The Crusades...a series of campaigns to control the Holy Lands and stop the Islamic tide

Highlights: The Crusades were a series of campaigns to control the Holy Lands and stop the Islamic tide. The campaigns were launched at the invitation of the Catholic Church under the symbol of the cross. They were intended to expand the influence of the Franks globally, stop Islamic expansion towards Europe, and serve the interests of various parties under a religious cover. The historical reality of the Crusades demonstrated the existence of many motives hidden behind the declared religious motive, including political, economic, and social, in addition to the personal interests of individuals and groups.

A series of European military campaigns of a religious nature, which lasted for about two centuries, between the years 1096 and 1291 AD, and included 8 major campaigns, which varied in their size, strength, and degree of success.

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The campaigns were launched at the invitation of the Catholic Church under the symbol of the cross, with the aim of liberating the Holy Lands from the hands of Muslims and restoring Jerusalem, along with many other undeclared colonial and economic motives, intended to expand the influence of the Franks globally, stop Islamic expansion towards Europe, and serve the interests of various parties under a religious cover.

Motives and reasons

The historical reality of the Crusades demonstrated the existence of many motives hidden behind the declared religious motive, including political, economic, and social, in addition to the personal interests of various individuals and groups. The reasons for these wars can be summarized as follows:

Religious motive:

By ridding Jerusalem of the hands of Muslims, and creating a safe atmosphere for Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land, this was announced by Pope Urban II when he gave a long, enthusiastic speech in the city of Clermont in 1095 AD, attended by a large gathering of clerics, knights, nobles, and the common people, in which he incited what he called “war.” Holy City" and urged the march to the Islamic East to liberate Jerusalem, against the backdrop of what he claimed was "the persecution suffered by Christian pilgrims in Jerusalem."

The Pope's invitation carried promises of forgiveness to all who participated in the war, and he distributed cloth crosses for the participants in the war to sew on their clothes. This invitation was in fact a way to consolidate the influence of the Holy See in Rome, extend its control over the Eastern Church, and increase its dominance in the Christian world.

Political motive:

By expanding European political influence and establishing principalities in the Levant, which is one of the hidden motives that pressured the Church to implement these campaigns, Pope Urban had expansionist political ambitions.

The church had influence over the kings and princes of Europe, who liked the idea of expansion. They wanted to establish principalities in other regions after Europe became fed up with feudal conflicts, and the knights were eager to participate, which opened their appetite to the possibility of obtaining new lands, material gains, and high titles.

Economic motives:

With the aim of obtaining the bounties and wealth of the countries of the Levant, and improving the deteriorating economic conditions in Europe, which lived in a miserable state of poverty, unemployment and hunger, and they received news about the state of prosperity enjoyed by Muslim countries, which was referred to as “a land flowing with milk and honey”, so their ambition was Get those good things and enjoy them.

The merchants of southern European cities, such as Venice, Pisa, Genoa, and Marseille, also supported the campaigns by transporting fighters with their fleets and delivering supplies to them, with the aim of obtaining huge profits, controlling important commercial centers in the Levant, and benefiting from the additional services granted to them.

Social motivation:

By getting rid of the feudal system and its consequences, the peasants and slaves were suffering from classism under the feudal system, and they lived a miserable life, lacking basic rights, in addition to injustice, forced labor, poverty, and a low standard of living. This class found an opportunity to escape and establish a new life in the country. Other.

Direct cause:

The direct reason is the decisive victory achieved by the Seljuks under the leadership of Sultan Alp Arslan in the Battle of Manzikert over the Byzantine state in 1071 AD, and the resulting seizure of many areas belonging to the Byzantines.

The steady expansion of the Seljuks terrified the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I, so he sought help from the Pope to support him in fighting the Seljuks, under the pretext of liberating the Holy Lands from the hands of the Muslims. Pope Urban II responded and called for a religious war against the Muslims, and Europe responded, which feared that the fall of Byzantium would open the way for the Seljuks. Rum to expand to Europe.

Campaigns

The Crusades included many campaigns, and included 8 main campaigns:

First campaign (1096-1099 AD)

Pope Urban II and the church men began an intensive campaign that lasted about 8 months to mobilize armies, which included the largest number of knights and princes. The mobilization process resulted in two campaigns:

The Commoners' Campaign:
It included large crowds of peasants, the poor, and bandits led by Bishop Peter the Hermit, who set out with them to Constantinople in 1096. There they met another group of crusaders led by Walter, nicknamed the Bankrupt, and they plundered, plundered, and corrupted themselves throughout their journey, which prompted the Byzantine Emperor to send them to Asia Minor. Where they met the Seljuks, who defeated them severely, until only a few of them remained.
The Princes’ Campaign:
It included 4 forces: the army of the knights of northern France and Lorraine, the army of the knights of western France and Normandy, the army of southern France and Provençal, and the army of the Norman knights. On their march, many from Germany, Austria, Hungary, and others joined them, and the number of armies was estimated at between 60 and 100 thousand fighters. They set off towards Constantinople, and from there to Asia Minor, where they besieged Nicaea, the Seljuk capital, and were able to seize it in 1097.

The Crusaders continued on their way to the Levant, and continued their victories until they were able to control large parts of the Levant, seized most of the cities of the coast, and were able to occupy Jerusalem in 1099. During their wars, they shed the blood of Muslims and Jews and committed massacres and atrocities, and even the local Christians were not spared from them, as they took over On their monasteries and expelled them from their churches.

Shortly after achieving their goal, the vast majority of the Crusaders returned to Europe, and those who remained established four emirates: the Emirate of Edessa, the Emirate of Antioch, the Emirate of Jerusalem, and the Emirate of Tripoli. They built fortified castles and gained the upper hand in the country.

Second campaign (1147-1149 AD)

After nearly 3 decades of Crusader presence in the Islamic Levant, the star of Imad al-Din Zengi, ruler of the Emirate of Mosul, began to shine. He began to emerge as the most powerful Muslim ruler in the region. He was able to expand his emirate by annexing Hama and Homs, then he was able to recover the Emirate of Edessa in 1144 AD.

Then the Pope called for a new campaign, to stand up to the rising Islamic power. The Second Crusade, which began in 1147 AD, consisted of two great armies, each of which included about 70 thousand soldiers, one led by the German Emperor Conrad III, and the second led by the King of France Louis. Seventh.

The two armies set out for the Levant, and the Crusaders began attacking Damascus and besieged it, but Sultan Nour al-Din Zengi, who assumed the rule of Mosul and Aleppo after the death of his father Imad al-Din, marched his armies to Damascus and defeated the Crusaders, who retreated to Europe, dragging the tails of disappointment after the failure of their campaign, and Edessa remained. Under Islamic rule, within a few years, Nur al-Din annexed Damascus and made it his base.

At that time, King Nasser Saladin al-Ayyubi had abolished the Fatimid rule in Egypt and became independent in power. After the death of Nour al-Din Zengi, he united the emirates of the Levant and Egypt, established the Ayyubid state, and confronted the Crusaders.

Battles took place between him and the Crusaders, the most famous of which was the Battle of Hattin, which took place in 1187 AD. It was a decisive battle in which the Crusaders were defeated and paved the way for the liberation of the cities of the Levant. Saladin went on to conquer Tiberias, Acre, Nazareth, Caesarea, Haifa, Saffuriyya, Nablus, Byblos, Ashkelon, Ramla, Gaza, Bethlehem, and Hebron, until... The victory march ended with the liberation of Jerusalem.

Third campaign (1189-1192 AD)

The Muslims' recovery of Jerusalem was a painful blow to the Crusaders. Pope Gregory VIII called for a new campaign, but he soon died, and his successor, Pope Clement III, continued the mission. Europe responded by mobilizing armies in which Germany, led by Emperor Barbaros, France, led by King Philip II, and Britain, led by King Richard, participated ( Lion's heart).

But Barbaros drowned in one of the rivers of Asia Minor before he reached the Levant, and only about a thousand soldiers completed the journey.

The Crusader army headed to Acre, besieged it, and took control of it in 1191 AD. However, King Philip cited his illness and returned to France, and Richard the Lionheart remained in the field alone. He occupied some coastal cities, but the campaign failed to achieve its main goal of seizing Jerusalem.

It resulted in the “Peace of Ramla” between the Crusaders and Saladin in 1192 AD, which included a truce, and among its provisions were:

The Crusaders retained coastal cities from Tire to Jaffa.
Guaranteeing the freedom of Christians to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem without submitting taxes.
A Crusader priest remains in Jerusalem.
Freedom of movement of each party in the territories controlled by the other.

Fourth Campaign (1202-1204 AD)

After the failure of the third campaign, the Crusaders realized the importance of Egypt in their successful arrival to Jerusalem, in addition to the importance of its ports for commercial activity, so they decided to seize it, and Pope Innocent called for a “holy war.”

The Crusader armies gathered in Venice in 1201 AD, to move their fleets to Egypt, but the campaign changed its course towards Constantinople, to support the Byzantine Emperor Alexius to regain his throne. The Crusaders were able to control Constantinople and hand it over to the Emperor, but a major dispute broke out over the compensation they were promised, so they occupied Constantinople in the year 1201 AD. 1204 AD, they wreaked havoc on it, and appointed a new ruler.

Fifth Campaign (1218-1221 AD)

Pope Innocent III renewed the call for a Crusade, and Europe began preparing its forces, which successively arrived in Acre, and from there the Crusaders set out for the Egyptian city of Damietta, located on the Mediterranean Sea, and besieged it until they captured it in 1219 AD and settled there.

In the year 1221 AD, the Crusaders began to advance south, and King Al-Kamil Al-Ayyubid confronted them and was able to defeat them crushingly. The Muslims seized their ships and war equipment, then pursued their remnants to Damietta and completely routed them from all of Egypt. King Al-Kamil established a village at the site of the battle that he called Al-Mansoura, to glorify the victory. achieved by Muslims.

Sixth Campaign (1228-1229 AD)

The Pope did not accept defeat, so he called for a new Crusade, led this time by the German Emperor Frederick II, who succumbed to pressure from the Pope, who was subjected to excommunication for his tardiness, so the Emperor went out in 1228 AD with an army of about 600 knights.

The Emperor gained gains that no campaign had achieved after the First Crusade. In 1229 AD, Frederick made peace with King Al-Kamil, so that the Crusaders would have Bethlehem and Jerusalem, with a strip of land connecting Jerusalem and Acre, while the Muslims would have the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock, and the rural areas. In return, he pledged Frederick banned any crusade into the region for ten years.

Seventh Campaign (1248-1254 AD)

After the death of King Al-Kamil, his son, King Al-Salih Najm Al-Din, assumed power. The truce that his father had concluded with Frederick had ended, and Pope Gregory IX had begun inciting war with the East a year earlier.

So the King of Navarre, Tybald of Champagne, mobilized a group of nobles, marched with them to Acre, and was able to form an army of a thousand soldiers. They clashed with the Egyptian army in a village between Ashkelon and Gaza in 1239 AD. The Muslims achieved a victory in the battle, after which the good king was able to regain Jerusalem in 1244 AD.

Europe was shocked by the news of the liberation of Jerusalem, and Pope Gregory IX called for a holy war, and the King of France, Louis IX, responded by leading his army to Damietta and seizing it in 1249 AD. King Al-Saleh camped with his armies in Mansoura, and the stay did not last long until King Al-Saleh died, and his son Turan Shah assumed power during the reign. His bond on the battlefield.

The Crusaders were eager for victory in the wake of the spread of the news of the king’s death, so they advanced towards the Muslim army, and a decisive battle took place in Faraskur in 1250 AD, in which the Muslims were victorious under the leadership of Turan Shah, and captured the King of France and a large number of his soldiers, and Louis IX was forced to pay a heavy ransom in exchange for his release. Entering into a 10-year truce, and returning to Europe disappointed.

The eighth campaign in 1270 AD

King Louis IX wanted to restore his prestige and compensate for the defeat he had suffered in Egypt, so he prepared a new campaign, the destination of which was Tunisia in the year 1270. Al-Mustansir Billah Al-Hafsi decided to take a defensive position, so he filled the coast of the village of Rades with soldiers, and no significant battles took place between the two sides, as Louis IX was wounded. He died of a fever and died, so the two parties made peace, after which the campaign left for France, and that was the end of the Crusades.

Liquidation of the Crusader presence

Turan Shah was the last king of the Ayyubids, and after him the Mamluk state arose. It was a powerful state that took upon itself the responsibility of purging the Levant from the remnants of the Crusaders. When al-Zahir Baybars assumed power in 1260, he established a naval force in both Damietta and Alexandria, and then began the attack on the emirates and the Crusader fortresses in the Levant. He was able to control Caesarea, Arsuf, Safed, and Jaffa, then seized Antioch and most of its affiliated cities. He also attacked the Emirate of Tripoli and regained the Fortress of Acre and the Fortress of the Kurds.

When Al-Mansur Qalawun came to power in 1279 AD, he continued to defeat the Crusaders, regaining Latakia and the Emirate of Tripoli.

He was succeeded by his son Al-Ashraf Khalil on the throne, whose reign marked the end of the Crusaders in the Levant. He went to Acre and seized it in 1291 AD, after which the Crusader strongholds were broken, and their cities and fortresses continued to fall, one after the other: Tire, Sidon, Tartous, and Beirut.

Results

The Crusades, which lasted for nearly two centuries, resulted in a number of results, which appeared in many aspects, most notably:

Military side:

The Crusades failed miserably. The Muslims were able to defeat the Crusader armies and regain Jerusalem, the Levant, and other cities that had been captured.

Civilizational aspect:

The European peoples who came to the lands of Islam were influenced by the aspects of civilization and civilization that they saw, so they borrowed from them and transferred them to their countries, and this appeared in many areas, including: the military and agricultural aspects, sciences, literature, philosophy, arts and architecture, and this was one of the West’s incentives towards the modern renaissance.

Political aspect:

The Crusades eliminated the feudal system in Europe, as many feudal lords sold their lands to participate in campaigns, and the slave class and peasants participated in the wars in large numbers, which was an essential basis for the feudal system, which limited the influence of the feudal lords, and led to strengthening the influence of the royal families, and enhancing The centralized power of kings, which had previously been greatly limited by feudal power.

Economic aspect:

The Crusades boosted international trade activity between East and West, and contributed to the recovery of southern European cities, such as Genoa, Venice, Pisa, and Marseille.

Religious aspect:

The Crusades raised the status of the papacy and increased the influence of the Church in Europe. At the same time, they deepened hatred between Muslims and Christians, and intensified the polarization between East and West on the basis of religious disparity.

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