Interestingly some historians like John Ward said that the First Crusade and following campaigns is a “movement of violent white supremacist colonialism”. According to this view, Christians look as expansionist aggressors, while Muslims are victims. But there are also opposite views, which state that movement to Holy lands is a defensive action to protect Christians from irreligious
Something interesting that I have not commonly seen in other sources is his chapter on siege warfare and how it developed throughout the crusade. He explains the reasoning behind many defensive architecture designs and siege methods that were designed to thwart it. Concluding that constant warfare between Franks and Muslims became the catalyst for creating some of the most formidable castles in the world. Castles and Fortified Cities of Medieval Europe:
In history, Christians held Muslims to a threatening status before the crusades even began. In fact, the chances that the Christians met Muslims greatly improved their overall idea of them. During the crusades trade wasn’t allowed to be exchanged in fear of the Christians that would be excommunicated for associating with the Islams, even though trade still continued throughout the Crusades regardless. Politically the religious impact from the Crusades was in the massive expenditures that created an overwhelming effect on European politics. The crusades had massive armies that needed to be transported across extensive amounts of land which costed large sums of money.
The second justification was that these “barbarians” had taken territory belonging to the Christians especially holy sites such as Jerusalem. So the Christians felt that this holy land should be recaptured. And the third justification was that Christ had commanded such an action. I am going to visit each of these points and prove that the social injustice of the Crusades was not justified by these points and try to provide solutions to how this social injustice
“Were the Crusades successful in achieving their aim of reclaiming Jerusalem and maintaining the Christian presence in the Middle East (Anatolia) and the Crusader States, and how are the Crusades relevant/similar to recent events taking place in the Middle East such as America’s war on Terror and Jihadism.” The Crusades were a series of holy wars declared by the officials of the Catholic Church on the Muslim expansion and Seljuk Turks who had taken over the holy lands. Crusaders were sent off to Israel to reclaim these lands and strengthen the Christian presence in Anatolia however they were not successful in maintaining their holds and crusades following the first crusades can be considered failures. The First crusade was declared by Pope
In the article, “Crusading Warfare and its Adaptation to Eastern Conditions in the Twelfth Century”. John France argues that, in the holy land, the Europeans modified their style of warfare considerably. Due to our overestimation of the role of cavalry, and a failure to appreciate how it was used in Europe, we have misunderstood much about warfare in Europe. (France, 49) France examines how cavalry, infantry and fortifications were used in the Western, Middle Eastern and Frankish styles of warfare, and why it was necessary to modify their approaches regarding battle. The general public’s perceptions regarding medieval warfare are skewed by factually inaccurate depictions in films, books and video games.
The Crusades What were the crusades? The crusades were a series of wars between the Catholics and the Saracens which surprisingly we call Muslims now. The crusades started in 1095 when Pope Clermont preached the first crusade. In this exciting paper I will be talking about the different crusades and the effect they had in the middle ages. In the next paragraph I will talk about the first crusade then in the following paragraph, I will talk about the second crusade.
Centuries before the Crusades War, in the 3rd Century, the Catholic Kingdom and Byzantine Empire were united through the name of the Roman Empire. However, in 287 CE, the Roman Empire had grown immensely, up to the point where it was absurd for the Emperor to govern all the provinces, only in Rome. Due to this, Diocletian, the Emperor of the Roman Empire divided the empire into two parts: the west and the east. The west of Rome was considered poor, in contrast to the prosperous East, due to the utilization of the Black, Red, Caspian, and Mediterranean Sea. Proceeding to the 11th Century, various strong Germanic Tribes invaded the Roman Empire, leading to the official split of the Roman Empire - into Catholic Western Europe and Eastern Byzantine
The Cruades were a number a military attacks sanctioned by various Pope 's during the Middle Ages. The first Crusade began in 1095, the second crusade began in 1147, and the third crusade began in 1189. The first crusade started in s1095 with Jersualem, the Holy Land, under the control of the Seljuk Turks. The Byzantine Emporor Alexios I felt threatened by the Muslims and pleaded to the Western world for militairy support to fight against the Seljuk Turks. At the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II gave his famous sermon beckoning the Christians to join together with the Byzantines and recapture Jerusalem, from the Muslims control.
, The Maccabean Revolt all began with Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great was on a conquering rampage when he took Israel under his authority in 332 B.C. Alexander reigned for twelve years before he divided his kingdom between the Ptolemies and Seleucids, which were the names of his most trusted generals. Once Alexander died, the Ptolemies and Seleucids became adversaries and the Ptolemies ruled over Israel. The Ptolemies were set on converting the Jews to their religion, Hellenism, which is almost the same as Humanism.