Greek Fire In The Crusades

The Crusades were a series of military and religious expeditions to reconquer the holy land of Jerusalem. They were led by the Christians and were meant to get the land back into Christian power and get rid of the ruling Muslims. From 1000 to 1400 over a dozen Crusades took place from all across Europe, where hundreds of thousands of soldiers fought, however, there were three major Crusades. Pope Urban II encouraged his people to join the first Crusade and started the biggest series of battles ever to take place. As a result of the first Crusade, four Christian kingdoms were created. The third Crusade was led by Richard the Lion-Hearted and resulted in a truce between the Christians and Muslims. King Philip, Richard the Lion-Hearted, and Frederick

It is an incendiary and often explosive device causing mass destruction. In the novel, during the siege of Jerusalem, Greek fire was the most common weapon used because of its powerful effects and simplicity to make. In the book, people were screaming as Greek fire fell on them, which was poured from above out of a tower. The author describes the sight of burning bodies and smell of burning flesh across the battlefield. This evidence is realistic, “Greek Fire was a flammable compound used in warfare by the Byzantine Empire with devastating effects against the fleets and armies of its enemies”(Streissguth). Both sources agree Greek Fire was a terrorizing and violent weapon used throughout Medieval Warfare. The Byzantine empire was able to thrive in Medieval Europe for over a thousand years because of military advancements like Greek fire. Also, because the Byzantines were located between the Mediterranean and the Black sea, during the Crusades, Greek fire rapidly spread from empire to empire, making Greek fire one of the most common weapons used during the time period. Greek Fire ultimately was the deciding factor of the Christians defeating the Muslims because of the drastic impact it had in many battles, including the first and the second Arab siege of Constantinople lasting from