The Pros And Cons Of The Crusades

The longest series of religious wars, the Crusades were a black spot on both Catholic and Islamic religions. The Crusades, fought between Christian Europeans and the Muslim Turks, occurred between the years of 1095 to 1272 (Alchin, "The Crusades”). In this total of nine Holy Wars, the goal of both sides was to obtain the holy land from the other. Out of the nine of the Crusades only three were notable; the First Crusade (1095-1099), Second Crusade (1147-1149) and the Third Crusade (1189-1192).

Pope Urban II called for the first crusade to help the Byzantines and to free the city of Jerusalem. The first Crusaders were hordes of French and German peasants who all together had no military experience and had very little success. Known as the "People's

Crossing the Bosphorus, they first captured Nicaea, the Turkish capital, and then set out for Syria. Arriving at Antioch, the crusaders left standing captured it, and then pushed on towards Jerusalem even after some delay. Reduced now to around half of their original numbers, the crusaders advanced slowly to the city of the kingdom of heaven. Upon finally reaching the holy city the armies prepared to siege its great walls. The first of the attempts on the walls by the Christian army was easily refuted, the second was successful, for seven days the carnage advanced, at the end of which time scarcely any of the Muslim or Jewish faith were left alive and the city was in the hands of the Christian crusaders by the year

He called for a second Holy War to rid the kingdom of heaven from the Muslim Turks. At the head, leading this second war was Kings Louis VII of France and Conrad III of German. They marched to Jerusalem in 1147, prevailing very little when it came to victories. With the small success the two kings of France and Germany decided to ally with the Portuguese King, Afonso I. The very little success of the second Crusade led to the Muslim Turks being able to gather themselves a new leader by the name of