Eastern Crusades: briefly about the main

Crusades briefly describe quite difficult. They were not united at all by a single military campaign, but continued for two centuries of European history, when Christian knights, commoners and even separate children went on hikes to the eastern lands.

Crusades: briefly on how it all began

And the beginning was laid in the fall of 1095.when the Pope Urban delivered his famous sermon. He called on the Christian soldiers to liberate the Holy Land and the Holy Sepulcher, located in Jerusalem and occupied at that time by Muslims. Actually, this was the first and main declarative goal of the Crusades. Of course, at their core they had more important reasons than just a desire to liberate the Holy Sepulcher.

Crusades: briefly about the premises

The territories of Jerusalem and Palestine were in the hands ofMuslims from the VII century. However, for several centuries this did not particularly embarrass Europeans-Christians. The fact is that until the XI century these lands were under the control of the Arab caliphs, who not only did not interfere, but also encouraged the travel of Christian pilgrims to their Holy

The Earth. Among other things, this had a positive effect on trade and the cultural exchange of the two civilizations. However, in 1076, Syria and Palestine were captured by the Seljuk Turks - more barbaric than the Arabs and less sensible people. Very soon in Europe, rumors began circulating about the desecration of the Temple of the Lord. Moreover, the growing power of the Seljuk state began to threaten the security of Byzantium, the eastern stronghold of Christianity. Thus, the crusades to a certain extent have become a defensive reaction of Europeans. Actually, it was the request of the Byzantine emperor Alexei Komnin for help and protection and anticipated the crusades. To put it briefly about the prerequisites of these campaigns, it is also important to mention that they were promoted by the economic and political processes within Europe itself. Feudal struggle led to the emergence of a significant number of landless feudal lords (younger sons) who sought to conquer their lands in far eastern countries. The townspeople and peasants, however, persecuted in these campaigns a general deterioration in the position of the mob (serfdom, etc.)

Two-hundred-year campaign of religious adventures

The first crusade was started in 1096. In 1099, Jerusalem was taken, and the first states of the Crusaders appeared on the occupied lands. In the following two centuries there were eight more hikes. Often they were headed by European kings.

Perhaps the most famous for the wideThe public is the English monarch, Richard the Lionheart. Often the campaigns were of a predatory nature. With varying success, members of the Crusades expanded and lost land holdings of knightly orders in Palestine. However, the two-hundred-year-long confrontation ended in the fact that in 1291 the last knight's fortress in the east, Akra, fell. One of the most important factors of the final defeat was the tough policy of the Crusaders and constant attempts to impose on the local population a feudal socio-economic system alien to them, which caused constant opposition from the latter and deprived Europeans of the necessary economic base.

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