A common misconception of the crusades reflect that they were simply unprovoked expeditions against the amicable and nonbelligerent Muslim people. The reasoning seen behind this thought was that Christians wanted to capture Muslim land while forcibly converting the inhabitants of those lands to Christianity. The knights capturing Muslim land were described as falling away from what is right and proper to their beliefs. While many believe such falsehoods, the crusades meet the requirements of not only a just war, but a holy war. The First Crusade took place in 1905 to aid the Byzantine Church in the battle to take Jerusalem back. The Christians were successful in their fight to gain Jerusalem back; however, crusaders were only aware that they must capture complete control of the town, so they massacred not only Muslims, but Jews along with women and children. The Second Crusade occurred because Christian lands had once again been taken over by Muslim rule. The Christians did not do well in this battle which allowed for Muslim to retain full control of Jerusalem and other Christian lands. The Third Crusade granted Christians the right to visit Jerusalem. Any further attempts to take back Jerusalem from Muslim hands failed, but the crusades did lead to the spread of many goods and inventions throughout Europe. The Third Crusade is …show more content…
Civilians of all cultures were called to defend the religion they were born and raised within. For many, the decision to join the holy wars was sealed the moment war was called. Each soldier in the crusades is remembered as one that simply wanted to remain faithful to his Creator, and in doing so, could lose his life. While the war itself may be a subject of controversy, those who fought the battle are considered to be courageous and faithful. Any cruel ac committed within the crusades was forgiven by their religion, so any crime that took place was forgiven and