The Fall of Constantinople had an economic impact on Europe as well. Constantinople is placed strategically at the Bosphorus Strait, a crossroads not only between Europe and the Middle East, and by extension Asia, but also the only sea route in and out of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. For centuries, the Byzantines used their own capital as their main trading hub, with near universal access to all of the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East, and Europe. European traders used Constantinople as a means of trading with the Orient (Asia) to get rare and expensive spices, salt, silk, and other exotic products from Asia. This was in fact partly why the Fourth Crusade had gone so awry; the Venetians wanted better trading rights to get easier …show more content…
No, the country in question was actually Russia. Russia, from the time it was only known as Rus, had close ties with the Byzantines, even though the Russians had tried invasion once before in 941 A.D.. Russia converted to Greek Orthodoxy only through the efforts of Byzantine missionaries spreading the faith in the north. Russian royalty and nobility frequently intermarried with Byzantine dynasties as well, giving them some claim on the Byzantine throne by blood. When the city had fallen and the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, had perished, “the Russians were eager to assume the mantle of authority that rested with the Byzantine Emperors in Constantinople.” (Thackeray and Findling 134). To take this torch the Byzantines were supposedly to the Russians, the rulers started calling themselves “Czars/Tsars”, or “Caesars”, and even “New Constantines”. To the Russians, if Rome was the first and Constantinople was the second, Moscow was the Third Rome. This feeling of importance and prestige of being the supposed “heirs” of the Byzantine and therefore Roman Empire allowed the Russians to more easily dominate Eastern Europe and the various ethnic groups that resided within their boundaries. Surprisingly enough, at the time, “...many Greeks were favorably disposed to this, since the Idea of having a powerful monarchy somewhere in Europe which could function as a protector and patron of the Orthodox faith appealed to them” (Thackeray and Findling 134). The Collapse of Constantinople allowed the Russians to gain the prestige and self-confidence they needed to later become the dominant power within Eastern
In Thomas F. Madden’s The New Concise History of the Crusades, he is able to effectively give an accurate depiction of the Crusades in a story-like manner. The expansive and convoluted history of the Crusades has been marred by myths and misconceptions about the true nature of these “holy wars”. In his history, Madden seeks to correct these maladies that plague the Crusades by using concrete evidence to support his claims. Although Madden does an excellent job in condensing the history of the Crusades into 225 pages, there are some improvements that he could have made in his history in order to make it less opinionated and more critical. This paper will criticize the effectiveness of Madden’s arguments and presentation of themes. The doctrine of “holy war”, the place of military leadership and rivalry, and the response of Muslim states and military leaders are all important themes addressed in The New Concise History of the Crusades that will be analyzed to extract Madden’s true intentions, concerns, and assumptions.
In 1453 the Ottomans took control of Constantinople, and effectively cut off direct European trade to East Asia. Because of this, in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, exploration in search of alternative routes became a key focus of Western European nations.
The First Crusade is often cited as one of the most damnable consequences of religious fanaticism. A careful inspection of the circumstances and outcomes, however, will reveal a resultant political restructuring of Europe under the banner of Christendom. The purpose of this investigation is to investigate Pope Urban II’s motives in initiating the First Crusade, with a particular focus on the consolidation of the Western Church’s influence in Europe. Among the primary sources that will be consulted are the letter sent by Patriach Alexios of Constantinople to Urban, and an account of Urban’s speech at Clermont. Relevant excerpts from both of these primary sources, as well as contextual evidence and a wide array of historiography, will be taken
How did the Crusades affect the Christians, Muslims, and Jews? The crusades impacted them all greatly for they were all a key part of the Crusades. Occasionally A religion may get a positive consequence but most of the time it was a negative one. Why did they all want Jerusalem? They all wanted it because it had a religious value to them. For the Jews, it was their spiritual city where the great temple once stood. For the Christians, it was where Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead. Last but not least for the Muslims it was where Muhammad rose to heaven during the night journey.
Thomas Madden’s Crusades is an exposition of the crusades, which occurred during the Middle Ages. The Crusades were a series of military conflicts of a religious character. They remain a very important movement in human history, and are hard to understand, as they include several themes and they lasted for a long time (about two hundred years, and the author covers a period of about eight centuries in his chronological work). Religion is, of course, the most recurrent theme we think about the Crusades, but is it the only factor to explain them? How does Madden, considered as one of the most foremost historian of the Crusades, expose them in his book? Is his work effective to understand this period of History? Madden has the ambition to relate the Crusades from the Middle Ages to today events, such as the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. For him, it is a recall of what happened in the past, and what can still happen today: making wars for religion. Madden wants to intrigue readers with this concise book so they go further to discover more about the Crusades.
The crusades in the middle ages were a long-lasting series of vigorous wars between Christians and Muslims over the Holy Land, Jerusalem. The crusades lasted for almost two hundred years. They began in 1099 and approximately ended in 1291. (What were the motives, and causes of these gruesome wars?) is the first question one might ask. To properly answer this question, I am about to analyze the first four crusades that had began in 1099 and ended in 1212.
They fought ferociously because they hoped for revenge for the Crusades (Doc 1). The fall of Constantinople also resulted in a division of the Silk Road, as Byzantine was located in between Eastern Europe and Western Europe. Therefore, the Silk Road was divided between the Ottomans and Western Europe. This led to a decrease of trade along the Silk Road between Western Europe and Eastern Europe and Asia. The picture from document seven shows the siege of Constantinople.
The First Crusade from 1095 to 1099 has been seen as a successful crusade. The First Crusaders carefully planned out their attacks to help promote religion throughout the lands. As the First Crusade set the example of what a successful crusade should do, the following crusades failed to maintain control of the Holy Land. Crusades following after the First Crusade weren’t as fortunate with maintaining the Holy Land due united forces of Muslims, lack of organization, and lack of religious focus.
Amongst the wars that have been fought in the history of mankind, The Second Crusade can be counted as one of the most disastrous. Completely contrary to the First Crusade, the Second Crusade was lead by two leaders with two un-cohesive agendas. This division of power and lack of military organization ultimately led to the massacre of thousands of Christian Crusaders and crushing losses along the way in the Crusaders' attempts to recapture the cities of Edessa and Damascus. The Second Crusade was the beginning of the fall of power of the Christian Crusaders for the first time in decades.
Loyalty to another person can cause people to act without thinking. Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare is a dramatic play about two lovers and the quest for love. Many of the decisions that were made throughout the play were bad decisions and affected Mercutio and Juliet’s outcome greatly. While Mercutio and Juliet both make decisions out of lack of impulse control, Mercutio also makes decisions that are influenced by violence, and Juliet makes decisions that are influenced by suicidal actions.
A major turning point in Medieval history were the Crusades. The Crusades were a series of wars fought between the Christian Europeans and the Muslim Turks, which occurred between the years of 1096 to 1272. In this Holy War the Christians goal was to obtain the Holy Land from the Turks, in which they did not succeed. Although the Christians did not meet their goal, many positives did come out of their attempt. Due to the reason that they did not meet their goal, yet numerous positives came out of their effort, many refer to this as a successful failure.
The Crusades and the Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire controlled most of the land on the Mediterranean Sea in the AD 500's. In the 600's, Arab Muslims conquered Palestine, which included Jerusalem and other sacred Christian areas. However, the Arab Rulers allowed Christians to visit the shrines.
The First Crusade was called by Pope Urban II in November 1095. Urban made a simple proposal to his people: “Whoever for devotion alone, but not to gain honor or money, goes to Jerusalem to liberate the Church of God can substitute this journey for all penance.” This proposal sounded very appealing to many. There were several motivations behind the Church calling for the Crusades. Some of these motivations helped persuade the knights to take up arms and help reclaim the Holy Land. Urban figured that it was a win win situation. The violent knights could become “good” again. They would be forgiven for all their sins and they would be saved. They could cease their violent lives and instead do something productive, such as help recover the holy
In 1095, the conflict between the Christians and the Muslims started a crusade (a military campaign in defense of Christianity) for the battle of Jerusalem. This crusade involved people of other religions besides Christianity such as the Jews but they did not play a major role during this time. The Crusades lasted almost two decades and consisted of eight different crusades. With all of the events and actions that took during the Crusades, it led too many effects throughout years. There were short term effects and long term effects from the crusades that effected people of all different cultures. Two places which have had many effects from the Crusades are Europe and Islam. The Crusades has had short term and long term effects on power, economic and classical knowledge throughout Europe and Islam.
By 350 A.D., Constantinople was one of the world's greatest capitals. The city was located between Asia and Europe, making it a very diverse and strategic place. The many bodies of water surrounding the peninsula gave Constantinople many trade routes as well as protection. The famous walls were also built to further strengthen security. Constantinople eventually rose to a beautiful city of strength and wealth. Its Greek heritage separated itself from the West with their religion of Eastern Orthodoxy. Despite the power of Constantinople, unending attacks and problems would eventually weaken the city. The first major catastrophe took place in 542, when a plague struck and killed massive amounts of people. The recovery was very slow, and it allowed for countless attacks. For Constantinople, however, it was just the beginning.