Bronze worked well for weapons, but was rare. Iron democratized the making of weapons, available almost everywhere on Earth except Japan. But watch modern peop

Bronze worked well for weapons, but was rare. Iron democratized the making of weapons, available almost everywhere on Earth except Japan. But watch modern people try to smelt iron on Youtube in their backyard. Very difficult and time-consuming, and very toxic. Iron smelter staff around 1900 only lived to maybe age 30 before their lungs gave out.