The West Ruling the world?

Question

could you guys point out which era the West outpowered the remaining world, and how could it be possible?

-Middle East
Ancient Persia was as powerful as Rome...(possibly stronger on their best days). Islam Empire had been way superior to Europe in every way during 8th~14th century.

-China & India
Since fall or Rome Empire, China and India had been the most powerful, rich, advanced (technolony), and populated countries in the world. Only Islam empire at their highest could outpower these two Asian giants

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The west was hardly a civilization compared to above those three...Until the Renaissance (14th~16th century), the west was even inferior to easter Europe, which was also born by succeeding Rome...

I bet nobody in the world (not even Europeons themselves) could expect Europe to be the superpower qonquering the whole world....how could this be possible?

Answer 1

It appears that capitalism is what did it, - and getting out from under tyranny.

Answer 2

Every civilization starts with a spark reaches maturity and dies out. But another commonality is that every body thinks they are forever. If you had told a Roman emperor or an Ottoman Sultan that the whole thing they are working on would collapse they would have put you in a mental asylum.
The spark of the West was the Renaissance. The Westerners in the darkness were introduced to the Greek Philosophy by savants from Istanbul and Arabs who had accumulated vast knowledge at the time. Humanism, emphasising the individual rather than God is the starting point of Europe. Then came Reform movements, French revolution, Industrial Revolution etc. Today's Europe is pretty inert in development. Their population is aging and people are more individualistic than ever.
Do not regard a civilization as something once you got it, you have it and you will not lose it. Yes, 700 years ago Europe was in filth, but now they rule the world.
To A PERSON
where do you think the Greeks got their knowledge? Definitely from Middle East. Greek Civilization cannot be regarded as purely European and it was far from being self-contained.

Answer 3

Civilization started in the Middle East. However, Greece (the West) quickly caught up and surpassed most of the ancient civilizations. Then Alexander the Great conquered most of the known world at that time (including parts of India). The Roman empire is also an example of the West dominating most of the known world. The Roman civlization was dominant for a very long period of time. With the fall of the Roman empire, the West lost dominance. That being said, the division of the world into "East" and "West" is a relatively new thing, the history of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa was unified until the advent of the Islamic empire that effectively cut off the "East" from the "West" culturally. Anyway, Greek and Roman science, literature and political thought were the dominant force in ancient times (the Islamic empire merely used that knowledge, and made some minor additions of their own). The Renaissance, as its name implies, was merely the rediscovery by the West of its own classical heritage.

Answer 4

It all comes to money eventually I regret to say. The following is a huge generalisation, but here goes :

The predominance see-sawed between west and east for a long while (eg. Greek, Persian, Roman, Byzantine) and I think the turning point was the destruction of Constantinople during the Crusades that shifted European power back to the west.

The religious control shifted to the pope in France and Italy, and the western Europeans started to control the trade routes through the Mediterranean (particularly the Venetians).

Trade increased the wealth of all the European maritime countries (Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, France and eventually England) and wars and alliances allowed continued growth and dominance.

Answer 5

Jared Diamond's Guns Germs and Steel proposes a theory about why the West emerged to dominate the world in the last several hundred years. It is grounded in environmental conditions but also relies on sufficient population levels to support mobility and trade so that subgroups are in contact with one another, allowing ideas and technology to spread.

Answer 6

For the good knowledge and to get the best answer for your question, see the documentary "Shadows in Motion". It will give you extra knowledge and also the information of the ways through which the west is taking hold of the whole world gradually.