Yep…that time again. I will force feed my readers a little history to make their day. I apologize if you are not a history buff but…..you will get over it!
These days with all the Islamophobia there is always someone somewhere that will bring up the Crusades and use it as some sort of example of how to handle things…..the problem is most of their knowledge is second hand and biased…..for instance the 1st Crusade……1095.
The most passed around story is that the Seljuk Muslims were brutally attacking Christians in the Holy land……and the Pope got pissed……Launched by Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont in 1095, the First Crusade was the most successful. Urban gave a dramatic speech urging Christians to swarm towards Jerusalem and make it safe for Christian pilgrims by taking it away from the Muslims. The armies of the First Crusade left in 1096 and captured Jerusalem in 1099.
Now there is proof that the 1st Crusade was not necessarily needed……while Urban was lathering up the people to go to the Holy Land……you see the Muslims that were preventing the pilgrims from entering into the Holy Land were the Seljuks….by the time Urban got his troops on the way the Seljuks had been defeated by another Muslim group…the Fatimids. The Fatimids had no problem with the influx of pilgrims for they were interested in trade and tourism….their presence, the pilgrims, meant more cash for the coffers…..
The problem arose when the Crusaders got to the Holy Land and started their Holy War….the butchers of Europe, the same groups that had got on a Jew killing spree only years before the Crusade began killing everything insight…..both Muslim and Jews until they finally captured Jerusalem in 1099.
Another problem with these invaders……… From these conquered lands Crusaders carved out small kingdoms for themselves which endured for some time, though not long enough to have a real impact upon local culture.in doing so they began to oppress the locals until 1187 when Muslim general Saladin defeated the Crusaders army and retook Jerusalem. So the whole “saving the Holy Land” was a smoke screen for plundering the region…..
We could say that with a little patience Urban could have avoided all the death and destruction….that is if it was truly about the pilgrims and their visits to the Holy Land.
Haste makes waste!
Some things never change…….rush to war…….when war could have been avoided.
Sound familiar?
Thanx for your attention…….
Class dismissed!