The Positive And Negative Impacts Of The Crusades

2323 Words5 Pages

The Crusades began in 1096 when Pope Urban II called for large armies of Christians from Western Europe to come fight for their right to enter the Holy Land of Jerusalem. The Holy Land was taken by a fierce tribe of Muslim Turks called the Seljuks. This conflict led to a total of nine major wars that spanned over about two hundred years and with all this warfare it gave many impacts on the people and society. Although the Crusades had many negative impacts, including the deaths of many innocent Christians, Muslims, and Jews, the positive impacts of these wars, including breaking down the power of the feudal aristocracy had a greater significance on the people by introducing them to culture, literary works, and goods from different civilizations. …show more content…

The most significant negative impact that they brought was that the death toll was about two to six million of innocent Muslims, Jews, and Christians (Alchin). If crusaders were not killed there is a very likely chance that they were kidnapped or became slaves. And even though these wars are known to be between Christians and Muslims, anti semitism was also a big part that happened. Large mobs were assembled during the First Crusade and they were ready to start their journey of defeating “the enemies of Christ”, especially those who were Jewish (Biel 37). Devoted crusaders instigated searches for Jews in hundreds of European cities and villages and those they found, they accused of disbelief in Christianity and crimes against the church (Biel 37). They then forced the Jewish families into one small section of a city and set it on fire and as a result, thousands of men, women, and children were killed (Biel 37). These wars also caused the Byzantine Empire, which had stood for nine centuries, to crumble as a result of the sack of Constantinople (Biel 111). The sacking of Constantinople also intensified the split between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox that occurred in the Schism of 1054. This event was seen as so inexcusable and unforgivable that there was no chance of the split to heal. Overall the Crusades caused the presence of an inevitable, immovable wedge between Christians and Muslims, and the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches (Biel

Show More
Related

  • Violence in The Crusades

    614 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Crusades were a bloody time period. They were a military campaign by the pope and the Roman Catholic Church to take back Jerusalem from the Muslims. They lasted from the 11th- 13th century. They were catastrophic and left Europe in ruins. Although the Crusades were such a violent period of time, they had a positive impact in history because of their role in the renaissance and exposing the Western world to the Eastern.

    Read More

  • The First Crusades Analysis

    1928 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Crusades: Religious Devotion or Economy Desire?

    629 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Crusades took place in the Middle East between 1095 and 1291. They were used to gain a leg up on trading, have more land to show hegemony, and to please the gods. Based upon the documents, the Crusades between 1095 and 1291 were caused primarily by religious devotion rather than by the desire for economic and political gain.

    Read More

  • The Crusades Argumentative Essay

    1075 Words  | 3 Pages

    Among some of the largest conflicts in the world stand the Crusades; a brutal conflict that lasted over 200 years and was debatably one of the largest armed religious conflicts in the history of humankind. Since this is so clearly an event of importance, historians have searched vigorously for the true answer as to why the crusades began. Ultimately, because of accusatory views on both the sides of the Christians and of the Muslims, the two groups grew in such hatred of each other that they began to act in deep discrimination of each other. Moreover, Christian motives seemed to be driven mostly by the capture of Jerusalem, the dark ages of Europe and the common-folks desperation for land, wealth, and a spot in heaven. What seems to be continually

    Read More

  • The New Concise History Of The Crusades

    1217 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of The Crusades

    2071 Words  | 5 Pages

    Obviously the largest problem that came out of the war was the many deaths that were sacrificed for the wrong reasons. Since the crusades had finished because they finally realized it was a lost cause, some may say that those people died for no reason. Other instances where the crusades were bad were the now broken relationship between Jews and Christians and the bitterness between Christians and Muslims. On the first crusade, Christians went through Jewish communities on their way to Jerusalem. Forcefully baptizing them and killing them if they did not convert was not the best way to make the Jews care for the Christians. Christians after the crusades saw them as sacred religious movements, while the Muslims thought of them as the christians trying to expand their territory and rule as much land as they possibly

    Read More

  • The Crusades

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    A main cause of the Crusades was the treatment of Christian pilgrims. They were robbed, beaten, and then sold. The main group of Turks, the Seljuk Turks, were threatening and growing in power. The Byzantine Emperor, Alexus I, began to become worried and sent out an urgent plea to Pope Urban II, in Rome. He requested for Christian knights to help him fight the Turks. Pope Urban II did agree to his appeal although Byzantine Emperors and Roman Popes were longtime rivals. He also did agree with Alexus I, in fearing that the Turks were expanding. Pope Urban encouraged French and German Bishops and Nobles to also take part in this. “ An accused race has violently invaded the lands of those Christians and had depopulated them by pillage and fire.” This is when Pope Urban II called for a crusade to free the Holy Land. Urban did agree to this having some of his own motives in mind. He was hoping his power would grow in ...

    Read More

  • Should Middle Ages Be Called The Dark Ages Essay

    322 Words  | 1 Pages

    Which was started in 1095 by Pope Claremont. The Crusades were a series of Holy Wars against the Saracens.The reason for the crusades was fought over the ownership of The Holy Land and Jerusalem. The city of Jerusalem had a holy significance to the Christian Religion. There there a total of nine crusades. The first one lasted until 1095-1099. It established the Latin Kingdom that provided land for the crusading knights. These crusades had great impacted the wealth and power of the Catholic Church. It also affected political matters, feudalism, and intellectual

    Read More

  • First Crusades: The First Crusades

    1245 Words  | 3 Pages

    The First Crusade was established in 1095 in a council of the Church in Clermont. Alexius I Commenus, emperor of Byzantium, wanted to control Asia Minor and Northern Syria after losing to the Turks. He needed more Western troops and looked towards Pope

    Read More

  • The Crusades: Short Term and Long Term Effects

    1023 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • How the Crusades Changed Society

    1085 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1095 Pope urban II call all Christians to take part in what would become the world’s greatest Holy War in all of history. Urban’s called Christians to take up arms and help fight to take the Holy Land of Jerusalem back from the accursed Muslims. During this time of war the whole world changed. Land boundaries shifted, men gained and lost and gained power again, and bonds were forged and broken. The Crusades had a great impact on the world that will last forever. There were many major social, political, religious and economic changes that occurred during the crusades. But first, a brief history to give backbone to these reasons.

    Read More

  • Timeline of Wars and Reasons for Wars

    2075 Words  | 5 Pages

    The emperor of the Byzantine Emperor was upset with Turks encroaching on his empire. He went to the Pope Urban II and complained. He made up atrocities about the Turks. In 1096, The Pope Urban II promoted the Crusade to reclaim the Holy Land from the barbaric Turks. These crusades lasted till the 13th century. In the process, Jews were persecuted and lots of looting took place. Many countries took interest in the Crusades because they were ready for travel and adventure. They wanted to expand trade with the Middle and Far East and so the Crusades gave them a chance to open up trade routes with those countries. They used Christianity to justify the Crusades. In reality, they wanted to expand trade and gain more territorial land.

    Read More

  • The First Four Crusades in the Middle Ages

    907 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Crusades Dbq

    572 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Causes and Effects of the Crusades

    639 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Crusades were great military missions embarked on by the Christian nations of Europe for the purpose of rescuing the Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the hands of the Moslems. The Crusades were considered Holy Wars (1). Their main target was the Moslems not the Jews, although campaigns were also waged against pagan Slavs, Jews, Russian and Greek orthodox Christians, Mongols, Cathars, Hussites, Waldensians Old Prussians, and political enemies of the popes (2). There were many Crusades some more significant than others, but in general the Crusades was an important event in the history of Medieval Europe.

    Read More

More about The Positive And Negative Impacts Of The Crusades

Open Document