The Byzantine Empire succeeded when the Roman empire failed mainly due to the fact that the Byzantine empire was ruled by the head of Constantinople who was the head of both church and state. This means that the "patriarch" or emperor of Constantinople was in charge of the church as well as the state which put him in a very powerful position as the emperor was literally seen as Jesus Christ on Earth. The first emperor Constantinople I, moved the capital from Rome to Constantinople and this location caused the empire to thrive because it was located near waterways and easy to monitor the territory, not to mention the largest wall in Europe was built there to safeguard the empire against attacks. They also had very advanced weapons and which is a result of having the best and brightest minds in the world in their empire. In contrast, some blame the very cornerstone that the Byzantine Empire was founded upon (Christianity) as one of the reasons that Rome fell. When the Roman Empire was attacked by Germanic Barbarians the people had more loving/Jesus-like views concerning violence so they were reluctant to fight back against the invaders.
