Were the Crusades Just Wars?

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Wars are started due to different beliefs whether it is religion, ethics, etc. The Crusades were a series of “Holy Wars”. Prior to the Crusades, in 1009 the Arabs rule Jerusalem, a sacred site to both Christians and Muslims. At the same time, El Hakim ordered the burning of the Holy Sepulcher. This brought mistrust with the Muslims. In 1054 the Church split into the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox. Sixteen years later, the Turks conquered Jerusalem and started to attack the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines sent a letter to the west asking for help. Pope Urban II read it and then called for the first Crusade to take back the Holy Lands. Thousands marched to the Holy Sites and conquered Jerusalem. However, only this Crusade was successful as the other two resulted in failure. The second and third Crusade was called to take back Edessa and Jerusalem which were recaptured by the Muslims. Although some of the Christian reasons were right, their attacks on Muslims were mostly unjustified.

From the Christian perspective, their attacks on Muslims during the Crusades were justified. The first reason Christians thought that the Crusades were justified was because the Holy Sepulchre was burned. In 1009, El Hakim, the leader of Jerusalem also considered mentally ill, called for the burning of the Holy Sepulchre (Video Guide). Muslims listened to him and completed his orders. This shows that the Muslims contradicted their stance on religious tolerance and did not take into account of whether or not their leader was right or wrong. That caused bad blood between Christians and Muslims especially in the religious point of view. The second reason as to why the Christians believe that the Crusades were justified was due to the fact that the ...

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...their actions include killing others in a similar fashion to what happened in the Crusades. Another thing is that, those who recruit these radicals often use religion to foreplay and get their followers to literally do their bidding. Osama Bin Laden never blew himself up in the name of God yet he tells others to do it. From that, there is a similar relationship between some of the Pope’s motives and terrorists today. There is also a use of the word Crusade for many invasions of countries. Vladmir Putin even stated that Operation Odyssey Dawn was similar to "reminiscent of a medieval call for a crusade.” (Russia’s Medev). This signifies that the Crusades and Overall, it’s important to understand that history will repeat itself in the same way but in a different form. **work on)

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/21/russias-medvedev-slams-putin-crusade-remarks/

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