The Crusades were defensive military operations against a hostile power whose aim was the conquering and subjugation of all who held differing religious views. The Crusaders merely sought to recover holy lands that had been Christian before they were occupied, and they fought at the invitation, in fact the entreatment, of the rightful owners of those lands. If the Byzantine Empire had not declined, there would have been no reason for them. Ultimately, because the Crusades failed, the Christian powers were forced to fight further desperate defensive battles against the invaders in the heart of Europe, at Vienna, battles they very nearly lost.
More schools should have the nickname "Crusaders," to honor those valiant men.
People who have no inkling of what happened in Spain, beginning in 711 A.D., are apt to cringe at the 'Crusader' term. The fact is that the muslims that invaded Spain, fought the early Christians with the same fanatic, suicidal zeal we're seeing today. Theirs, the muslims', was a holy war against us Christians! They would decapitate the Christian soldiers in the name of Allah, and pile up their heads in horrible, blood-dripping heaps, or mounds, which they would climb, sword in hand, to praise Allah! In the few centuries after the invasion, the Jews that followed these people got along with them fairly well, and it was they who were entrusted with the sale of blue-eyed visigothic children, boys and girls, captured or kidnapped by the muslims, who were sent to satisfy arab lust in the harems of North Africa and the Middle East! This concept of the 'holiness of war' was totally alien to the Christians. It was during the Reconquest of Spain that the Christians militias began imbuing themselves with the fighting zeal that eventually led to the Crusades! One should read Claudio Sanchez Albornoz's 4-tome history of Spain titled "Espana, un Enigma Historico", to get some semblance of what we're living today!
"The Crusades were defensive military operations against a hostile power whose aim was the conquering and subjugation of all who held differing religious views. The Crusaders merely sought to recover holy lands that had been Christian before they were occupied, and they fought at the invitation, in fact the entreatment, of the rightful owners of those lands. If the Byzantine Empire had not declined, there would have been no reason for them. Ultimately, because the Crusades failed, the Christian powers were forced to fight further desperate defensive battles against the invaders in the heart of Europe, at Vienna, battles they very nearly lost."
Not exactly. The Holy Lands were lost by the Byzantines to the Arabs centuries before the Seljuk Turks defeated the Byzantines at Manzikert and conquered Anatolia and the Holy Lands. When the Crusaders captured former Byzantine areas, they refused to honor their agreement with the Byzantines and held onto those areas (such as Antioch).
The Fourth Crusade attacked Christians, not Muslims, and resulted in the crushing of the Byzantine Empire and the eventual permanent conquest of Anatolia by the Ottoman Turks. Constantinople, which heroically defended Christendom and especially the mess that was Western Europe for centuries, received as its thanks from the Roman Catholic Church conquest, sacking, and pillage.
No wonder the Pope apologized. Unfortunately, the apology was too late for Constantine XI.
I agree. The Crusades while bloody were justified. Not every action, but the war itself.
When have the Muslims ever apologized for starting the whole thing? Even today, they call for more war.