Crusades: Definition, Religious Wars & Facts - HISTORY - 0 views
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The Crusades were a series of religious wars between Christians and Muslims started primarily to secure control of holy sites considered sacred by both groups.
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In November 1095, at the Council of Clermont in southern France, the Pope called on Western Christians to take up arms to aid the Byzantines and recapture the Holy Land from Muslim control. This marked the beginning of the Crusades.
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A less organized band of knights and commoners known as the “People’s Crusade” set off before the others under the command of a popular preacher known as Peter the Hermit.
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Encamping before Jerusalem in June 1099, the Christians forced the besieged city’s governor to surrender by mid-July.
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Muslim forces began gaining ground in their own holy war (or jihad) against the Christians, whom they called “Franks.”
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News of Edessa’s fall stunned Europe and caused Christian authorities in the West to call for another Crusade
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In September 1191, Richard’s forces defeated those of Saladin in the battle of Arsuf, which would be the only true battle of the Third Crusade.
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In response, the Crusaders declared war on Constantinople, and the Fourth Crusade ended with the devastating Fall of Constantinople, marked by a bloody conquest, looting and near-destruction of the magnificent Byzantine capital later that year.
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Throughout the remainder of the 13th century, a variety of Crusades aimed not so much to topple Muslim forces in the Holy Land but to combat any and all of those seen as enemies of the Christian faith.
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A so-called Children’s Crusade took place in 1212 when thousands of young children vowed to march to Jerusalem
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From 1248 to 1254, Louis IX of France organized a crusade against Egypt. This battle, known as the Seventh Crusade, was a failure for Louis.
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a new dynasty, known as the Mamluks, descended from former slaves of the Islamic Empire, took power in Egypt
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While the Crusades ultimately resulted in defeat for Europeans and a Muslim victory, many argue that they successfully extended the reach of Christianity and Western civilization.
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After the Crusades, there was a heightened interest in travel and learning throughout Europe, which some historians believe may have paved the way for the Renaissance.
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Even today, some Muslims derisively refer to the West’s involvement in the Middle East as a “crusade.”