Why The Crusades Were Awesome, Actually

The popular understanding of The Crusades in the West is that they involved barbaric, violent Christians invading the peaceful and enlightened Islamic world. Films like Kingdom of Heaven and Mankind: The Story of Us reinforce this narrative. But the truth is the reality of the Crusades is much, much different. In fact, it's the polar opposite. In this video on Pax Tube, I explain why The Crusades were not only morally justified, but were also a historic achievement. Buckle up for a crash course in over 1,000 years of European and Middle Eastern history!

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0:00 Intro
2:05 Origins of Christianity vs Islam
4:41 Christendom's Hand Is Forced
9:03 The Crusades Begin
13:15 Conclusion

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Citations:

'Holy Warriors: Islam and the Demise of Classical Civilization' by John J. O'Neill

'The Crusades: A Response to Islamic Aggression' by John J. O'Neill

'Why We Are Afraid, a 1400 Year Secret' by Dr. Bill Warner

Urban II's Crusade Speech

[Reaper]

France Germany and England getting along? Yea shit got real...

[Buddha_the_Pug]

It's easy to condemn the "find out" when you ignore the "fuck around" that preceded it...

[theoneandonlybridge]

I love how everyone calls the crusades "bad" while blatantly ignoring what caused them in the first place

[johantapia]

I am from Mexico, not many know that we are the second country with the most Catholics in the world and we have been taught that the crusades were good since they prevented the expansion of Islam in Europe. I do not understand why in many European countries they talk about the crusades as something bad since it was to protect the European continent and the Christians

[Ninevehh]

Sadly this video will only be buried under the YouTube algorithm while anti-Christian rhetoric will continue to be promoted institutionally and commercially.

[poopjeans]

People always seem to FORGET that the crusades were a response to 800 years of Muslim aggression.

[jimenagarcia]

"Before the very first crusade was launched in 1095, Muslims had invaded the following Christian lands. They had invaded, Christian Syria, Christian Jordan, Christian Palestine, Christian Egypt, Christian Algeria, Christian Libya, Christian Morocco, Christian Portugal, Christian Spain, Christian France, Christian Sicily, Christian Turkey, Christian Armenia, Christian Italy. All before the first crusade. The crusades are a legitimate response to Islamic aggression, and Islamic violence. I don't need to hear any lectures about the crusades from people who support Islamic colonialism, Islamic imperialism, Islamic dominion, and arabization." - Bob from Speakers Corner

[robokatze]

"It took Christianity 300 years of being put to the sword by Islam, having 2/3 of the Christian world conquered - with millions butchered, and over a million more Europeans carted off across the Mediterranean into slavery before the first crusade was called."

[SwiftDeath]

I had to write a report on the crusades my sophomore year. I pretty much said what you’re saying here, and the teacher gave me a zero. She also threatened to fail me for the year because I defined Jihad as a holy war, even though I asked an actual practicing Muslim about the Islamic definition. This was 2014, I can only imagine how much history has been further bastardized since then

[StarShadowPrimal]

Calling the Crusades an unprovoked attack on Muslim territory is like calling D Day an unprovoked attack on German territory. I can understand saying that it was sad that it ever became necessary, but it's not shameful to fight for survival or to regain what was taken.

[gbakera]

Puzzling to me is the people that attack the crusades but are oddly silent on the forced expansion of Islam.

[macaroni]

Though I consider myself agnostic, I still massively respect Christianity and Catholicism and the awesome shit they did in the past, including the crusades

[misterstaple]

I like how the christians are always condemned yet somehow the islam atrocities are consistently ignored...

[TonuWTF]

As an Romanian I can say that our history books appreciate the crusades, especially the late ones that we participated in like Varna, because the Ottomans have been a constant threat to us until the 19th century

[annakim]

Baldwin is literally me also Ryan Gosling and American Psycho are also literally me

[Red-Memes]

A thousand years later, not much has changed…

[augustin]

As a french, I'm always surprised by the way the Crusades are viewed by the anglo-saxon public. I've never heard something as "The Crusade were aggression" or "a terrible crime". It was an adventure, driven by faith, and which gave rise to exchanges more than a simple fight between enemy religions. The Middle East being at the time one very diverse region, in its cultural and religious mix.

Also, it should not be forgotten that, at the time of the Crusaders, the Middle East was a Christian land only a few centuries ago. Islam having only appeared in the 7th century and the first crusade taking place at the beginning of the 11th century

[aquantumtrost]

Can't even imagine what a crazy undertaking this was for the soldiers, after that notorious travel distance to fight an unknown enemy for months.

[drfenderfunk]

Anyone who would like to delve deeper into learning about the Crusades should read the book 'The Crusades: the Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land' by Thomas Asbridge.

[edvinhindersson]

This was truly a massive eye-opener for me! thank you