The Crusades and their Impact

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Olson 1
The Crusades were a series of military campaigns to regain their holy land from the Muslims. This conquest led to the growth of worldwide culture and understanding. They began 1095 and were sanctioned by Pope Urban II. The crusades lasted for many years and finally ended in 1291. In the end the Crusades did not have a clear victor, but influenced our world today greatly. The Crusades brought many great things that ultimately impacted history in the middle ages because of its religious expansion, military conquest and trying to overthrow the muslims, and finally resorted to looting and stealing throughout their conquest.
It is easily visible today that the Crusades really strayed away from its central goal of retaking Jerusalem, but was accomplished in some ways. It was believed that Jerusalem was conquered for many years, but that reign was short lived (Ables 1). Jerusalem was under Crusader rule for about 88 years, but under palestinian rule for 192 years (Knox 2). There was seige between the two battling nations for many years and it appeared that they were in a stalemate. During the fourth Crusade they strayed away from Jerusalem and launched an attack against the city of Constantinople (Madden 2). The damage that was done to the city was unrevisable. This represented that it was not all about the holy land, but more of a time of conquest.
The Crusaders had a hard and long journey ahead of them, but they did not give up because they fought for something they believe in. The journey to retake their land was long and treacherous because they could not travel by water (Trueman 1). They had

Olson 2 to travel by land around the Mediterranean Sea which took longer and was very difficult. They travelled from France ...

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...e important trading colonies in crusader states, both in the Holy Land and later in captured Byzantine territory. (Ables 2). These ideas would be shared because their was more cultural expansion and development than actual fighting.
The Crusades brought many great things that ultimately impacted history in the middle ages because of its religious expansion, military conquest and trying to overthrow the muslims, and finally resorted to looting and stealing throughout their conquest. Through the nine Crusades ideas were spread, but also blood was shed over the Holy Land which both sides believed that it was rightfully theirs. The Crusades ended with no clear victor which leaves much room for historians to debate today, but the fact is that the true victory was that ideas and new ways of life were spread from continent to continent during a time of war and conquest.

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