Hattin: Trapping a Victory
On June 26, 1187, the Muslim Sultan Saladin crossed the river Jordan with 20,000 of his followers - an army consisting of roughly 12,000 light horsemen and a number of footmen to a location south of the Sea of Galilee where he and his men encamped. They had been ravaging the nearby countryside in hopes of provoking a Christian attack, but had been unsuccessful.
The Frankish Christians led by King Guy in Jerusalem had also mobilized their own army and camped at the spring at Saffuriyah . Marshall W. Baldwin says that the Franks too had an army 20,000 strong, but it was different in composition. The "Latins", as they are called, were a cavalry of 1,200 heavily armored knights, 3,500 lightly armored, mounted sergeants, several thousand foot soldiers, as well as a large number of native auxiliaries as mounted bowmen .
Between the two great forces (the largest memorable, Christian gathering in years) lay an arid terrain; the hot summer sun made travel extremely difficult, especially for large numbers. One could easily expect fatigue, dehydration, and low morale when venturing to the east of Saffuriyah until reaching the Sea of Galilee. Strategists of each side knew the consequences of traveling across the region and so, "the waiting game" was played to see who would be the one to be provoked into a trap through the valleys. Although Saladin had unified large sections of the Muslim world, his army was still not a standing one. The crusaders counted on the fact that Saladin would have trouble holding his army together for a long period of time because his soldiers were not full-time warriors. Many were also tradesmen or farmers that easily disbanded when there was no action to get back home .
Saladin knew his situation and continually harassed the area of Tiberias in failed attempts to provoke the Christians into leaving Saffuriyah, until he decided on July, 2 to besiege the city itself. He moved the majority of his troops to the high ground west of Tiberias. From this location, the Muslims could block entrance to the city while still accessing water supplies from the Sea of Galilee through the eastern side of the ridge. Tiberias was poorly fortified and Saladin's well - supplied forces had no trouble entering its walls. Residents of the city took refuge in the citadel, including the wife of Count Raymond of Tripoli who urgently sent west for help.
A major part of the fighters in the crusades were untrained and unqualified peasants who went out to get back the holy lands for the church from the ?evil Muslims? (Medieval Europe 164-167). This was called the Peasants Crusade. In order to get these peasants, who knew no better, to go and fight the church told them that if they were to go and fight these ?horrible Muslims? then they would automatically get admission into heaven. Of course this automatically appealed to the peasants being that they were so god-fearing. They thought that if they helped the church then they would go to heaven and so they jumped at such an opportunity to get a get-into-heaven-free card. These people in all their religious glory went in and attacked the city of Nicaea (TWW, 104), and got killed. The city of Nicaea was a well fortified city controlled by Seljuk Turks. The peasants went in and attacked and literally got slaughtered. Only 2000 peasants survived their hasty attack. Unfortunately most of the crusades went this way(TWW)
Both the Crusaders and the Muslims wanted power. In contradiction the church wanted to reunite Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire with the Roman Catholic Empire giving the Church extra power. Baldwin of Boulogne is a key example in portraying the Crusader’s quest for power; splitting off from the rest of the army and traveling east until he reached Armenian where he would establish himself as ruler. Like Boulogne, Bohemond of Taranto also abandoned the majority to better his own personal status—he took over as Prince of Antioch. Through these two prominent figures we see that power was a necessity to the leaders of this era; and unfortunately the people look up to their leaders and do likewise. However, if these Crusaders were fighting for “religious factors” then they would recognize that God holds the ultimate power and they are nothing without him. But these power hungry individuals obviously lacked humility...
Schlegel, August Wilhelm. Criticism on Shakespeare s Tragedies . A Course of Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature. London: AMS Press, Inc., 1965.
Lamb, Charles. On the Tragedies of Shakespeare. N.p.: n.p.. 1811. Rpt in Shakespearean Tragedy. Bratchell, D. F. New York, NY: Routledge, 1990.
The Tragic Play Antigone by Sophocles has a Conflict between religious morals and loyalty to the state and its laws. This struggle is displayed through the characters Antigone and Creon. Antigone’s life meets a tragic end in the play, but her death makes her a martyr leading to the citizens to follow her view of religion.
Flannery O’Connor's perception of human nature is imprinted throughout her various works. This view is especially evident in the short stories, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and “Revelation.” She conveys a timeless message through the scope of two ignorant, southern, upper class women. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” O’Connor presents readers to a family who is going on a road trip with their selfish grandmother. She is a religious woman who does not follow the set standards that she preaches. Similar characteristics are exposed in “Revelation.” As the self centered Mrs. Turpin sits in the waiting room, she contemplates on her own status with God. Nevertheless, she still commits the sin of judging others. In both of O’Connor’s short stories, these controversial protagonists initially put up a facade in order to alienate themselves from their prospective societies. Although the grandmother and Mrs. Turpin both believe in God, O’Connor utilizes theme to expose that they also convince themselves that they can take on His role by placing judgement on people who, at the most fundamental level, are in the same category as them.
In the following paper, I plan to discuss the source of conflict between the title characters of Antigone and Creon in Sophocles’ “Antigone”. I also plan to discuss how each character justifies his or her actions and what arguments they give for their justifications. I will also write about the strengths and weaknesses of these arguments. The final points I try to make are about who Sophocles thinks is right and who I think is right.
...ty of the Nile’s flooding, they were trapped behind a canal and slaughtered from all sides by the Egyptians who were led by the leader of the Damietta, Sultan Al-Adil. With their army slaughtered and no reinforcements, the Crusaders had no choice but to return Damietta to the Egyptians. This was the final failure of the Crusades era, after this, the Church did not unify any other countries in order to take back Jerusalem.
In order for the crusades to begin, the Christians needed to gather an army to travel and fight the forces of Muslims. With all the power being held by monarchies at this time, the church needed to be cleaver in order to gain troops to put their lives on the line. To gain the support of these warriors and dedication of men, Pope Urban II (1088-1099) challenged those morals of men by telling them to grab their weapons and join the holy war to recover the land of Jerusalem. It was not the challenge that convinced men to take part in this war. The promise of “immediate remission of sins” attracted the men to stand up for their religion and beliefs while at the same time, promising them a trip to heaven when life comes to an end. With this statement, men instantly prepared for battle which in a very short period of time gave the church power which has been held by the monarchies. Men of rich and poor prepared for battle, some wearing ...
The contentious debate about our healthcare system is an epitome of the ongoing political circus in America. With the 2012 elections looming just around the corner, we can expect the vitriol to rise rapidly. Our country spends twice as much on health care per capita compared to other developed countries. The current system is so dysfunctional and projected spending will increase every year, putting an unbelievable strain to our fragile economy. Majority of health care dollars spending are channeled on to patients with chronic illnesses, many of which can be prevented. Unfortunately, medical doctors practicing preventive care are being squeezed out of the equation. The shortage of primary care doctors in America is inevitable because of limited income, lesser prestige, and fewer opportunities.
Salah al-Din Yusuf bin Ayub or Saladin as he more commonly known was born in 1138 A.D. The meaning of his Arabic name is "righteousness of the faith." As a child Saladin was a studious boy who studied the Koran as well as poetry. He was known to love studying the Koran and other literature more than joining and fighting in the military. At the age of fourteen, he entered into the military service of his uncle Nur ed-Din, another great and respected Arab warrior. Another teacher of the young Saladin was the Saracen chief Zenghi who in 1144 overthrew the city of Edessa, which had been an outpost of the Western world for many years because of its proximity to Antioch. Saladin learned his military lessons well and began to stand out among Nur ed-Din's forces.
The play “Antigone” is a tragedy by Sophocles. One main theme of the play is Religion vs. the state. This theme is seen throughout the play. Antigone is the supporter of religion and following the laws of the gods and the king of Thebes, Creon, is the state. In the play Creon has made it against the law to bury Antigone’s brother, something that goes against the laws of the gods, this is the cause of most conflict in the story. This struggle helps to develop the tragic form by giving the reader parts of the form through different characters.
Ultimately, I find that Antigone is a play that can be interpreted in many different ways. Through the examination of characters, events and scholarly arguments I have attempted to show that the catalyst for Antigone’s tragic end stems from the edict of Creon, an edict that as a ruler he is within his rights to make – but which Sophocles ultimately forces Creon to acknowledge as wrong. However, whilst the actions and events leading up to this event cause Antigone to disregard the law in order to pay burial rites to her brother, her treatment of Creon and acceptance of her fate must show that she herself accounts for a decent share in the responsibility for her own death.
Kyd, Thomas. "The Spanish Tragedy: Ghost's Monologue." The Spanish Tragedy: Ghost's Monologue. N.p., 2003. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
In December 2007, the United States of America experienced a very scarce yet appealing setback. In fact, because of this specific dilemma between 200,000 and 500,000 were left unemployed and without a stable home. The national Bureau of the Economic research defined this nationwide downfall as “The great recession”. According to the U.S Bureau of labor statistics the unemployment rate has not made a drastic improvement since the start of the great recession. Unemployment has become that is still rising today with a slow rate of change. Unemployment is usually expressed as a number or as a percentage of a larger number. Although it has been ambiguous who has to be included in the percentage, there are members of society without a job, for whom it is certain that should not be added. Officially the unemployed are the people who are registered with the government as willing to work and able to work at a going wage rate but can’t find suitable employment despite an active search for work. In the article “why long-time employment can’t get back on track”, the author begins speaking on a ...