Execution Essay: The First Crusade

The First Crusade began in 1095, when armies of Christians from Western Europe responded to Pope Urban II’s plea to go to war against Muslim forces in the Holy Land. After the First Crusade achieved its goal; with the Crusaders having slaughtered hundreds of men, women, and children in their invasion of the city of Jerusalem in 1099, the Christians set up several Christian states. Muslims in the region vowed to wage jihad, or Holy War, to regain control over the region. Many of the Crusaders simply went home, since they had completed their task. To govern the conquered territory, those who remained established four ‘Crusader states’ in Jerusalem, Edessa, Antioch and Tripoli. Muslim forces began gaining ground in their own jihad against the Christians in 1130. Edessa, the northernmost Crusader state, was captured in 1144. This caused King Louis VII of France and King Conrad III of Germany to lead the Second Crusade, which began in 1147. After the Crusaders assembled their armies at Jerusalem, they decided to attack the Syrian stronghold of Damascus with an …show more content…
The Albigensian Crusade, which lasted from 1208 to 1229, was supposed to wipe out the heretical Cathari or Albigensian sect of Christianity in France, and the Baltic Crusades, lasting from 1211 to 1225, sought to subdue pagans in Transylvania. The Fifth Crusade, put in motion by Pope Innocent III before his death in 1216, was more of a return to form. The Crusaders attacked Egypt from both land and sea, but were forced to surrender to Muslim defenders. In 1229, in what became known as the Sixth Crusade, Emperor Frederick II achieved the peaceful transfer of Jerusalem to Crusader control through negotiation. However, the peace treaty only lasted a decade and Muslims easily regained control of