To establish whether it was structural weaknesses or other factors that caused the collapse of the Byzantine Empire we must first establish whether its strength was actual of merely perceived strength. Being one of the leading empires in the world, to have survived it must have had real strengths. As it relied heavily on diplomacy instead of fighting in times of military threat it had to have skilful diplomats and efficient administrators. However it is more likely that the increase in military and political strength of its neighbours, such as the Persians, Turks and Arabs was the reason for its eventual collapse, and not its own weaknesses. Although one could look on the contrasting strength of opposing nations, and the lack of progression of Byzantine as a structural weakness of the Empire, therefore contradicting the argument. In the 11th century Byzantine began to degenerate steeply due to a few major factors, its military, economics and the European renaissance. Individually these problems may not have been so costly, and perhaps would have been solvable. However they all occurred in the 11th century, referred to as the 11th century crisis, culminating in an accelerated decline in strength and finally collapse.

The Byzantine army was huge, in the 4th century numbering 645,000 soldiers. However although this clearly shows military strength, for the soldiers to be paid tax was very high. As Warren Treadgold states in his book Byzantine and its Army, 284-1081, “In an economy that consisted chiefly of subsistence farming, an army of any real size put a noticeable burden on taxpayers” . Therefore the economy would suffer to support a much-needed army in such times of turmoil. However even with this huge drain on the economy Byzantine was still a leading economic power especially with their silk road, until Europe rose out of the Middle Ages. In fact the silk road