Religious Wars: The Crusades

Many issues throughout history can be looked at differently because of perspective. When looking at both sides of a conflict a person can learn a lot about both sides.The Crusades were a progression of religious wars endorsed by the Latin church in the medieval period. Particularly the campaigns in the eastern Mediterranean with the point of recouping the Blessed land from Islamic power. Christians and Muslims came up with different strategies for fighting the war. The Christians used a specific strategy along with other techniques whereas the the Muslims used mostly basic strategies that were also used by the Christians. Despite varying their differences, both sides of the crusades were similar in their reasons for fighting, how they fought

At the beginning of its decline, Diocletian split the empire into two parts, effectively cutting off the Eastern side of the empire from picking itself up and plunging it into the dark ages. The western side of the empire, later called Byzantine, which continued to be ruled by Diocletian, began to pick itself back up and flourish with Constantinople being its capital. The crusades were fought, in an attempt by the Christians/Franks under Pope Urban ll to reclaim the holy lands from Muslims. The Muslims’ goal was also to expand their religion. Both sides used similar tactics in order to fight.

From 1095 to around 1291 the “major” Christians and Muslim fought the crusades. The military tactics used in the crusades were commonly used by both sides. One example of this was mounted knights, which were in the front of the army and had a huge impact of the strategies used to fight. Almost all strategies in the crusades were based around the knights. Another tactic used by all crusaders was “outflanking” which was where soldiers would move around the adversary so they can outmaneuver them. As a last resort tactic all crusaders used what was known as a “frontal assault” which was where an army would focus on an enemy’s front and the attackers subjecting

One example of this was in weapons. Siege weapons began making their debuts in warfare. Large scale castle assaults became more common, especially when attempting to breach the walls of Jerusalem. Trebuchets, ballistae, and other siege weapons were given a reason to be improved and thus the engineering of these weapons was a priority. Leading to them becoming more advanced. Another impact of the crusades was an increase in trade because of new products being introduced. As a result of that cities and towns grew in importance and so did port cities becoming trading centers. This happened because trade networks were starting to become more safe again and because parts of the world were shifting from feudalism back to a monarchy (with limited power.) Even though the crusades were a period of fighting and upheaval they also accomplished in moving the world