Were the Crusades Successful?
RPCIII
14 November 2013
Were the Crusades Successful? Throughout the entirety of the Crusades, there were a multitude of goals that each combatant from the Christian, Muslim, and Judaism were trying to achieve. There is a lurking question, and that is: were the Crusades a success for anyone? Some historians will lecture that the Crusades were an overall success, some believe that they were only partially successful in conveying they’re overall message. Then there’s the historians that will lecture that the Crusades were a complete failure. The Crusades, specifically the first Crusades, had two major objectives. The main overall objective was to turn the control of religious sites back into Christian power. An underlying objective to Henry VII and Urban II was to protect the lands of the Eastern Empire from the Turkish conquests. More importantly, Archer and Kingsford conclude: “The success of the second great object of the Crusades is best regards from a twofold point of view---firstly, as concerns the Empire of the East; and secondly, as concerns the history of the world at large.” (155). This reinforces their argument that the Crusades were a major success. If the Crusades proved to be a failure, chances are that the entirety of Western Civilization history would be completely different. Or perhaps, the crusades were only a partial success. James A. Brundage seems to believe so. Brundage writes about how the fall of Constantinople hindered the level of success by returning to Ottoman rule in 1453. But more importantly, Brundage points out that the intended goal of the crusades was to have the churches of the east and west reconcile with one another. This reconciliation, according to Brundage, was near impossible anyway. Since the Byzantine and the Roman views of the church were so drastically opposite of one another, reconciliation of any kind would have been a miracle, but the Crusades conflict brought about by the Holy War raging West was only a
14 November 2013
Were the Crusades Successful? Throughout the entirety of the Crusades, there were a multitude of goals that each combatant from the Christian, Muslim, and Judaism were trying to achieve. There is a lurking question, and that is: were the Crusades a success for anyone? Some historians will lecture that the Crusades were an overall success, some believe that they were only partially successful in conveying they’re overall message. Then there’s the historians that will lecture that the Crusades were a complete failure. The Crusades, specifically the first Crusades, had two major objectives. The main overall objective was to turn the control of religious sites back into Christian power. An underlying objective to Henry VII and Urban II was to protect the lands of the Eastern Empire from the Turkish conquests. More importantly, Archer and Kingsford conclude: “The success of the second great object of the Crusades is best regards from a twofold point of view---firstly, as concerns the Empire of the East; and secondly, as concerns the history of the world at large.” (155). This reinforces their argument that the Crusades were a major success. If the Crusades proved to be a failure, chances are that the entirety of Western Civilization history would be completely different. Or perhaps, the crusades were only a partial success. James A. Brundage seems to believe so. Brundage writes about how the fall of Constantinople hindered the level of success by returning to Ottoman rule in 1453. But more importantly, Brundage points out that the intended goal of the crusades was to have the churches of the east and west reconcile with one another. This reconciliation, according to Brundage, was near impossible anyway. Since the Byzantine and the Roman views of the church were so drastically opposite of one another, reconciliation of any kind would have been a miracle, but the Crusades conflict brought about by the Holy War raging West was only a
Cited: T.A. Archer, Charles Lethbridge Kingsford, The Crusades: The Story of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, excerpt. (New York, Putnam, 1984) Brundage, James A., The Crusades: A Documentary Survey (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1962) Runciman, Steven The History of the Crusades, Cambridge University Press, Vol. 3 (1954) Siege Technology of The Crusades." ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013