> One thing that doesn't get mentioned often is that the West had a "simpler" alphabet of 26 characters

This article has presumably mentioned it. It says:

> Answering this question is actually quite complex because it involves mechanical knowledge, metallurgy, mills and writing systems. I have read numerous articles on this topic, but I started to notice that everyone leaves out some different essential part of the story. Here I am trying to include all the factors involved.

The content is cut off in the middle by the paywall (which raises the question of whether it's suitable to be submitted to HN in the first place, if there's no workaround available).