Posted on 04/18/2009 5:41:01 PM PDT by Conservative Coulter Fan
I’d argue more so. Not to minimize the importance of Tours, but the threat from the East was much more dire. If Constantinople had fallen, Eastern and much of Central Europe would’ve lain wide open for muslim conquest. Furthermore, it’d do away with the only significant Christian naval presence in the Mediterranean.
However, I see both as very important bookend victories which limited muslim gains in Europe and dashed their aura of invincibility.
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While I believe that communism is a more serious threat than islam is to the U.S., I wouldn’t downplay the importance of Europe’s growing mohammedan population. Coupled with Europe’s dwindling population and the moral ambivalence of her populace, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to see Europe succumbing to islam within the next 100 or so years.
Man, now I’m depressed... :(
global jihad bump
Thanks very much for the ping, Salvation. Thanks for the post, Conservative Coulter Fan. BUMP for morning read.
/FR...but its value/life/freedom goes on and I am thankful for it.
Once again Santayana's warning is very relevant.
It doesn't look as though the civilized world is paying attention.
George Patton wrote a poem just for people just like you.
Note
OK, you say that they have lost territory, but with asymmetrical war and Weapons of Mass destruction, it doesn't take a large number of men to wipe us out.
Just one nuke in a dozen of our major cities. They don't need huge armies. Right?
Actually, the Kingdom of Asturias far preceded both the Kingdom of Leon and the Kingdom of Castile.
The Kingdom of Asturias was established in 718 AD and had it's capital in Oviedo.
As the conquest moved south, the city of Leon, originally established by the Roman VII Legion (Legio Septima Gemina) was conquered in 742 AD. Over time, the old Roman name of "Legio Septima" had been corrupted to "Leon". Thus, the old Roman name for "Legion" morphed into "Lion".
As time passed, Alfonso III, King of León, divided his Kingdom into Asturias, Galicia and Leon between three sons, Ordoño, Fruela and Garcia upon his death in 910 AD. Thus began the "Kingdom of Leon" as a separate kingdom when it was inherited by García I of León. In the end, through the deathof Garcia and politics, Ordoño ended up ruling the united Kingdom of Leon, Galica and Asturias with the capital now in Leon.
Castile was originally newly reconquered territory on the eastern frontier of Leon and was just a county of Leon ruled by Counts of Castile that were, legally, vassals of the King of Leon.
With the passage of time, the Counts of Castile became more and more powerful until they were, in effect, independent although they remained, legally, vassals of the Kingdom of Leon. The rulers of Castile remained as "Counts of Castile" until Ferdinand I of León and Castile, Count of Castile, through civil war and marriage, gained control of both Castile and Leon and established the Kingdom of Castile in 1035 AD.
Sancho I of León (the Fat), was the son of King Ramiro II of León who assumed the throne of Leon in 956 AD and died in 966 AD. His reign was rather inglorious, being deposed once by the nobility led by the restless Count of Castile Fernán González.
The tale of knights from Cornwall might make a nice English legend but it is, in the end, just a legend with no basis in historical reality.
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I think this one’s calling you.
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“Wake up, Europe”
Seeming catastrophes can have strange and unpredictable consequences. Due to the loss of Crusader strongholds in the Eastern Mediterranean followed by the fall of Constantinople (and eventually the Balkans) to the Turks, trade between Mediterrranean and the East dried up. Wealthy commercial centers that profited from this trade (e.g., city states Venice, Genoa, Pisa) went into a relentless economic decline. Commerce shifted West and became a bonanza for the Atlantic countries. Portugal and Spain, followed by England, France, and Holland sailed around Africa to colonize India, South East Asia, and the Americas. Europe thereafter rapidly out-distanced the Muslim and East Asian countries Economically and militarily.
Now after a spectacular outburst of technological innovation followed by unimagined standards of living, an inexplicable guilty malaise has set in over Europe and more recently the U.S., and we seem almost determined to throw it all away. We need a good psychiatrist. Or at least a good kick in the A$$.
I intended to address that you also. I stole your punch line.
“The Western world has never taken Islam with the full seriousness it has earned!!!”
BUMP!
You are leaping ahead a couple of centuries after King San Cho I
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