I love it what color is the stone ? <| sep |> This is addressed pretty thoroughly in Guns Germs Steel , but to choose just one dimension Geography . Middle eastern geography is largely flat and made it easier for empires to conquer large swaths of land quickly . They also had inferior access to certain strategic resources that enabled imperial and industrial militarism . European geography is more segregated by features like mountains and rivers that make defense easier . This combined with the collapse of the Romanunified territories created a ton of smallish citystates that were in competition with each other but generally unable to actually conquer one another . This competitive stalemate led to increased emphasis on technology development and naval exploration , which led to the rapid advancements culminating in the age of imperialism .