The first of the Crusades began in 1095, when armies of Christians from Western Europe responded to Pope Urban II’s plea to go to war against Muslim forces in the Holy Land. After the First Crusade achieved its goal with the capture of Jerusalem in 1099, the invading Christians set up several Latin Christian states, even as Muslims in the region vowed to wage holy war (jihad) to regain control over the region. Deteriorating relations between the Crusaders and their Christian allies in the Byzantine Empire culminated in the sack of Constantinople in 1204 during the Third Crusade. Near the end of the 13th century, the rising Mamluk dynasty in Egypt provided the final reckoning for the Crusaders, toppling the coastal stronghold of Acre and driving the European invaders out of Palestine and Syria in 1291.

THE CRUSADES: BACKGROUND
By the end of the 11th century, Western Europe had emerged as a significant power in its own right, though it still lagged far other Mediterranean civilization such as that of the Byzantine Empire (formerly the eastern half of the Roman Empire) and the Islamic empire of the Middle East and North Africa. Meanwhile, Byzantium was losing considerable territory to the invading Seljuk Turks, who defeated the Byzantine Army at the battle of Manzikirt in 1071 and went on to gain control over much of Anatolia. After years of chaos and civil war, the general Alexius Comnenus seized the Byzantine throne in 1081 and consolidated control over the remaining empire as Emperor Alexius I.

Did You Know?
In a popular movement known as the Children's Crusade (1212), a motley crew including children, adolescents, women, the elderly and the poor marched all the way from the Rhineland to Italy behind a young man named Nicholas, who said he had received divine instruction to march toward the Holy Land.

In 1095, Alexius sent envoys to Pope Urban II asking for mercenary troops from the West to help confront the Turkish threat. Though relations between Christians in East and West had long been fractious, Alexius’ request came at a time when the situation was improving. In November 1095, at the Council of Clermont in southern France, the pope called on Western Christians to take up arms in order to aid the Byzantines and recapture the Holy Land from Muslim control. Pope Urban’s plea met with a tremendous response, both among lower levels of the military elite (who would form a new class of knights) as well as ordinary citizens; it was determined that those who joined the armed pilgrimage would wear a cross as a symbol of the Church.

THE FIRST CRUSADE (1096-99)
Four armies of Crusaders were formed from troops of different Western European regions, led by Raymond of Saint-Gilles, Godfrey of Bouillon, Hugh of Vermandois and Bohemond of Taranto (with his nephew Tancred); they were set to depart for Byzantium in August 1096. A less organized band of knights and commoners known as the “People’s Crusade” set off before the others under the command of a popular preacher known as Peter the Hermit. Peter’s army traipsed through the Byzantine Empire, leaving destruction in their wake. Resisting Alexius’ advice to wait for the rest of the Crusaders, they crossed the Bosporus in early August. In the first major clash between the Crusaders and the Muslims, Turkish forces crushed the invading Europeans at Cibotus. Another group of Crusaders, led by the notorious Count Emicho, carried out a series of massacres of Jews in various towns in the Rhineland in 1096, drawing widespread outrage and causing a major crisis in Jewish-Christian relations.

When the four main armies of Crusaders arrived in Constantinople, Alexius insisted that their leaders swear an oath of loyalty to him and recognize his authority over any land regained from the Turks, as well as any other territory they might conquer; all but Bohemond resisted taking the oath. In May 1097, the Crusaders and their Byzantine allies attacked Nicea (now Iznik, Turkey), the Seljuk capital in Anatolia; the city surrendered in late June. Despite deteriorating relations between the Crusaders and Byzantine leaders, the combined force continued its march through Anatolia, capturing the great Syrian city of Antioch in June 1098. After various internal struggles over control of Antioch, the Crusaders began their march toward Jerusalem, then occupied by Egyptian Fatimids (who as Shi’ite Muslims were enemies of the Sunni Seljuks). Encamping before Jerusalem in June 1099, the Christians forced the besieged city’s governor to surrender by mid-July. Despite Tancred’s promise of protection, the Crusaders slaughtered hundreds of men, women and children in their victorious entrance into the city.

Crusades were the first major terror campaign by Christians against Muslims.

This was real terrorism with beheading of all Arabs including women and children in the name of the Christian Church.

"Tens of thousands of people (both soldiers and civilians) were killed in the conquest of Jerusalem. The Crusaders themselves suffered; historians estimate that only one in 20 survived to even reach the Holy Land. It is estimated that 1.7 million people died in total.

http://www.history.com/topics/crusades

Quote:

Isn't it funny how the rest of the world except Muslims have moved on/progressed from those days.

'Crusade' Reference Reinforces Fears War on Terrorism Is Against Muslims
By PETER WALDMAN and  HUGH POPE Staff Reporters of The Wall Street Journal
Updated Sept. 21, 2001 12:01 a.m. ET

There could hardly have been a more indelicate gaffe. President Bush vowed on Sunday to "rid the world of evil-doers," then cautioned: "This crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take a while."

Crusade? In strict usage, the word describes the Christian military expeditions a millennium ago to capture the Holy Land from Muslims. But in much of the Islamic world, where history and religion suffuse daily life in ways unfathomable to most Americans, it is shorthand for something else: a cultural and...

Gordon wrote on Mar 28^th, 2017 at 7:18pm:



And that makes you better than Jihadis how, exactly?

Gordon wrote on Mar 28^th, 2017 at 7:46pm:



So no better then. Gotcha.

Bobby. wrote on Mar 28^th, 2017 at 7:55pm:
Hitler was an atheist Bobby. Look it up.

You will find it in Mein Kampf: “Therefore, I am convinced that I am acting as the agent of our Creator. By fighting off the Jews, I am doing the Lord’s Work.”

Hitler said it again at a Nazi Christmas celebration in 1926: “Christ was the greatest early fighter in the battle against the world enemy, the Jews … The work that Christ started but could not finish, I — Adolf Hitler — will conclude.”

Gordon wrote on Mar 28^th, 2017 at 7:18pm:



And that makes you better than Jihadis how, exactly?

Europe has been at war with the various empires of the ME & North Africa since ancient times.

I suggest you go and have a look at the Greek-Persian wars, which was essentially the beginning (and the current invasion of Europe is just the latest instalment) of the attempt by dictatorial regimes in the ME to spread their influence westward.

How long ago did this happen, again?????

And has not the various churches now become more civilized?

Thats right, they have moved on, grown up, become civilized and advanced.

But one CULT has rejected advancemen.
This CULT is still living in the dark ages and is stll living a brutal, primitive existence.

Yes, there have been wars, why not go bact to the Roman times, or the Incas, hell why not go back to neanderthal vs homosapiens.

This is simply history, and some have advanced.
But not the CULT.

All you have proven is how backward this CULT really is

AiA wrote on Mar 28^th, 2017 at 9:55pm:


What if the absence of Hitler in history caused something worse to happen? Like Germany winning WW2 and conquering the world.

or ...

UK continuing to oppress colonies?

Hitler thought he was doing God's work.

How long ago did this happen, again?????

And has not the various churches now become more civilized?

Thats right, they have moved on, grown up, become civilized and advanced.

But one CULT has rejected advancemen.
This CULT is still living in the dark ages and is stll living a brutal, primitive existence.

Yes, there have been wars, why not go bact to the Roman times, or the Incas, hell why not go back to neanderthal vs homosapiens.

This is simply history, and some have advanced.
But not the CULT.

All you have proven is how backward this CULT really is

Valkie wrote on Mar 29^th, 2017 at 6:40pm:



No Valkie. You're just too ridiculous to try any reasoned debate with.

Haven't you noticed that you're largely ignored?

... unless someone is bored.

Valkie wrote on Mar 29^th, 2017 at 6:50pm:



Yet we debate with almost everyone else.

What does that tell you Valkie?

Valkie wrote on Mar 29^th, 2017 at 6:58pm:


Valkie is as dumb as a box of rocks and has the morals of Hitler.

mothra wrote on Mar 29^th, 2017 at 6:42pm:


No, only by those apologist, sympathiser, sycophants who are afraid of having their ass handed to them.

  How long ago did this happen, again?????

And has not the various churches now become more civilized?

Thats right, they have moved on, grown up, become civilized and advanced.

But one CULT has rejected advancemen.
This CULT is still living in the dark ages and is stll living a brutal, primitive existence.

Yes, there have been wars, why not go bact to the Roman times, or the Incas, hell why not go back to neanderthal vs homosapiens.

This is simply history, and some have advanced.
But not the CULT.

All you have proven is how backward this CULT really is