Post by semjaza on Sept 1, 2007 22:34:40 GMT -5
JERUSALEM
On June 7, 1099 the Crusaders finally cast their eyes on the Holy City of Jerusalem, the center of the world. Jerusalem is protected by two walls. The outer wall being lower than the main city wall. It also has a 62 foot wide and 23 foot deep dry moat between these walls. It is a more than formidable defensive fortification.
The size of the city, along with the size of the attacking Crusader army, made a fully enveloping siege of the city impossible. Jerusalem was governed and defended by an Egyptian named Iftikhar al-Daula, and he saw to the preparation of the city's defenses effectively. He expelled all the Christians in the city to prevent Jerusalem from being compromised in the way that Antioch had been previously, even though the same precaution had failed to save Antioch from the consequences of espionage and betrayal. He also poisoned all the nearby wells forcing the Crusaders to expend considerable manpower retrieving and transporting water from the Jordan River. Also, Iftikhar al-Daula is not expecting a long siege, as he has sent word to Cairo requesting reinforcements. He has confidence in his defensive preparations and is therefore willing to resist the attacks of the Crusaders, fully knowing the consequence that befalls cities that resist sieges in warfare of this time....sacking! His overconfidence, even though based on reasonable knowledge and observation of the situation, is at least as much to blame for the ensuing sequence of events as are the actions of the Crusaders.
On June 12, a hermit approached the Crusader's encampment claiming to be a prophet. He said he had a message from God and stated that if they strike the city in the ninth hour of the next day, the city would be delivered into their hands. This, in spite of the fact that a source of wood to construct siege towers, ladders and trebuchets (counterweight catapults) had not yet been located. Such weapons were to bulky and heavy to transport and had to be built on location and they were necessary for a reasonable chance at successfully assaulting the city. The Crusaders were simply not prepared to attack Jerusalem's fortifications at this time. Nonetheless, being firm believers in visions at this point, they attacked anyway. No doubt they were themselves overconfident they possessed the unique blessing of God from their previous successes, which they considered nothing less than Divine Intervention.
The Muslims are totally surprised at the foolhardy assault the Christians made the next day, June 13. Few of the Crusaders even made it to the outer wall and those that did were compelled to retreat when Greek fire was poured on them. The medieval equivalent of napalm, Greek fire would burn anything it attached to, and was very difficult to put out. The attack is a dismal failure and the Muslims are left thinking little of the Crusaders intelligence or sanity. This only furthered the overconfidence of Iftikhar al-Daula.
Although this miracle failed to materialize, another one, requiring a little more patience, did. Six Genoese and English vessels bearing supplies for the Crusaders, arrived in the port of Jaffa. By utilizing the wood used to construct the ships, the Crusaders now had the materials to build proper siege weapons. This was time consuming work, and with an Egyptian army closing in on them, time was something they could not spare. It was known to them that the Egyptian army would arrive within the month. As had happened so many times on this Crusade, they found their backs against the wall facing impending disaster.
And it happened....again. The Crusaders were presented with a vision and an accompanying miracle. A priest named Peter Desiderius received a vision from none other than the recently deceased Bishop Adhemar. Adhemar, you will recall, had succumbed to the plague that struck Antioch after the successful conquest of the city. Now, in the form of this vision, he chastised the Crusaders for their lack of faith and ordered them to fast, and to walk around the city of Jerusalem....barefoot! He told them that if they would parade around the city barefoot in humility before God, and put their sins behind them, then in nine days the city would be delivered to them.
On the morning of July 10, the 20,000 Crusaders did just as the vision instructed. Many of the Crusaders were wearing only their underwear on their barefoot march around the city. The Muslims, already overconfident in their situation and doubting the sanity of the Crusaders, jeered at them and made obscene gestures as they paraded around the city. Eight days after Adhemar's vision, they are prepared to make their attack. Their siege machines are constructed, including a massive battering ram that requires sixty soldiers to operate.
On July 14, 1099 the Muslim defenders of Jerusalem are awakened by the sound of the massive battering ram pounding against the outer defensive wall. Their attempts to disable the battering ram with Greek fire are this time met with accurate Crusader trebuchet fire. They quickly smash through the outer wall and begin filling in the moat that separates the two walls with rubble and rock to make it passable. As it grows dark the Crusaders are able to bring their siege towers toward the larger inner city wall. The Muslims throw tremendous volleys of arrows and Greek fire at the towers as they approach the wall. Several times the towers and the battering ram are hit, and start to catch fire, but the Crusaders successfully squelch the flames. Nightfall forces the Crusaders to pull back and wait.
The attack resumes again the next morning. The Muslims attempted to cushion the walls from the battering ram by hanging bales of straw and matresses over the wall. Unfortunately for them, this quickly catches fire, and greatly reduces their visibility as the smoke rises up and into the faces of the Muslim defenders up on the high wall. By noon on July 15, Godfrey's siege tower reaches the inner city wall. The Crusaders would enter the city at the same hour Jesus is said to have died on the cross and, perhaps more importantly, on the exact day the vision of Bishop Adhemar had prophesized.
And then it happened....
If you have been told anything about the Crusades, doubtless it was of the massacre that followed as the Crusaders stormed into Jerusalem. By all the standards of warfare at the time, the Crusaders would be justified in sacking the city and killing all the city's inhabitants. It sounds gruesome to modern ears, but this was a time when war was not entered into lightly. Particularly where the applications of laying siege to a city are employed. If a city is approached by an aggressor army and it surrenders, generous terms are expected and normally granted. No army believed there was any good or glory to come from waging wars on noncombatants. However, if a city chooses to resist and a battle ensues, then the standard that would be applied to a defeated army in the field would be applied to the entire population of the defeated city. Armies at this time in history tended to fight battles of annihilation. This means that when the battle is over, only one of them is left. Any soldiers that were allowed to survive from the defeated army would be sold into slavery unless they possessed enough wealth to purchase their own ransom. When a city chooses to resist a siege, its population forfeits its right to be viewed as noncombatants. Iftikhar al-Daura had confidence in his ability to defend Jerusalem long enough to allow the the coming Egyptian army to arrive and relieve the city of the siege. He gambled. He lost. It was he who put the city's population at risk. He knew what he was doing and he is entitled to an equal share of blame for the carnage that ensued in the subsequent sacking of Jerusalem.
Contrary to popular belief, the Crusaders did NOT kill everyone in Jerusalem. The blood did not run in rivers up to the Crusader's knees. There has been considerable exaggeration as to the extent of the massacre over the centuries. Some of this, of course, is due to the Crusaders themselves in retelling the stories. However, in modern culture it has become the "politically correct" norm to blame all Christian/Muslim conflicts on the Crusades. Particularly for the Crusaders' treatment of the inhabitants remaining in Jerusalem when it was taken. In truth, the Crusaders surely killed most of the Muslims in the city, although many were ransomed. It is also a popular myth among the "politically correct" crowd that the Crusaders were so "blood drunk" that they killed indiscriminately and even slew the Christians in Jerusalem. Since the Christian population was expelled from the city upon their arrival, the Crusaders would certainly not have been looking to cull Christians from the rest of the population. Quite the opposite. Since the Muslims expelled the people they felt were not loyal to them, the Crusaders had every reason to believe that all those remaining inside the city were hardcore supporters of their Muslim defenders. It is true, that sacking a city is hardly something that fits with the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but these historical denunciations of the conquest of Jerusalem are merely exaggerations by people whose agenda is to disgrace the Crusades as an act of Christian imperial aggression. There is simply no truth to this. The Muslims bear considerable responsibility for their own fate. The sack of Jerusalem was well within the rules of engagement considered normal for the time.
Let us also not forget that in 1187, when the Muslim leader Saladin would himself lay siege to Jerusalem,
it was his entire intention to put every Christian to the sword. He was only prevented from doing so because Balian threatened to kill every Muslim in the city, and destroy the Dome of The Rock, before he could do it. This, combined with a more effective defense, forced Saladin to negotiate. Iftikhar al-Daura, having himself expelled the Christian inhabitants of the city, could not make such a threat. He therefore had no bargaining leverage. An extremely important factor in determining the outcome.
At sunset on July 15, the Crusaders gather at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and fulfill their vows. They celebrate mass just as they promised they would when this adventure began. Against all odds the First Crusade achieved all of its objectives. Ordained by God?....You better believe it!
I bet you are wondering about that Fatimid army dispatched from Cairo that was on its way to relieve Jerusalem from the siege. It looks like it could be a repeat of Antioch doesn't it? The Crusaders could find themselves trapped in Jerusalem with a huge Muslim army pressing them from the outside. But this story doesn't end that way. Instead, quarreling among the Crusader leaders rears it head again.
After a brief period of celebration, the Crusaders got together and offered the Raymond the crown of the city. Ever the pious one, he declined, however when the same offer was made to Godfrey he initially refused, but then accepted. This angered Raymond so much that he and his troops left the city.
The Fatimid army that was closing in on Jerusalem expected the Crusaders to remain in the city the same way they remained in Antioch. When Raymond vacated the city he discovered the Egyptian army was encamped at Ascalon and making preparations to retake Jerusalem. Raymond informed the other Crusaders and rejoined them for an attack on their encampment. This caught the Egyptian army totally by surprise and it was thoroughly destroyed. The Holy land was now, not only conquered by the Crusaders, it was safe.
EPILOGUE
There were many subsequent crusades but the generally accepted rule is that there were seven crusades launched between 1095 and 1250 that constitute "The Crusades." The Crusader states lasted until 1291 when the Muslims took Acre and the other remaining outposts either fell or were abandoned. After 200 years the Europeans seemed to lose interest in expending "blood and treasure" in faraway lands.
What did the Crusades accomplish? Some would suggest that since they inevitably abandoned the Holy Land, that they ultimately accomplished nothing. Well nothing could be farther from the truth. It would not be unreasonable to suggest that Western Civilization, as we have come to know it, would not have even come into existence were it not for these defensive military campaigns. For 200 years, the expansion of Islamic conquest was halted. The Crusades may ultimately have failed to hold the territory they retook, but they certainly thwarted the expansion of Islam.
This can be proven by just how quickly the Jhihadist expansion of Islam resumed afterward. The Muslims moved against Europe, occupying Gallipoli in 1354 and captured Adrianople in 1357. It didn't stop there. The Islamic juggernaut roared into Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, and Macedonia. On June 5, 1389 they defeated a Western army in Kosovo. The Europeans called for more crusades, but now they were fighting a lot closer to home. In 1426 Cyprus fell. In 1430 it was Thessalonica that succumbed to Islam's sword. Then, on May 29, 1453, the crown jewel of the Byzantine Empire fell...Constantinople. There, the Muslims massacred men women and children without discrimination or mercy. A scene far worse than either the reality, or the fiction, of the massacre at Jerusalem in 1099. Yet we are supposed to accept guilt for the atrocities of Christian Crusaders in Jerusalem, when the sacking of Constantinople and so many other Islamic massacres goes unmentioned in our "politically correct" culture. Constantinople is now renamed Istanbul.
Twice, the "religion of peace" got as far as Vienna. Imagine how far Islam might have gotten if the Crusades hadn't stunted its growth for 200 years. We OWE the Crusaders our gratitude, NOT our condemnation. Instead, we see the same sort of condemnation that has historically been heaped on the Crusades applied to President Bush's "War On Terror." Islam is again being portrayed as the victim of Western aggression as though they have been peacefully minding their own business. Too many people are willing to blame their own countries and their policies instead of seeing Islamic terrorism for what it is. The great military strategist Carl von Clausewitz would recognize it as "war by other means."
The first siege of Vienna failed in 1529. But Islam is on a course for world domination and therefore setbacks are only temporary. They always come back. Islam reached its high water mark when it again laid siege to Vienna in 1683. Islam would enter into a period of decline when Poland's King Jan III Sobieski and 30,000 soldiers broke the siege.....
.....And don't you want to know what day that was?....September 11, 1683....Now you know why Osama Bin Laden chose September 11 to send his message to the world. Islam is prepared to pick up where it left off in 1683. They always come back...It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter what God you believe in or what God you don't believe in. They have time, and they are prepared to use that as their greatest weapon.
All religions are NOT created equal. Islam is an expansionist, imperialistic theocratic tyranny. It has more in common with Stalinist communism and National Socialism (Nazism) than it has with true religion. It just uses God to give it the false impression of a higher validation. The Crusades neither inspired nor amplified the aggressive behavior of Muslims. It was there from the time of Muhammad. They also didn't put an end to Islam's desire to dominate with a worldwide Caliphate. But for 200 years the Crusades held Islam in place. Not a weakened Islam, but an Islam of equal, or perhaps superior, military capability. Islam does not negotiate in good faith, and it preys on any sign of weakness. We dare not display any. We could do worse than to follow the Crusaders' example today. In fact, if we fail to show equal resolve and courage, Islam will steal our culture away from us. Just as they have done to all that have crossed their path before. Belieive it...Or bury your face in the dirt facing Mecca.
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"For your brethren who live in the east are in urgent need of your help, and you must hasten to give them the aid which has often been promised them. For, as the most of you have heard, the Turks and Arabs have attacked them and have conquered the territory of Romania [the Greek empire] as far west as the shore of the Mediterranean and the Hellespont, which is called the Arm of St. George. They have occupied more and more of the lands of those Christians, and have overcome them in seven battles. They have killed and captured many, and have destroyed the churches and devastated the empire. If you permit them to continue thus for awhile with impurity, the faithful of God will be much more widely attacked by them. On this account I, or rather the Lord, beseech you as Christ's heralds to publish this everywhere and to persuade all people of whatever rank, foot-soldiers and knights, poor and rich, to carry aid promptly to those Christians and to destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends. I say this to those who are present, it meant also for those who are absent. Moreover, Christ commands it."
From Pope Urban II's call for the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont, 1095
Reading Material:
"The New Concise History Of The Crusades" Thomas F. Madden
"Crusades: The Illustrated History" Thomas F. Madden
"The Politically Incorrect Guide To Islam And The Crusades" Robert Spencer
"The Idiot's Guide To The Crusades" Paul L, Williams
"The Crusades: An Illustrated History" James Harpur
"God's War" Christopher Tyerman
"The First Crusade" Thomas Asbridge
"The Crusades," David Nicolle
On June 7, 1099 the Crusaders finally cast their eyes on the Holy City of Jerusalem, the center of the world. Jerusalem is protected by two walls. The outer wall being lower than the main city wall. It also has a 62 foot wide and 23 foot deep dry moat between these walls. It is a more than formidable defensive fortification.
The size of the city, along with the size of the attacking Crusader army, made a fully enveloping siege of the city impossible. Jerusalem was governed and defended by an Egyptian named Iftikhar al-Daula, and he saw to the preparation of the city's defenses effectively. He expelled all the Christians in the city to prevent Jerusalem from being compromised in the way that Antioch had been previously, even though the same precaution had failed to save Antioch from the consequences of espionage and betrayal. He also poisoned all the nearby wells forcing the Crusaders to expend considerable manpower retrieving and transporting water from the Jordan River. Also, Iftikhar al-Daula is not expecting a long siege, as he has sent word to Cairo requesting reinforcements. He has confidence in his defensive preparations and is therefore willing to resist the attacks of the Crusaders, fully knowing the consequence that befalls cities that resist sieges in warfare of this time....sacking! His overconfidence, even though based on reasonable knowledge and observation of the situation, is at least as much to blame for the ensuing sequence of events as are the actions of the Crusaders.
On June 12, a hermit approached the Crusader's encampment claiming to be a prophet. He said he had a message from God and stated that if they strike the city in the ninth hour of the next day, the city would be delivered into their hands. This, in spite of the fact that a source of wood to construct siege towers, ladders and trebuchets (counterweight catapults) had not yet been located. Such weapons were to bulky and heavy to transport and had to be built on location and they were necessary for a reasonable chance at successfully assaulting the city. The Crusaders were simply not prepared to attack Jerusalem's fortifications at this time. Nonetheless, being firm believers in visions at this point, they attacked anyway. No doubt they were themselves overconfident they possessed the unique blessing of God from their previous successes, which they considered nothing less than Divine Intervention.
The Muslims are totally surprised at the foolhardy assault the Christians made the next day, June 13. Few of the Crusaders even made it to the outer wall and those that did were compelled to retreat when Greek fire was poured on them. The medieval equivalent of napalm, Greek fire would burn anything it attached to, and was very difficult to put out. The attack is a dismal failure and the Muslims are left thinking little of the Crusaders intelligence or sanity. This only furthered the overconfidence of Iftikhar al-Daula.
Although this miracle failed to materialize, another one, requiring a little more patience, did. Six Genoese and English vessels bearing supplies for the Crusaders, arrived in the port of Jaffa. By utilizing the wood used to construct the ships, the Crusaders now had the materials to build proper siege weapons. This was time consuming work, and with an Egyptian army closing in on them, time was something they could not spare. It was known to them that the Egyptian army would arrive within the month. As had happened so many times on this Crusade, they found their backs against the wall facing impending disaster.
And it happened....again. The Crusaders were presented with a vision and an accompanying miracle. A priest named Peter Desiderius received a vision from none other than the recently deceased Bishop Adhemar. Adhemar, you will recall, had succumbed to the plague that struck Antioch after the successful conquest of the city. Now, in the form of this vision, he chastised the Crusaders for their lack of faith and ordered them to fast, and to walk around the city of Jerusalem....barefoot! He told them that if they would parade around the city barefoot in humility before God, and put their sins behind them, then in nine days the city would be delivered to them.
On the morning of July 10, the 20,000 Crusaders did just as the vision instructed. Many of the Crusaders were wearing only their underwear on their barefoot march around the city. The Muslims, already overconfident in their situation and doubting the sanity of the Crusaders, jeered at them and made obscene gestures as they paraded around the city. Eight days after Adhemar's vision, they are prepared to make their attack. Their siege machines are constructed, including a massive battering ram that requires sixty soldiers to operate.
On July 14, 1099 the Muslim defenders of Jerusalem are awakened by the sound of the massive battering ram pounding against the outer defensive wall. Their attempts to disable the battering ram with Greek fire are this time met with accurate Crusader trebuchet fire. They quickly smash through the outer wall and begin filling in the moat that separates the two walls with rubble and rock to make it passable. As it grows dark the Crusaders are able to bring their siege towers toward the larger inner city wall. The Muslims throw tremendous volleys of arrows and Greek fire at the towers as they approach the wall. Several times the towers and the battering ram are hit, and start to catch fire, but the Crusaders successfully squelch the flames. Nightfall forces the Crusaders to pull back and wait.
The attack resumes again the next morning. The Muslims attempted to cushion the walls from the battering ram by hanging bales of straw and matresses over the wall. Unfortunately for them, this quickly catches fire, and greatly reduces their visibility as the smoke rises up and into the faces of the Muslim defenders up on the high wall. By noon on July 15, Godfrey's siege tower reaches the inner city wall. The Crusaders would enter the city at the same hour Jesus is said to have died on the cross and, perhaps more importantly, on the exact day the vision of Bishop Adhemar had prophesized.
And then it happened....
If you have been told anything about the Crusades, doubtless it was of the massacre that followed as the Crusaders stormed into Jerusalem. By all the standards of warfare at the time, the Crusaders would be justified in sacking the city and killing all the city's inhabitants. It sounds gruesome to modern ears, but this was a time when war was not entered into lightly. Particularly where the applications of laying siege to a city are employed. If a city is approached by an aggressor army and it surrenders, generous terms are expected and normally granted. No army believed there was any good or glory to come from waging wars on noncombatants. However, if a city chooses to resist and a battle ensues, then the standard that would be applied to a defeated army in the field would be applied to the entire population of the defeated city. Armies at this time in history tended to fight battles of annihilation. This means that when the battle is over, only one of them is left. Any soldiers that were allowed to survive from the defeated army would be sold into slavery unless they possessed enough wealth to purchase their own ransom. When a city chooses to resist a siege, its population forfeits its right to be viewed as noncombatants. Iftikhar al-Daura had confidence in his ability to defend Jerusalem long enough to allow the the coming Egyptian army to arrive and relieve the city of the siege. He gambled. He lost. It was he who put the city's population at risk. He knew what he was doing and he is entitled to an equal share of blame for the carnage that ensued in the subsequent sacking of Jerusalem.
Contrary to popular belief, the Crusaders did NOT kill everyone in Jerusalem. The blood did not run in rivers up to the Crusader's knees. There has been considerable exaggeration as to the extent of the massacre over the centuries. Some of this, of course, is due to the Crusaders themselves in retelling the stories. However, in modern culture it has become the "politically correct" norm to blame all Christian/Muslim conflicts on the Crusades. Particularly for the Crusaders' treatment of the inhabitants remaining in Jerusalem when it was taken. In truth, the Crusaders surely killed most of the Muslims in the city, although many were ransomed. It is also a popular myth among the "politically correct" crowd that the Crusaders were so "blood drunk" that they killed indiscriminately and even slew the Christians in Jerusalem. Since the Christian population was expelled from the city upon their arrival, the Crusaders would certainly not have been looking to cull Christians from the rest of the population. Quite the opposite. Since the Muslims expelled the people they felt were not loyal to them, the Crusaders had every reason to believe that all those remaining inside the city were hardcore supporters of their Muslim defenders. It is true, that sacking a city is hardly something that fits with the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but these historical denunciations of the conquest of Jerusalem are merely exaggerations by people whose agenda is to disgrace the Crusades as an act of Christian imperial aggression. There is simply no truth to this. The Muslims bear considerable responsibility for their own fate. The sack of Jerusalem was well within the rules of engagement considered normal for the time.
Let us also not forget that in 1187, when the Muslim leader Saladin would himself lay siege to Jerusalem,
it was his entire intention to put every Christian to the sword. He was only prevented from doing so because Balian threatened to kill every Muslim in the city, and destroy the Dome of The Rock, before he could do it. This, combined with a more effective defense, forced Saladin to negotiate. Iftikhar al-Daura, having himself expelled the Christian inhabitants of the city, could not make such a threat. He therefore had no bargaining leverage. An extremely important factor in determining the outcome.
At sunset on July 15, the Crusaders gather at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and fulfill their vows. They celebrate mass just as they promised they would when this adventure began. Against all odds the First Crusade achieved all of its objectives. Ordained by God?....You better believe it!
I bet you are wondering about that Fatimid army dispatched from Cairo that was on its way to relieve Jerusalem from the siege. It looks like it could be a repeat of Antioch doesn't it? The Crusaders could find themselves trapped in Jerusalem with a huge Muslim army pressing them from the outside. But this story doesn't end that way. Instead, quarreling among the Crusader leaders rears it head again.
After a brief period of celebration, the Crusaders got together and offered the Raymond the crown of the city. Ever the pious one, he declined, however when the same offer was made to Godfrey he initially refused, but then accepted. This angered Raymond so much that he and his troops left the city.
The Fatimid army that was closing in on Jerusalem expected the Crusaders to remain in the city the same way they remained in Antioch. When Raymond vacated the city he discovered the Egyptian army was encamped at Ascalon and making preparations to retake Jerusalem. Raymond informed the other Crusaders and rejoined them for an attack on their encampment. This caught the Egyptian army totally by surprise and it was thoroughly destroyed. The Holy land was now, not only conquered by the Crusaders, it was safe.
EPILOGUE
There were many subsequent crusades but the generally accepted rule is that there were seven crusades launched between 1095 and 1250 that constitute "The Crusades." The Crusader states lasted until 1291 when the Muslims took Acre and the other remaining outposts either fell or were abandoned. After 200 years the Europeans seemed to lose interest in expending "blood and treasure" in faraway lands.
What did the Crusades accomplish? Some would suggest that since they inevitably abandoned the Holy Land, that they ultimately accomplished nothing. Well nothing could be farther from the truth. It would not be unreasonable to suggest that Western Civilization, as we have come to know it, would not have even come into existence were it not for these defensive military campaigns. For 200 years, the expansion of Islamic conquest was halted. The Crusades may ultimately have failed to hold the territory they retook, but they certainly thwarted the expansion of Islam.
This can be proven by just how quickly the Jhihadist expansion of Islam resumed afterward. The Muslims moved against Europe, occupying Gallipoli in 1354 and captured Adrianople in 1357. It didn't stop there. The Islamic juggernaut roared into Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, and Macedonia. On June 5, 1389 they defeated a Western army in Kosovo. The Europeans called for more crusades, but now they were fighting a lot closer to home. In 1426 Cyprus fell. In 1430 it was Thessalonica that succumbed to Islam's sword. Then, on May 29, 1453, the crown jewel of the Byzantine Empire fell...Constantinople. There, the Muslims massacred men women and children without discrimination or mercy. A scene far worse than either the reality, or the fiction, of the massacre at Jerusalem in 1099. Yet we are supposed to accept guilt for the atrocities of Christian Crusaders in Jerusalem, when the sacking of Constantinople and so many other Islamic massacres goes unmentioned in our "politically correct" culture. Constantinople is now renamed Istanbul.
Twice, the "religion of peace" got as far as Vienna. Imagine how far Islam might have gotten if the Crusades hadn't stunted its growth for 200 years. We OWE the Crusaders our gratitude, NOT our condemnation. Instead, we see the same sort of condemnation that has historically been heaped on the Crusades applied to President Bush's "War On Terror." Islam is again being portrayed as the victim of Western aggression as though they have been peacefully minding their own business. Too many people are willing to blame their own countries and their policies instead of seeing Islamic terrorism for what it is. The great military strategist Carl von Clausewitz would recognize it as "war by other means."
The first siege of Vienna failed in 1529. But Islam is on a course for world domination and therefore setbacks are only temporary. They always come back. Islam reached its high water mark when it again laid siege to Vienna in 1683. Islam would enter into a period of decline when Poland's King Jan III Sobieski and 30,000 soldiers broke the siege.....
.....And don't you want to know what day that was?....September 11, 1683....Now you know why Osama Bin Laden chose September 11 to send his message to the world. Islam is prepared to pick up where it left off in 1683. They always come back...It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter what God you believe in or what God you don't believe in. They have time, and they are prepared to use that as their greatest weapon.
All religions are NOT created equal. Islam is an expansionist, imperialistic theocratic tyranny. It has more in common with Stalinist communism and National Socialism (Nazism) than it has with true religion. It just uses God to give it the false impression of a higher validation. The Crusades neither inspired nor amplified the aggressive behavior of Muslims. It was there from the time of Muhammad. They also didn't put an end to Islam's desire to dominate with a worldwide Caliphate. But for 200 years the Crusades held Islam in place. Not a weakened Islam, but an Islam of equal, or perhaps superior, military capability. Islam does not negotiate in good faith, and it preys on any sign of weakness. We dare not display any. We could do worse than to follow the Crusaders' example today. In fact, if we fail to show equal resolve and courage, Islam will steal our culture away from us. Just as they have done to all that have crossed their path before. Belieive it...Or bury your face in the dirt facing Mecca.
"For your brethren who live in the east are in urgent need of your help, and you must hasten to give them the aid which has often been promised them. For, as the most of you have heard, the Turks and Arabs have attacked them and have conquered the territory of Romania [the Greek empire] as far west as the shore of the Mediterranean and the Hellespont, which is called the Arm of St. George. They have occupied more and more of the lands of those Christians, and have overcome them in seven battles. They have killed and captured many, and have destroyed the churches and devastated the empire. If you permit them to continue thus for awhile with impurity, the faithful of God will be much more widely attacked by them. On this account I, or rather the Lord, beseech you as Christ's heralds to publish this everywhere and to persuade all people of whatever rank, foot-soldiers and knights, poor and rich, to carry aid promptly to those Christians and to destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends. I say this to those who are present, it meant also for those who are absent. Moreover, Christ commands it."
From Pope Urban II's call for the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont, 1095
Reading Material:
"The New Concise History Of The Crusades" Thomas F. Madden
"Crusades: The Illustrated History" Thomas F. Madden
"The Politically Incorrect Guide To Islam And The Crusades" Robert Spencer
"The Idiot's Guide To The Crusades" Paul L, Williams
"The Crusades: An Illustrated History" James Harpur
"God's War" Christopher Tyerman
"The First Crusade" Thomas Asbridge
"The Crusades," David Nicolle