Byzantine Empire

The Greeks had a very loose succession system and this promoted the pop up of pretenders, causing civil wars to be frequent. The Arabs took advantage of greek instability and expanded at their expense. By the time of the Crusades, the Latins would make gains in the name of the West (read: French/Germans/English) rather than Christendom and honor their oaths of returning lands to the Emperor. It didn't help that the Normans tried to conquer the Byzantines and had a large role in the first Crusade.
Because of the schism, there was severe distrust between east and west christians. The schism, coupled with Venetian and Genoese trade dominance (and allowances to them by decrees in order to aid in past struggles), caused the Byzantines to hate them. There was a lot of bad blood between the Byzantines and the Venetians, which of course resulted in the sacking of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade. That was the final nail in the coffin. All the while, Muslims would encroach further into Byzantine land. Latin Byzantine Empire was a sham, a living corpse is what lasted until 1453. When the Emperors toured Europe during the 1400s on two occasions in order to secure allies against their Ottoman suzerains, the West told them to fuck off. The 100 years war was taking up French and English resources, the Spanish couldn't be bothered, the Italians were at each other's throats, and the Germans were...who knows?

They bought their way in, were allowed to run the ports and such, tax free. Exploitation and social degradation lead to inevitable collapse. It’s easy to find out about. I bet Venetian jews in Constantinople has its own Wikipedia entry. It’s not a secret. There were tons of riots and such leading up to the end.

Here, scroll down to decline.
There’s much more in-depth analysis available if anyone wants to know the story in detail.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_the_Byzantine_Empire

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Long story, but it was a slow decline that started with the corruption of the Senate back in Rome and went downhill from there. This podcast explains the latter half in great detail: thehistoryofbyzantium.com/

> This
The Greeks we're never good at organizing themselves the way the Romans/ eyetalians were. They taught them well but the Greeks weren't good at fielding an empire coupled that with the Christian schism and bam you have this.

>Senate back in Rome and went downhill from there.
It was a thousand years later.

>The Greeks we're never good at organizing themselves
A thousand years

>anglos 1453
>my mom says i am special

The Byzantine empire had cycles of defeat, recovery and revival for a millennia. Eventually, the crippling defeat at manzikert in 1071 by the seljuq Turks cost the empire its heartland in Anatolia. This was a main source of the empire’s military and economic strength, and without it they were doomed.

They adopted Christianity, it's that simple.

Civilizational decay, (((fellow romans))), civil wars, plague etc. are factors, but the crucial one is the adoption of Christianity.

Rampant Corruption, Political Backstabbing and Civil Wars, The 4th Crusade, and Failing to put the Muslims on the Defensive. They might have done better if they had been more Aggressive against the Muslims.
They Lasted pretty well but They needed to not turtle so damn hard.
Easier said then done though.

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Without Constantine’s reforms and foundation of Constantinople the eastern empire may not have survived at all.

The idea that Christianity weakened the empire and is primarily responsible for its decline will get you laughed at if you bring it up to a modern historian

The Byzantines relies more and more on mercenary militaries all throughout It’s run. The main problem they faced is that they invented the feudal system, and as they lost the nearby territory they had to go further afield to buy loyalty.