I don’t think this justifies Obama’s comments, though.
6 thoughts on “The Crusades”
Examining the history of the Crusades only taking into account what happened in the Middle East is myopic. The conquest of Granada in Spain, hence the end of Islamic rule in Iberia, only happened in 1492 the same year Columbus sailed to the Americas. For a long time the Mediterranean was controlled by Muslim marauders making any sea voyage to the Middle East a hard task at best.
For a long time the Western Roman Empire was in turmoil. Any attempt to conduct a retaliatory strike in the Middle East was basically impossible. Also the Western powers had conflicting strategic interests with Byzantium so it is hardly surprising they only started getting help when it was basically too late. Even some of the “help” was anything but like the sacking of the Fourth Crusade.
Why people went to the Crusades? Some did have a religious motive. Others were small feudal lords or non-first born sons and their retinues who wanted to conquer a piece of land on the Middle East. There were all sorts of people there.
The crusades were a reaction to what Islam has always been from its creation to today. Claiming they were morally equal is sickening.
It’s the same old cherry picking crap to ignore the big picture… and I’m saying this as one that believes it had nothing to do with christ’s teachings.
The crusades were a reaction to what Islam has always been from its creation to today.
And that’s why the First Crusade was kicked off by massacres of German Jews?
Claiming they were morally equal is sickening
Terrible things have been done by members of, and in the name of, every major religion. The fact that merely pointing that out sickens some listeners says nothing about the truth of the statement, and everything about the listeners’ inability to deal with that truth.
The Crusades were in response to muslim aggression, that is all anyone really needs to know.
No, it really isn’t all anyone needs to know. Among other things people ought to know, they should know that the Crusades (not just the First Crusade) were devastating for European Jews. Think of them as a prelude for the Holocaust. We could talk about the dead and the injured, but we could also talk about how they changed the way Jews lived in Europe forever after. If you are interested in Holocaust Prevention, you might want to read up on them: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/crusades.html
Examining the history of the Crusades only taking into account what happened in the Middle East is myopic. The conquest of Granada in Spain, hence the end of Islamic rule in Iberia, only happened in 1492 the same year Columbus sailed to the Americas. For a long time the Mediterranean was controlled by Muslim marauders making any sea voyage to the Middle East a hard task at best.
For a long time the Western Roman Empire was in turmoil. Any attempt to conduct a retaliatory strike in the Middle East was basically impossible. Also the Western powers had conflicting strategic interests with Byzantium so it is hardly surprising they only started getting help when it was basically too late. Even some of the “help” was anything but like the sacking of the Fourth Crusade.
Why people went to the Crusades? Some did have a religious motive. Others were small feudal lords or non-first born sons and their retinues who wanted to conquer a piece of land on the Middle East. There were all sorts of people there.
The crusades were a reaction to what Islam has always been from its creation to today. Claiming they were morally equal is sickening.
It’s the same old cherry picking crap to ignore the big picture… and I’m saying this as one that believes it had nothing to do with christ’s teachings.
The crusades were a reaction to what Islam has always been from its creation to today.
And that’s why the First Crusade was kicked off by massacres of German Jews?
Claiming they were morally equal is sickening
Terrible things have been done by members of, and in the name of, every major religion. The fact that merely pointing that out sickens some listeners says nothing about the truth of the statement, and everything about the listeners’ inability to deal with that truth.
Girls show us how to beat ISIS.
The Crusades were in response to muslim aggression, that is all anyone really needs to know.
No, it really isn’t all anyone needs to know. Among other things people ought to know, they should know that the Crusades (not just the First Crusade) were devastating for European Jews. Think of them as a prelude for the Holocaust. We could talk about the dead and the injured, but we could also talk about how they changed the way Jews lived in Europe forever after. If you are interested in Holocaust Prevention, you might want to read up on them:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/crusades.html