders, traders, and common people alike, shifting their fundamental motivations and relationships.

All societies that develop effective capital—whether Bronze Age civilizations using bronze or modern nations using dollars—become actors in capital-driven globalization, initially benefiting but eventually concentrating advantages among those controlling capital flows.

Major civilizations including Mycenaean Greece and the Hittite Empire were destroyed completely around 1200 BCE. Egypt survived but was bankrupted by defending against massive refugee invasions. The Indus Valley was overwhelmed by influxes from the steppes.

Scholars comparing the Bronze Age collapse to modern vulnerabilities note similarities in systemic structure and fragility between ancient protocapitalism and contemporary global capitalism.

In protocapitalistic systems, multiple actors generate wealth differently: miners (extracting raw materials), processors (creating ingots), manufacturers (producing weapons, pottery, jewelry), transporters, pirates, and trade route controllers. Those controlling trade routes like Troy extract maximum wealth with minimal labor.

The Mycenaean Greeks (representing Mediterranean powers) and the Hittite Empire (controlling Anatolia) were the two major antagonists in the Trojan War, fighting for trade route dominance rather than mythical causes.