The Crusades And Political Greed

The crusades was also a very sad and depressing time. Many people who didn 't even fight in the crusades had lost their lives because of the religion they believed in. If they were not the ones to lose their lives then they had lost someone important to them. Document 3 states that the crusades sometimes happened because christians were trying to take back their land from muslims. Some were only looking to fight for their religion but others had done it for fun.

Historian Arnold J. Toynbee said, “Sooner of later, man has always had to decide whether he worships his own power or the power of God.” In regards to the Crusades, Pope Urban II chose to worship his own power – yet he got thousands of Europeans to worship the power of God. The Crusades were a series of campaigns in which Europeans tried to take the Holy Land from Muslims. Pope Urban II headed the First Crusade, which lasted from 1096 to 1099, after he received a request for military aid from Alexios I. Alexios I was the Byzantine ruler, and his empire was facing attacks from the Seljuk Turks. The Crusades soon overtook all aspects of European society as the promise of salvation and wealth was too great to pass up.

Introduction: Provide background information on the Crusades, restate the DBQ question, state thesis with reasons. (include academic vocabulary and underline) The results of the Crusades was probably more negative than positive. In “Doc 4”, It states that “Moreover, the assault of one Christian people on another, when one of the goals of the Fourth Crusade was reunion of Greek and Latin churches, made the split between the Greek and Latin churches permanent.” The Crusades had a lot of hatred to the religions, and by 1204 the Crusaders had lost some of their appeal because the knights agreed to attack the Byzantine Capital instead.

However, there is more support for the fact that these wars were driven by desire for political and economic gain in the long run. The religious parts were just to trick those who believed so strongly in their faith to fight so the large surviving army could bring back wealth and to impact the Silk Road trade in their favor. A document from a Christian Monk who had participated in the Crusade talks about people’s motivations to join the Crusades, stating, “for they bore the sign of the cross on their garments as a reminder that they should mortify the flesh and in the hope that they would in this way triumph over the enemies of the cross of Christ…” This line from the text shows how dedicated they were to fight against “Christ’s enemies”, which were the Jews and the Muslims, and how much they desired to claim the town of Jerusalem. Now, that was the original reason for those people to head out and serve.

Different factors such as military strength, weakness of the opponent and religious motives played a key role in supporting Christians to establish global dominance. During the First Crusade, Christians had very strong military and strong leaders, which

The Crusades Even though, Crusader States in the Holy Land were unsustainable because of political instability. Long term problems were caused by Western presence in the Outremer1 and the political situation in Europe throughout the period. In Europe, the form of political dissension among the leaders of the various crusades caused everything to fall. They were many causes to the Crusades unsustainability like, ongoing tension between the Normans and the Byzantine Empire2 which culminated in the Norman defeat at Durazzo in 1107. The other main arguments include the lack of support for Jerusalem, as well as the lack of manpower, the debatable lack of strong leadership, and to a certain extent the arrogance of the Crusaders.

Pope Urban II’s speech at Clermont in 1095 was a call to crusade given outdoors to the nobles, commoners and church leaders of the Western European Christians (the Franks). The people were moved by this speech and it changed history, launching the first crusade to capture Jerusalem from the Muslim Turks. After hearing Pope Urban II’s speech, thousands of Western European Christians were moved to embark on the dangerous journey and fight in the crusade. I believe the main reasons they were moved and persuaded to fight was; 1) they felt it was their Christian duty, 2) Pope Urban promised them absolution for their sins and 3) they felt compelled to defend Christianity, their holy land and the Eastern Christians.

A crusade was a medieval military expedition, there were several created by the Europeans to get back the Holy Land from the Muslims in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries. There were four European crusades talked about; 1st Crusade, 2nd Crusade, 3rd Crusade, and the Children’s Crusade. The 1st Crusade began in 1096 when Pope Urban II agreed to help take back the Holy Lands of Jerusalem from Muslims or the Turks. There were many battles throughout Western Europe, Byzantine and Islam which were mostly won by Christians.

The rivalry between the popes and kings and the desire of churches to demonstrate political authority over Western Christendom caused the Crusades. The Crusades changed European culture because the crusade principalities made the European realize the things they were lacking in their lives. • papacy - the central administration of the Roman Catholic Church, of which the pope was the head • Franks - a group of people that had a significant influence on

The First Crusade was fought because of the change from . Arab to Turkish control over Jerusalem. effect on the people that were allowed to live there, and . the beliefs that they could have. Since the city was .

The crusades happened because of many reasons. First the Turks took over the holy lands. Then the Byzantine Emperor wanted to regain the holy land, so he called for the church 's help. Pope Urban II didn 't want to look weak, so he arranged for the first crusade. That is the cause of the crusades.

The Crusades were successful failures because they did not meet many of their goals, but left lasting effects. The Crusades was an attempt by the Roman Catholic Church to regain the Holy Lands from the Muslims. They believed they were fighting for god and all sins would be forgiven and defend the Byzantine Empire from the Turks. The first Crusade (1096 -1099) was successful for the Christians because they had a clear and organized religious based purpose. Crusaders the Christian armies were able to hold Jerusalem and in the process led to a massacre of Jews.

The Christian View vs. The Muslim View of the Crusades The crusades were a set of different military actions that were sanctioned by the Catholic Church and the papacy. Their intention was to recapture Holy Lands they believed were rightfully theirs from the Muslim people that had invaded it. As any attack on a large group of people would do, every major group was affected. The Christians had their own reasons and beliefs for going on these Crusades.

The Crusades were expeditions done by the Roman Catholic Church in alliance with Middle-Age Kingdoms and Empires. There were a total of nine Crusades during the period of 1095 to 1291, led by Saladin, Richard I "the Lionheart" of England, Pope Urban II, Frederick I the Holy Roman Emperor, etc. At first, the Crusades were a way to fight back the Muslims for their conquest of Jerusalem. The idea of the Crusade was a very good marketing strategy by Pope Urban II. It was told that any Crusader would be rewarded a place in heaven, and forgiven their sins.

Medieval Europe was a time of war and conflict between different peoples. One of the most important military endeavors of the time was called the Crusades, which was a campaign of Christian attempts to take Jerusalem from the Muslims, who occupied it at the time. Spread over several hundred years, many bloody battles were fought over the holy city. The Crusades involved the two largest religions on the continent and impacted a massive amount of people. The battles irreparably changed the lives of everyone they touched, turning peasants to knights and nobles to slaves.