Was The Crusades Justified Essay

The Crusades are probably some of the bloodiest pages of history. The Christian states of Europe and the Muslims, also called Saracens at the time, were locked in near-constant warfare for two hundred years, from the 11th to the 13th century (“The Crusades”). These wars revolved around the Holy City, where the saviour Jesus trod, Jerusalem. In 1065, Turks took the holy city by force and killed 3000 Christians (“The Crusades”). This started a chain of events that led to the Holy Crusades. In order to fully understand this topic, one should explore the effects of the Crusades, how it impacted society, whether or not the conflict was resolved, whether or not it was justified, and what we can do to prevent such a horrible conflict from happening

again.

The Crusades had many effects on the world, as would be expected of any two-century long period of warfare. A few things influenced by this period were commerce and social lives (“Effects of the Crusades” Middle-ages.org.uk). But the most important effect was the amount of lives lost. According to different estimates, anywhere from 2,000,000 to 6,000,000 people were killed over 200 years (“Effects of the Crusades” Wordology.com). These holy wars caused so much death and destruction it’s hard to imagine.

Some less drastic effects these crusades had were the increase in the wealth of the church and the power of the Papacy, the increase in demand for boats and transportation of men and goods, and the rise of chivalry (“Effects of the Crusades” Middle-ages.org.uk). The Papacy, by being the christian leadership, accustomed people to looking to them as leaders. The Papacy’s wealth increased by the sale of churches, if only for a fraction of their worth, and the gifts of land in return for prayers and pious benedictions (“Effects of the Crusades” Middle-ages.org.uk). The increase in demand for the transportation of goods and men to support the wars positively affected commerce by making people build more ships to transport these goods, along with many other things to be traded throughout the Mediterranean. The Crusades offered an opportunity for romantic adventure, making them one of the most important contributors to the rise of chivalry. The Crusades also encouraged ship-building, and allowed many goods to be transported from cities like Damascus and Alexandria to all of Europe (“Effects of the Crusades” Middle-ages.org.uk).

There were many effects and impacts the Crusades caused, both locally and globally. A few more minor ones are as previously stated the start of chivalry, and more transportation of goods throughout the Mediterranean. But then there’s the way more important fact that Jerusalem is still a point of interest in the Middle East. Currently, The Israelis and Palestinians are struggling for control of Jerusalem. (“Jerusalem: Jerusalem Today”). This is still a huge conflict today, and it probably will be for a long time to come in the future.

The Crusades ended in the late thirteenth century.

At the end of the conflict, the christian side failed in several aspects. Around 1272, the final christian city in Syria, Acre, fell to Mamaluke attacks from Egypt (“Minor Crusades”). This marked the fall of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem (“The End of the Medieval Crusades”). One reason the Crusades ended up failing are that the christians were never fully united. The Greek and Roman churches hated each other and prevented united action (“The End of the Medieval Crusades”). Another reason is that they lacked control of the Mediterranean Sea. Instead of being able to go straight to Syria, they had to take a long, overland route from France or Germany through Bulgaria and the Roman Empire’s territory (“The End of the Medieval Crusades”). In addition, the Crusaders never had enough people to colonize a country the size of Syria and absorb its Muslim population (“The End of the Medieval Crusades”). By this time, people had lost faith in the Crusades, and stopped believing in them as “the way of God.” They believed Jerusalem would be best retaken “by love, by prayers, and by the shedding of tears.” (“The End of the Medieval Crusades”)

The Crusades as a whole was one of the bloodiest pages of history yet. It’s impossible to count the number of dead. This is because for the most part, people didn’t record deaths except in large rounded numbers. For example, someone might write that they “killed everyone in a city,” or something along those lines (Nicholson). It’s suspected that writers who recorded things like that were boasting about how amazing their warriors were and what great victories they won

(Nicholson).

The justification for the Crusades is what the Turks did to them in 1065. The Turks took Jerusalem, killing 3000 christian pilgrims and either destroying their churches or turning them into stables (“Cause of the Crusades”). The pilgrims were there because it was believed to be a very pious act to undertake a journey to a sacred or holy place, especially a place where the Saviour of the world had walked, like the Holy City, Jerusalem (“Cause of the Crusades”). The Turks insulted and persecuted the Christians, killing most of them and treating the rest like dirt (“Cause of the Crusades”). Retaliation was in order, or maybe some sort of resolution, but 200 years of constant warfare and an ocean of blood? And because it is “The will of God?” It seems a bit much to me. And doesn’t the christian God want people to love and get along with each other? He probably didn’t mean killing each other by that. Maybe the translation was off. I do not believe the Crusades were justified.

There are many things society can do to prevent something like this from occurring again. First of all people need to treat each other as equals, and if not friends, acquaintances. We need to stop hating people for seemingly no reason. Two hundred years of constant warfare and seemingly endless bloodshed all because of a chain of events starting with the Turks taking Jerusalem for themselves by force. If people can forget about old hatreds, ignore their inner greed, and start caring for those in the world around them, something like the Crusades will never happen again. But if we cling to those hatreds, and give in to greed, someone will try to take something for themselves, and people will retaliate, and it could end up being another Crusade.