Greece

Greece the Dark Ages

After the movie Perfect Storm, the phrase became a metaphor for situations that join together to make the perfect storm. I think that is what happened in Greece. I feel the perfect storm hit the Greek society. They did not see it coming and when it happened there was nothing they could do but change. I think it took them a long time to realize that change had to happened. I think when you look at all theories it was not just one situation was all of them that created the perfect storm for the fall into the Dark Ages.

          Greece fell into the Dark Ages after the Mycenaen palace state collapse. There are many theories as to why the collapse happened and why it sent the Greeks into the Dark Ages. Was it one problem or was there more than one? Various people as have theorized that war or civil unrest or famine caused the down fall. With these theories as to what brought the Dark Age people have to wonder what was the major cause of it. Also, the result of the Dark Age brought us democracy. Did democracy help pull Greece out from the Dark Age? We have to look at all these theories to see if it was one or all of them that brought the Greeks to the Dark Ages. I think that not just one but it all lead to the Dark Ages.

The facts are there was war, civil unrest, and famine. The rich were doing ok but the poor were getting worse. The government and growth of the city became stagnant. Immigrants stopped coming to be part of the Greek cities.

The palace system was set up for the elite class and the warriors of that time. It was not for the people. In this system the poor worked the fields and brought food to the palaces. This system also had the poor beable to take out loans to support their selves. These loans were not good ones, because if they could not pay them back they became slaves to the people who loaned them money. This system had a lot people becoming slaves that were once free men. By making men slaves they became malcontent with their lives. That leads people to change where they’re in their lives.  This system was set up fail and it did. My theory all of the situations brought on the perfect storm.

The storm that ended the Bronze Age started with slavery of the Greek people. The second factor was drought. The drought came to the land and without rain there was a lack of food. The people of Greece were going hungry, but they still had to feed the elite group of people. With hunger growing more with every passing mouth people got tried of feeding the palace people. The people in mass numbers chose to move to the mountains for better lives. The ones that stayed in the cities found hardship. They had to work harder to supply the elite and the soldiers with food. With hunger growing in Greece, so did the discontentment of the people. That discontentment brought civil unrest to Greece.

With civil unrest of its populace, Greece was starting down the path of the Dark Ages. The people started stealing and rebelling against the structure that was in place.  With people rebelling and food becoming more scarce people had to leave to find other resources of food. People working against the system left the cities open for invaders to come in and steal provisions. The Sea People were one of those groups who used the civil unrest to their advantage. They joined in with the people of Greece to plunder the cities of Greece. With the ransacking of the cities and people stealing food for their selves, and the Sea People stealing food as well and anything they could get their hands on this harmed Greece. This lead to the soldiers running short on provisions so they had to go out and obtain work to feed their selves so they left Greece.  Then with Territorial Army leaving Greece it left it vulnerable to assault by other groups.

With less people to protect Greece from rebels and intruders and also, with no real security and lack of resources, emigrants discontinued coming to the cities of Greece. The trade market also slowed down. Then the people of Greece started having fewer offspring. With the population slowing down and the financial system slowing down too, Greece was pushed into stagnation and fell into the Dark Ages. One thing could make a nation plummet, but I assume they had the perfect storm. Everything from oppression, greed, environment, and outside powers lead to the fall of Greece.

With the fall into the Dark Ages the leader of Greece had to find a way to pull out of those tough times. With the people in the cities turn on the cities they lived in and the wealthy losing their prosperity they had to find a way to get back control. With this they figured the way to get control was to let the people have a say. The people having a say and making them a part of government-helped Greece get back in control of its citizens. Greece used the iron to help them gain money. This helped the poor gain money and build for themselves. With the people having a say and the Iron Age coming about Greece developed a middle class.

The middle class growing in Greece and also the citizens become part of the armed forces helped Greece recover from the Dark Age. I do believe if they did not modify the way palace people believe and make the people a part of the administration they would have been in the Dark Age till another nation came in and took control. I believe democracy came as a need for the citizens of Greece and think people in power realized that.

Analyzing what I have read and looking at the theories I have come to the conclusion why Greece fell into Dark Ages. I think it was because of drought, slavery, greed, and war. I think their situation created the perfect storm. I also think that’s what forced them into having a democracy and other places did not follow because they did not experience what the Greeks did. Otherwise I think democracy would spread everywhere at that time.