The Crusades Dbq

1. The Crusades were a military campaign that began in 1095 CE when Christian armies waged a holy war against Muslims in the holy land of Jerusalem, at the urging of Pope Urban II. The Muslims began to seize and capture land of the Christians causing a multitude of battles and conquests by the Muslims. The once powerful Roman Empire, known also as the Byzantine Empire, was conquered by the Muslims and reduced in size to little more than Greece. It was certainly out of desperation, that the Emperor Constantinople asked the Christian armies of Western Europe to help their Christian brethren from the East. This was a time when the Christian faith and culture had to either defend its own self or submit to Islam; the Crusades were the only line of defense for the empire. The Crusade fighters were seen as errands of mercy on a mission to right the terrible wrong that had been done to their nation by the Muslims.

2. During the middle ages, the church and the

government were often ruled together, with the same persons in leadership roles of both, therefore the church’s focus was typically of a political/military interest in land acquisitions and promoting the stronghold of the church and the government. There were a total of seven Crusades which were all focused on gaining back the power of the Roman Empire from and against the Muslims and holding on to the power of the Roman Catholic Church. During the first of these Crusades the Christians successfully took Jerusalem from the Muslims in 1099, and the Roman Christian kingdoms built strong fortresses along the coast of Palestine and Syria, to defend their lands from invading Muslims.

The Church used guilt and the society’s loyalty to the religion to continue to wage war against the Muslims.

Consequently people of all social classes and ages were volunteering, fighting, and waging war out of a sense of duty to the church, without regard for the toll these battles would have on lives lost and damage to land. Even though the subsequent Crusades were encouraged by the Roman Catholic leaders, the battles were failures because the Christians ended up quarreling among themselves and the Muslims were able to take back land that had previously been fought over. Sadly, the Crusaders took advantage of the opportunity to rob and pillage in faraway lands, all under the self-serving sentiments of piety, self-sacrifice, and their love for God. The irony of the Crusades is that the Roman Catholic Church’s original focus was to rescue the disciples and reunite the Roman Catholic kingdom, when instead it divided the religion and allowed for weaknesses that the Muslims were able to use in their

favor.

B.
1. The Umayyad and Abbasid Dynasty had varying ideas of expansion. The Umayyad Dynasty was focused on military expansion and conquering territories to expand their power. The Abbasid Dynasty was more focused on the areas of expanding knowledge and less about conquering lands.
During the Umayyad Dynasty, the empire began to expand with military raid from Egypt westward and across the Mediterranean coast of North Africa. The emperor, Constantinople, sent his military across the Mediterranean to defend his territory, but they were quickly defeated by the Muslim armies. Even though defeated, the navy of Constantinople remained in North Africa at Tunis, in an attempt to again enforce the hold of Umayyad Dynasty. The reign of the Umayyad Dynasty was filled with waging war over land territories, losing ground, and regaining ground. From so many conquests can wealth, primarily from the people that lived on the conquered lands. A large percentage of the ‘booty’ went to the warring soldiers as an incentive to continue fighting and pushing forward into new territories, while the remaining would be distributed among the state officials or the adversaries that offered assistance in the capture and conquering of new lands. In review of the history of the Umayyad Dynasty, it’s evident that their greed for power and wealth were driving forces in their conquests and eventual downfall.
The Abbasid Dynasty expanded from Eastern Iran to Spain and Greece, and maintained extensive growth with the recapturing of Jerusalem. Jerusalem proved to be an important conquest both politically and culturally. As will all empires, their growth was based upon military conquests and gaining territories. However, the Abbasid Dynasty strengthened their reign with evolving academia, schools of law and medicine, as well as philosophy. The schools of law from Abbasid Dynasty are considered the basis for the current day legal system throughout the Middle East and Africa.
With so many new areas of progression and advancement within this dynasty, the most influential area of expansion and growth was within the advancement of the Islamic culture which further expanded into varying groups of Islam. Through their empirical conquests, the Abbasid Dynasty was beneficial in expanding the Islamic religion across three continents with lasting effects in modern societies.

2. After the death of Mohammad, Umayyad was the second Islamic caliphate that was defeated and replaced by Abbasid caliphate in 750. These two caliphates approached imperial expansion very differently through their ruling techniques, their treatment of non-Muslim citizens, and their eventual demise.
The Umayyad Dynasty’s reign began with conquering neighboring lands and eventually over took Saudi Arabia while moving east to conquer the Persians and then moving west to defeat Egypt. The model of imperial structure was learned from the Byzantine and Persian Empires while trying to mix in the ideologies of Islam. They put into practice a bureaucratic administration, created massive and impressive architecture, and promoted wealthy royals. A major difference between the two dynasties was in their interests towards land and sea; while the Islamic capital of the Umayyad Dynasty was in Damascus, the Syrian capital had shifted to Bagdad during the Abbasid Dynasty.
In contrast, the Abbasid Dynasty had a cosmopolitan and centralized administration, while still trying to hold on to its control of local societies. In an effort to prevent any one region from creating and maintaining a dominant leadership, the officers rotated their positions of power. Additionally, taxes were regulated and the Abbasid Dynasty relied on spies, military troops and armed guards to protect their strong hold.
Interestingly as societies were conquered by both dynasties, any conquered lands would be classified as Arab Muslim, non-Arab, and non-Muslim, and they did not try to convert them to Islam. Umayyad’s did not favor conversions, but eventually Umayyad started converting these conquered lands more aggressively because they were fearful they could not continue to rule over such a large majority of lands that were not under Islamic rule. The non-Muslim citizens were classified as ‘dhimmi’ and given second class citizenship status. The dhimmi were not allowed to actively practice their religion, were required to wear a distinguishing garment, and had to pay taxes. The Abbasids’ accepted the non-Muslim citizens into their societies and as a consequence of this, the Muslim faith expanded.
Just as in all societies, modern or ancient, the treatment of women has long been a point of both interest and contention. During the Umayyad Dynasty, the role and power held by women was quite significant. Women were treated with respect and importance; they were not secluded like wives or concubines and slaves during the Abbasid Dynasty.
Even though both dynasties shared the Muslim faith and basic ideology, their fundamental practices of government and treatment of their citizens allowed for huge variances in the future Islamic states of the world.

C. The Silk Road was a trade route approximately four thousand miles long, consisting of a group of interconnecting caravan routes that ran throughout central Asia, during the Han Dynasty. The Silk Roads were used by traders to transport silk from China to western Asia and eventually on to Rome. Not only was this trade route beneficial in carrying goods, it became a way to share knowledge among cities and empires in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Northern Africa; these routes were far reaching and impactful on a multitude of people. However, as beneficial as the Silk Road was, it also had a negative impact with the spread of disease, particularly the Black Death. The spread of this disease in these regions was significant for all who traded and traveled along these routes.

There are four different forms of The Black Death; septicemic, pneumonic, enteric, and bubonic. All of these forms are caused by the bacteria, Yersinia pestis; each form is identifiable by their distinct symptoms and deadly. All forms of this disease during the 14th century were spread through a host, usually by fleas transported by infected rats. Systematically, rat populations tend to increase with the human population and disease is spread quickly in highly populated areas. The societies living along the Silk Road were not exempt from the spread of this deadly disease. The trade routes were heavily traveled and the city-states had grown up around these routes were susceptible to the infectious diseases as the rat population increased.
During this time, the Silk Road was heavily used and controlled by the Mongol warriors and trading caravans consisting of horses and livestock which produced large amounts of waste, which in turn attracted the infected rats. As the infected rat population continued to grow, it was easy for the fleas to spread the bacteria as they were well hidden on their hosts, the infected rats, or inside of the traveling caravans. The fleas would then bite the humans and in this manner the Black Death was spread to humans in significant proportions, thus causing innumerable deaths across Northern Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe.