What carried the west to dominance,such as military or more advanced technology?

Revolutionary forces particularly French & Russian; Curiosity about
the Old Worlds; Ocean-going transport; Innovative Technologies: the
Telephone, the Internal Combustion Engine, etc.

Sea power was vital initially complemented by military resources. A
machine gun is more effective than a sword.

I suspect that it is the 'Island Factor'

Technology was pretty advanced in Europe, yet warfare disrupted things.

The UK had large natural reserves of coal and iron ore, and was
relatively isolated, by 1700 it was pretty stable politically and
socially. The Germans had similar resources, but it took them until
1870 to get their act together.

The First World War provided a pretty good reason for anyone with any
sense (unlike my ancestors) to nip off to another Island - America.

At the beginning of WWI the US was a nett importer of agricultural
equipment, at the end it was a nett exporter.

Technology is very useful in warfare, provided you have a stable
environment in which to produce the munitions. Guns without ammunition
are mere clubs.

Technology requires a stable breeding environment.
Necessity may be the mother of invention, but in the wrong environment
her offspring are stillborn - or migrate.

In general, perturbations in global powers are precipitated by ?the
shock of the new?. This can take many forms -- migration, scientific
discovery, new religion, even a single individual. Almost all can be
traced back and dissected in these terms but I?ll simply (crudely)
site a few examples.

Egypt, rye grass mutating to greater productivity.

Britain, Roman invasion, Christianity, environment change, Viking
invasion. Pause in the dark ages. Warring with neighbours, overthrow
of Catholicism, mineral reserves exploited, technological development,
slavery, empire building ethos, then stagnation. Interspersed in this
were changing powers and influence of the church, initially
progressive then restrictive. Also perpetual internal feuding. Same
conditions were largely true for much of Europe but Catholicism was a
more insidious reactionary force.

Japan, post WW2. Dramatic social change. Prior to that there had never
been a western style renaissance but conflict and influence with the
?outside world? had begun to make profound changes.

USA. Influx of disparate groups, war of independence, slavery, mineral
resources, civil war. Slight stagnation. WW1, WW2, denomination of
communism, empire building ethos.

It is perhaps informative to examine stagnation. Queen Victoria ?died?
in 1966 (Spike Milligan). Italy used to rule the ?world? -- this is
very difficult to visualise if you visit Italy. The middle east
countries ruled the scientific world after the shock of Islam, then
the status quo inhibited further advancement.

The recent manipulation of a large section of the US public has
invigorated a burst in power based growth. It will be sustained for
many years but the underlying structure is weakening. The present
dominant power will within a few decades either implode (like Britain)
or explode.  In the latter case, heaven help us all.

Concluding, western power is but a temporary situation.

Best

The best book dealing with this question is Guns, Germs, and Steel by
Jared Diamond.  The book provides a great deal of supporting evidence
and is a frequently cited book on the subject.

Diamond argues that it is the variety of domesticated plants and
animals which allows a civilization to grow, develop technology, live
in high density to generate destructive germs to which the residents
are eventually immune, and gain experience in fighting similar
neighbors.  Then when that civilization expands, it almost can't avoid
destroying smaller, more isolated ones.  But Diamond doesn't stop
there.  He asks the question, Why did the West end up with all these
domesticatable plants and animals.  The answer is geography.  Whenever
you have a long stretch of east-west landmass, it will tend to produce
lots of domesticated plants and animals that are shared by everyone in
that wide band.  In north-south landmasses, such as the Americas,
these things can't propagate across the regions because they have such
dramatically different climates.

Hope this is a good answer for you.