King Solomon
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2011
- Messages
- 2,990
- Reaction score
- 0
The Crusades were a series of religious expeditionary wars blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church, with the stated goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem. The Crusades were originally launched in response to a call from the leaders of the Byzantine Empire for help to fight the expansion into Anatolia of Muslim Seljuk Turks who had cut off access to Jerusalem. The crusaders comprised military units of Roman Catholics from all over western Europe, and were not under unified command. The main series of Crusades, primarily against Muslims, occurred between 1095 and 1291.
There were 9 Crusades conducted, after failures of each of the former ones. Ultimately, the Crusades failed to gain any permanent influence of the areas they wanted to capture (Levant, Jerusalem etc). Muslims gained the upper hand against these Crusades.
Crusaders submitting to Saladin after being defeated:
The last 'official' 9th Crusade:
The 10th Crusade:
Asia Times
The Arab world remembers well the words that British General Allenby, a descendent of the English Crusaders, uttered when he entered Jerusalem on December 9, 1917, "The Crusades have ended now!" Similarly, it has not forgotten either the content or the tone of the statements made by French General Henri Gouraud when he entered Damascus in July 1920. Striding to Saladin's tomb next to the Grand Mosque, Gouraud kicked it and exclaimed, "Awake Saladin, we have returned. My presence here consecrates the victory of the Cross over the Crescent."
Right after the terrorist attacks of September 11, Bush referred to the war against terrorism as a "crusade". His critics were quick to exploit what was probably an inadvertent misuse of the term. The term played right into the theme that bin Laden had been laying out for years.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your views? Do you consider this a crusade, as referred to by General Allenby, the French general and GW Bush??
There were 9 Crusades conducted, after failures of each of the former ones. Ultimately, the Crusades failed to gain any permanent influence of the areas they wanted to capture (Levant, Jerusalem etc). Muslims gained the upper hand against these Crusades.
Crusaders submitting to Saladin after being defeated:
The last 'official' 9th Crusade:
The future Edward I of England undertook another expedition against Baibars in 1271, after having accompanied Louis on the Eighth Crusade. Louis died in Tunisia. The Ninth Crusade was deemed a failure and ended the Crusades in the Middle East.[50]
In their later years, faced with the threat of the Egyptian Mamluks, the Crusaders' hopes rested with a Franco-Mongol alliance. The Ilkhanate's Mongols were thought to be sympathetic to Christianity, and the Frankish princes were most effective in gathering their help, engineering their invasions of the Middle East on several occasions.[51] Although the Mongols successfully attacked as far south as Damascus on these campaigns, the ability to effectively coordinate with Crusades from the west was repeatedly frustrated most notably at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260. The Mamluks, led by Baibars, eventually made good their pledge to cleanse the entire Middle East of the Franks. With the fall of Antioch (1268), Tripoli (1289), and Acre (1291), those Christians unable to leave the cities were massacred or enslaved and the last traces of Christian rule in the Levant disappeared.[52][53]
The 10th Crusade:
Asia Times
The Arab world remembers well the words that British General Allenby, a descendent of the English Crusaders, uttered when he entered Jerusalem on December 9, 1917, "The Crusades have ended now!" Similarly, it has not forgotten either the content or the tone of the statements made by French General Henri Gouraud when he entered Damascus in July 1920. Striding to Saladin's tomb next to the Grand Mosque, Gouraud kicked it and exclaimed, "Awake Saladin, we have returned. My presence here consecrates the victory of the Cross over the Crescent."
Right after the terrorist attacks of September 11, Bush referred to the war against terrorism as a "crusade". His critics were quick to exploit what was probably an inadvertent misuse of the term. The term played right into the theme that bin Laden had been laying out for years.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saladin's tomb, which the french general kicked and shouted "Awake Saladin! we have returned. My presence here consecrates the victory of the Cross over the Crescent."
Your views? Do you consider this a crusade, as referred to by General Allenby, the French general and GW Bush??