To Nasr: The truth about the crusades

Submitted by Richard Lion Heart (United States), Feb 24, 2006 at 22:25

Dear Nasr,

Your information concerning the crusade is incorrect. Maybe you are deliberately spreading disinformation. Let me you and others about the true motives behind the crusade which most people probably don't know about.

First of all, the crusades were not launched so europeans could aquire muslim property or land by force. The crusade came as a direct result of muslim aggression againts the Byzantine empire. By the year 1095 the muslims had conquered half the Byzantine empire through jihad. These conquered lands included Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine etc... With the loss of these lands, Christians lost many cities where Christianity first took root. These cities included Antioch, Jerusalem, ect... The muslims were threatening to conquer the other half of the Byzantine empire, which prompted emperor Alexi to ask Rome for help. Pope Urban II rallied Christian europe in an effort to stop the violent advance of Islam and the conquest of historical Christian lands.

The crusaders are not without reproach. The massacre of the Jews and Muslims after the fall of Jerusalem was unnecessary and barbaric. However the crusades did stop the expension of Islam for three centuries. Which explains the fact that the Byzantine empire finally fell in 1453. Was it not for the crusades the Byzantine empire would have fallen centuries earlier. Although the crusaders did not succeed in holding onto Jerusalem, they succeed in defeating the muslim ambition of destroying Christianity.

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