The Crusades
The Crusades are known today as a huge part of history, mostly for the impact on christianity and for the changes they brought on in Europe's history as well as the surrounding areas. They were arguably some of the most interesting battles of the time from a historical standpoint, simply because of why the battles took place in the beginning. To really get a full understanding of the Crusades, you need to learn the reasoning behind them along with how unique they were from today's wars. The Crusades were sparked from attacks made by the Seljuk Turks against eastern Christians. Before the invasion, Christians had lived successfully under the Islamic empire, and were only required to pay taxes in return for peace. They had even
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The two goal outcomes were to: 1) Save the eastern Christians and 2) Take back the Holy Land, or Jerusalem. Both of these objectives were seen as doing God’s work and in spreading God’s compassion and saving the east; you guaranteed yourself a spot in heaven. The contrary was that if you refused to help, you were against God and against the church. The really unique thing about the Crusades were that the Crusaders themselves didn’t see it as warfare, but instead they believed that they were pilgrims. Direct fighting and battles weren’t condoned by the church, as they disagreed with most christian beliefs. However, the Crusades to most modern historians were just that; a series of battles against the Islamic Empire, but to the Crusaders, the battles were just side conquests of the bigger mission. The First Crusade was arguable the one of the only successful Crusades. They were able to take back Jerusalem and momentarily provide safety for the East. They stood strong until Saladin, a great Muslim war leader, attacked the Holy Land and forced the Christians to evacuate. This caused them to increase their war effort and bring on the third