The crusades were a series of holy wars launched by the Holy Roman Empire beginning in the eleventh century. These crusades are the topic of numerous world history and religious studies classes, requiring that students obtain a thorough knowledge of their events. However, seeing as the crusades spanned over two hundred years, gaining a full and complete understanding of the wars' activities can seem difficult and daunting. The following steps will enable one to easily and efficiently remember the events of the holy crusades.
The background of events that led to the crusades is very detailed and elaborate. However, the primary reason for the waging of these holy wars was that Muslims had settled in Jerusalem, leading to much agitation amongst the Christians. The Christians believed that Jerusalem was their own holy land, reserved for their private religious purposes. They took little heed of the rights of other religions and claimed this area as entirely their own. Thus, the Pope and other political leaders sent soldiers into the holy land to try to retrieve it from the Muslims. These soldiers consisted primarily of Franks from France and citizens of the Holy Roman Empire.
In order to understand the exact implications of the crusades, one must have a thorough knowledge of the conditions faced by the crusades' warriors. The crusades occurred hundreds of years ago, and war during the eleventh century was immensely different from war today.
The crusaders faced a difficult opposition. The Muslim soldiers whom the crusaders battled against believed that they had just as much of a right to Jerusalem as the Christians did, and fought against the crusaders with great ferocity. Additionally, Muslims had the supreme advantage of fighting on their home turf.
However, the crusaders were also granted several unique privileges that they took complete advantage of, although these privileges are seen as very unmoral and controversial today. Christian clergymen granted the crusaders special indulgences which in essence allowed the soldiers to do anything they wished while traveling with the army. As they migrated throughout Europe and Asia, the soldiers would constantly loot civilian homes, rape local women, and arbitrarily murder citizens. The crusaders were never punished for their crimes because of the indulgences that they had received.
Obviously, if one is to have a complete understanding of the crusades, he or she must know about the wars' results. Overall, the crusades were unsuccessful. There were roughly nine individual crusades that were launched between 1095 and 1272. While the Christians won some battles, in the end the Muslims were victorious and were allowed to remain in their home land.
