Question

HOW DOES INTERDEPENDENCE IN THE BRONZE AGE HELP LEAD TO ITS DOWNFALL?

Answer 1

Interdependence is a mixed bag, many times it can rise powers up by having strong trade relationships that benefit both states, but it can also drag powers down if one of the states their interdependent with experiences serious problems. A more clear cut example would be if you were a member of a nation that imported the majority of it's food from another country. Then if that country had a famine from their bad agricultural practices, people in your country starve. There wasn't as broad of a network of interdependent states as we have today in the bronze age, so you couldn't just buy food from your other neighbor, you could be at war with them or maybe you don't even know of any other states where you could trade with. You can quickly see that if states are dependent on one and other, if one falls they can all topple like dominoes really quickly. Broader interdependence protects you from this more, but if a number of states that are interdependent experience problems, they can cause the entire world to fall into crisis. Good modern examples of this would be the 2009 financial crisis or the Great Depression.