What was the most interesting thing you learned from this blog?

What was one of this blog's strengths?

What was one area that this blog could improve?

Who was in the crusades and where did they take place?

There were two sides to the crusades. The sides were the Muslim rulers of Jerusalem and the European Christians. Crusades took place across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The very first crusade took place in 1095. The pope at that time, pope Urban II, started the crusade.

 The crusades were mostly fought because the European Christians knew that the Muslims had settled on Palestine, which the Christians believed that it was their holy land. They believed the land was sacred because Jesus had walked upon the soil there. They also believed that Jerusalem was holy because that is the town where Jesus was crucified on the cross.

What is a crusade and what are some examples of crusades?

A crusade is a fight against any enemies of the cross of Christ. What that definition means was that the Christians would go out and fight the non-believers and try to convert them to Christianity. For the Christian church, there were about 7 major crusades. Also, there were countless minor crusades. All of those happened only between the years 1095, when the first crusade was launched, and the year 1300, when the last major crusade was ended.

 Most of those Crusades were directed towards the Middle East to convert the Muslims to Christianity. Lots of the crusades were fought between the Muslims and the Christians for control of Jerusalem. So the fight for the holy land, Jerusalem was the cause of most of the crusades. For the Christians, it was a very long journey to Jerusalem so many people spent months or years on their crusades if they didn't die along the way.  

Who were some important people in the Crusades?

At first, there were many people trying to lead crusades into the holy land. One example of a leader is Peter the Hermit. Peter was a holy man who tried to lead an ill prepared and inexperienced group of Christians out to take over the holy land. Many or almost all of Peter’s men died from hunger, disease, ambushes, and accidents. If you survived all of that though, you most likely died in a great battle against Muslim warriors led by Kilij Arslan.

 The next key figure in the crusades was the Muslim commander Kilij Arslan. He ruled an empire based in Turkey and recruited from the people in Turkey. His favorite battle strategy was to ride up to the enemy on fast ponies, shoot at them with bows and arrows, and then ride back to safety before they could get hurt by the enemy. That way, they would kill a lot of the enemy while losing little of their own men.

What caused the first crusade and what happened in it?

The first crusade was started by a speech spoken by pope Urban II to the Council at Clermont in 1095. The speech surprisingly appealed to much more of the public than expected and it led to a crusade that was lead by the holy man, Peter the Hermit. This group was full of non-prepared and fanatical Christians. Eventually, after many hardships, all in the group was slaughtered by the Muslims near the city of Nicaea.

 The next part of the first crusade was led by a group of barons from a number of different nations. A quick victory for the barons allowed them to control western Anatolia. After that, the group swept across the Mediterranean’s east coast and captured many different cities. Then they reached Jerusalem in July 1099 and took over the whole city, but they killed many innocent residents of the city. With Jerusalem, they established a kingdom along the Mediterranean’s east coast.

What were the results of the Crusades and why did they end?

       The very first crusade gained much of the land that was gained by the crusaders. Those crusades to the Middle East caused other crusades also. Crusades were launched against Muslims in Egypt and Spain. Also, there were crusades launched against non-Christians in Europe and Christian heretics.

 By 1291, all of the land that had been gained by the very first crusaders had been taken back by the Muslims, including Jerusalem. Crusades were launched all the way into the 1400s, but all the crusades trying to recapture the holy land were unsuccessful. Later crusades were launched because of political reason and caused the religious values of crusading to weaken for many Christians.