Various kingdoms throughout China fought for regional authority for centuries of the Iron Age. Although the Eastern Zhou Dynasty ruled for some of this period, the emperor was a mere figurehead with no control over the warring states. The period, which began during the 5th Century BCE, followed the Spring and Autumn period and ultimately led to the establishment of the Qin dynasty in 221 BCE.

The Kingdom of Israel was an iron-age monarchy that expanded through modern-day Northern Israel and Jordan. It expanded quickly, conquering and absorbing nomadic tribes including the Canaanites, Hittites, and Philistines before succumbing to rebellions in 950 BCE and collapsing. The Sumerians were not a part of the Kingdom of Israel; they did, however, build their own empire nearly a thousand years earlier centered around the state of Ur.

All of the other choices are part of the cycle of the Mandate of Heaven. Once a dynasty loses the Mandate of Heaven they cannot regain it. Instead, a new dynasty arises which overthrows the corrupt dynasty which the gods had forsaken.

Based in Nineveh, modern northern Iraq, the Assyrians would go on to conquer Egypt, the southwestern Anatolian peninsula , Cyprus, Mesopotamia, western Persia, and most of the eastern Mediterranean. The Neo-Assyrian Empire descended from the Old and Middle Assyrian Empires. The state would collapse around 612 BC, 15 years after the death of popular yet brutal ruler Ashurbanipal.

Due to Rome's over-expansion, increasing power of the Catholic Church, and the emergence of the feudal system, Western Europe 500 years after Rome's collapse was very different. While there were major changes in the 500 years following the Han dynasty in China, much of the institutions and government systems established by the Han remained largely intact.

The cultural collapse of the Mycenaean Kingdoms, Hittite Empire, and the Egyptian New Kingdom led to political instability and large-scale war. Most of the major cities in the Near East were destroyed, never to be re-settled. This allowed a new generation of civilizations to rise to power and create the Iron Age.

States in Mesopotamia including Sumer, Akkad, and Assyria are thought to have been the first to use iron, which then spread to North Africa and Southwest Asia by 1000 BCE. Iron was quickly adopted due to properties that made it superior to bronze, such as strength and durability. The ability to produce massive amounts of iron armor and weaponry allowed for quick expansion by iron age empires.

The Middle Kingdom is considered to have ended around 1600 BCE, while the Iron Age is not widely considered to have begun until 1300 BCE. The Neo-Assyrian and Babylonian Empires rose from the ashes of the Late Bronze Age Collapse, and the Kingdom of Israel only began its expansion after the Iron Age began.

During the Iron Age pastoral cultures revolutionized the saddle and bridle, allowing such historic cavalry forces as the Scythians, Cimmerians, and Bedouin to arise.

Direct democracy is the answer because the Athenians, under the rule of Pericles, allowed every Athenian male citizen over the age of 18 to have one vote, whenever a political decision needed to be made. In a direct democracy, every citizen who is eligible to vote is able to vote directly on any law. The other choices involved scenarios in which the citizens collectively vote on a representative who can vote on the law, but the individual citizen cannot vote directly on a law.