In the Middle Ages, Muslims were ahead in science compared to the rest of the world. In every field -- astronomy, physics, medicine, armaments -- Muslims were ahead. They were ahead in knowledge, which is why they made advances in everything. 

Western Europe realized that Muslim Arabs were ahead of them in knowledge, which is why they were facing defeat by Arabs on every front. As a result, they decided to initiate a spiritual crusades. In that age, Western Europe decided to work on spiritual crusades instead of military crusades. I believe today it would be better to call their effort a scientific crusades. After this they began to make developments in science, which resulted in the Renaissance. The West went ahead of Muslims in bringing about a scientific age in this world. Muslims had not brought about mechanization. Earlier horses were used for energy, but today we use horsepower. The West worked hard for several hundred years. They ushered in a new era in history which was based on mechanization of power. They made several inventions: steam power, motor car, airplanes, machines, modern industry and million other such advances. This was a spiritual crusades. This had a huge impact. Present Muslims haven't moved ahead. There are 57 Muslim countries, but all are underdeveloped, because scientific revolution changed the criterion of power. Earlier power meant having many horses and swords. But these don’t constitute power anymore. 

The criterion for power is the level of scientific development in your country. If you are ahead in education and organization, then you are powerful. Europeans created a new age. They brought about a new period in history. This was a miracle of avoiding confrontation and bringing one's efforts in the peaceful domain.