Did the Crusades Spoil 'Five Centuries of Peaceful Coexistence' With Islam?

I smell caca

There is no peaceful coexistence with Islam.

No

Western chroniclers weren’t privy to the mass slaughters in south Asia in the name of the prophet at the time that far exceed in number our wimpy two world wars.

What coexistence? The Crusades happened because of Islamic invasions.

By saving the Christians in the Holy Land?

Pure BS. Here is the 1st 50 years of Islamic agression post Mohammad

632: Death of Muhammad. His father-in-law, Abu-Bakr, and Umar devised a system to allow Islam to sustain religious and political stability. Accepting the name of caliph (”deputy of the Prophet”), Abu-Bakr begins a military exhibition to enforce the caliph’s authority over Arabian followers of Muhammad. Abu-Bakr then moved northward, defeating Byzantine and Persian forces. Abu-Bakr died two years later and Umar succeeded him as the second caliph, launching a new campaign against the neighboring empires.

632-34: Widespread tribal rebellion on the death of Muhammad. Abu Bakr, the first caliph (khalifa) reimposes the authority of the Islamic government throughout Arabia and sends Arab armies of conquest against Mesopotamia and Syria.

633: Muslims conquer Syria and Iraq.

634: Victory against the Byzantines in Palestine (Ajnadayn).

634-644: Umar (c. 591-644) reigns as the second caliph. The Muslims subjugate Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia and Persia. Garrisons established in the conquered lands, and the Muslim rulers begin to take control of financial organisation.

635: Muslims begin the conquest of Persia and Syria.

635: Arab Muslims capture the city of Damascus from the Byzantines.

August 20, 636: Battle of Yarmuk (also: Yarmuq, Hieromyax): Following the Muslim capture of Damascus and Edessa, Byzantine Emperor Heraclius organizes a large army which manages to take back control of those cities. However, Byzantine commander, Baänes is soundly defeated by Muslim forces under Khalid ibn Walid in a battle in the valley of the Yarmuk River outside Damascus. This leaves all of Syria open to Arab domination.

636 (?): The Arabs under Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas defeat a Sasanian army in the battle of Qadisiyya (near Hira), gaining Iraq west of the Tigris. A second victory follows at Jalula, near Ctesiphon.

637: The Arabs occupy the Persian capital of Ctesiphon. By 651, the entire Persian realm would come under the rule of Islam and continued its westward expansion.

637: Syria is conquered by Muslim forces.

637: Jerusalem falls to invading Muslim forces.

638: Caliph Umar I enters Jerusalem.

639-42: Conquest of Egypt (642 taking of Alexandria) by ‘Amr ibn al-’As. Muslims capture the sea port of Caesarea in Palestine, marking end of the Byzantine presence in Syria.

641: Islam spreads into Egypt. The Catholic Archbishop invites Muslims to help free Egypt from Roman oppressors.

641: Under the leadership of Abd-al-Rahman, Muslims conquer southern areas of Azerbaijan, Daghestan, Georgia, and Armenia.

641/2: Under the leadership of Amr ibn al-As, Muslims conquer the Byzantine city of Alexandria in Egypt. Amr forbids the looting of the city and proclaims freedom of worship for all. According to some accounts, he also has what was left of the Great Library burned the following year. Al-As creates the first Muslim city in Egypt, al-Fustat, and builds there the first mosque in Egypt.

644: Muslim leader Umar dies and is succeeded by Caliph Uthman, a member of the Umayyad family that had rejected Muhammad’s prophesies. Rallies arise to support Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, as caliph. Uthman launches invasions to the west into North Africa.

649: Muawiya I, a member of the Umayyad family, leads a raid against Cyprus, sacking the capital Salamis-Constantia after a short siege and pillaging the rest of the island.

652: Sicily is attacked by Muslims coming out of Tunisia (named Ifriqiya by the Muslims, a name later given to the entire continent of Africa).

653: Muawiya I leads a raid against Rhodes, taking the remaining pieces of the Colossus of Rhodes (one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world) and shipping it back to Syria to be sold as scrap metal.

654: Muawiya I conquers Cyprus and stations a large garrison there. The island would remain in Muslim hands until 0966.

655: Battle of the Masts: In one of the few Muslim naval victories in the entire history of Islam, Muslim forces under the command of Uthman bin Affan defeat Byzantine forces under Emperor Constant II. The battle takes place off the coast of Lycia and is an important stage in the decline of Byzantine power.

661-680: Mu’awiya, founder of the Umayyad dynasty, becomes the caliph and moves the capital from Mecca to Damascus. The Umayyad family rules Islam until 750. Ali’s followers form a religious party called Shiites and insist that only descendants of Ali deserve the title of caliph or deserve any authority over Muslims. The opposing party, the Sunnites, insist on the customs of the historical evolution of the caliphate rather than a hereditary descent of spiritual authority.

662: Egypt fell to the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates until 868 A.D. A year prior, the Fertile Crescent and Persia yielded to the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates, whose rule lasted until 1258 and 820, respectively.

667: The Arabs occupy Chalcedon, threatening Constantinope. Sicily is attacked by Muslims sailing from Tunisia.

668: First Siege of Constantinople: This attack lasts off and on for seven years, with the Muslim forces generally spending the winters on the island of Cyzicus, a few miles south of Constantinople, and only sailing against the city during the spring and summer months. The Greeks are able to fend off repeated attacks with a weapon desperately feared by the Arabs: Greek Fire. It burned through ships, shields, and flesh and it could not be put out once it started. Muawiyah has to send emissaries to Byzantine Emperor Constans to beg him to let the survivors return home unimpeded, a request that is granted in exchange for a yearly tribute of 3,000 pieces of gold, fifty slaves, and fifty Arab horses.

669: The Muslim conquest reaches to Morocco in North Africa. The region would be open to the rule of the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates until 800.

672: Muslims under Mauwiya I capture the island of Rhodes.

672: Beginning of the ‘seven year’ Arab siege of Constantinople.

674: Arab conquest reaches the Indus River.

Correct, Islam was going to conquer all of Europe. The only thing that stopped them was the winter weather in Austria.

The Crusades were a reaction to Moslem conquest, not the cause.

Not to mention the enslavement and massacres.

I just finished watching a series on Prime by a scholar who covered all the Crusades. Bottom line is they most often were poorly conducted and quickly failed, except for those undertaken to drive Islamic forces out of Europe.

Powerful and obvious rebuttal to the anti-historical statement.

I just finished watching a series on Prime

Please fact-check this source.

No. The crusades were a counter attack on the ever-expanding Islamic caliphate. We didn’t kick all the Muslims out of Europe until World War I when we savaged Turkey.

Centuries of constant Muslim aggression.....

No, the Crusades were a response to the expansion of Islam via invasion.

Even though they “lost”, the Islamists are still trying to take over.

The Crusades should have never been stopped !!!

Ask a Spaniard. (Not a leftist one, LOL!). It was anything but peaceful.

There’s a statue in Northern Spain commemorating the five young women who cut off their left hands to prevent themselves from being given to the Muslims as the yearly tribute paid by that Christian kingdom to their Muslim overlords in the south.

They were supposed to turn over a certain number of young women and boys “in perfect condition” to be sold in the slave markets or given to the Muslim ruler (who got first dibs). Cutting off one hand made the women no longer “in perfect condition.”

Professor John Esposito

Should have his professurship permanently revoked.