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.
I didn't know that a man named Peter the Hermit lead a group of untrained christians to fight but if you ask me I think that was a bit foolish.
ReplyDeleteI think that Peter the Hermit was not very smart, and he was pretty much asking for his troops to get killed, if they were inexperienced. I think that Kiliji Arslan was very smart in his battle strategy, although it possibly didn't work all the time.
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