The First Crusade: How The Holy War Started

The First Crusade is an iconic event in the history of Europe and the Middle East. In the 11th century medieval kingdoms faced the active expansion of the new religion - Islam. War, later called the Holy War of faith between Christians and Muslims, was inevitable. And although at that time the battles for the Iberian Peninsula were actively fought, the full-scale confrontation began when Pope Urban II announced the First Crusade with the order to liberate Jerusalem.

On their way to the holy city, the knights who led the Christian armies won many significant victories and even founded their own states. These Christian kingdoms will become the main resistance points in the struggle against Muslims for the next few centuries. In this video, we follow the route of the Crusaders from the shores of Western Europe and past Constantinople to the Middle East, experience the famous siege of Antioch with them and recapture Jerusalem from the Muslims, as the Pope declared.

[phann]

The Holy war started in 630 AD when Arab armies took over Roman Syria, followed by conquests in North Africa, later spreading into Spain and conquests east where the Persian Empire was destroyed. So in fact the Crusades were a reaction to Islamic Jihad.

[JPCardington]

Well you haven’t started at the beginning have you? Syria was Roman. It was Christian, though there had been Judae before hadrians wars. The Muslims were pressing further into Christian lands - Anatolia- and this was threatening what was left of the Byzantine empire. Alexis comnensus asked the pope for help DEFENDING Christian lands from Muslim AGGRESSION. Islam always came with the sword (to quote sir Steven runciman)

[issith]

Wrong!!! The holy wars ( named: jihad), started in the 7th century, when arab tribes, “in the name of Islam, as they were excusing themselves), invaded the Christian lands of mesopotamia, levantine, Egypt, mahreb, including the holy land, destroying ancient christian holy shrines, or converting them to mosques. The crusades, were jut one stage of the Christian response, starting of the innumerable tries of eastern Roman Empire ( byzantine) to take back their territories from the muslim invaders. The wars are still continuing, to this day.

[dylangtech]

0:35 Not even a minute in and you are already making false claims. The Pope did NOT promise the forgiveness of sins. He promised pardons for the temporal cleansing of one's soul after death (Purgatory), essentially making the struggles of the Crusades a pentential offering of one's own blood, sweat, and tears.

[pl]

Referring to the holy land at the time of the crusades as Palestine is poor scholarship

[Uriel]

Um are we forgetting that Muslims all but sacked France years prior?

[Nemenon]

It's incredible how well Alexios played this situation to his advantage and halted the seemingly inevitable demise of the Roman Empire by several more centuries. His dealings with the crusaders was shrewd and merciful, especially when it came to Bohemond.

[Doyouknowgeography]

The First Crusade (1096–1099) marked a significant turning point in medieval history, driven by religious fervor and the desire to reclaim the Holy Land. Geography maps of the time, though limited, played a crucial role in guiding crusaders across unfamiliar terrains, from Europe through the Byzantine Empire and into the Levant. These early maps, often incomplete or inaccurate, underscored the challenges of navigating diverse landscapes, including mountains, deserts, and rivers, during their arduous journey to Jerusalem.

[dutchman]

The first crusade was in 732 aD at Poitiers, where Charles of Herstal defeated the Muslims who attacked the Frankish Kingdom. He earned himself the nickname Sledgehammer (Martel) by the way he destroyed and forced the Muslim hordes out of Occitane. All nobles mentioned in this video are his descendants, and successors.

[AppealToHeaven]

The crusades were fighting against islamic jihad. It was defense and not aggression

[whatthefitt]

“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.”

[Roshini-qd]

Can you make a video about 30 years war please and waited for this video❤❤❤

[Melka-kjec]

Mesopotamia was all Christian’s as well. The indigenous peoples church was one of the first. The Assyrians church began they say 33-37ad. The whole region by the time Islam came with swords and sneaky ass tricky, there were more than 200 million members of the Ancient Church of the East alone. To China, Japan. India that whole region. It’s a shame. It really is. They slaughtered that race so much. Probably the most persecuted race. I’ve been studying the Assyrian people. They have been through genocide after genocide. I’ve read the stories about their genocide during WW1 and beyond and until. An indigenous people of that land, were every artifact found is an Assyrian one. The population in their homeland rightful land is 500, 000…
Population 3-5 million worldwide. They need attention too

[AltaicGigachad]

Turks indeed had a decisive role in triggering historical major events like the Migration Period, Crusades, shaping the history of Balkans, Islamization of Northern India, Age of Discovery as well as ending the Middle Ages with the conquest of Constantinople, fall of the Roman Empire.

[tonyhawk]

Back in this era we would still say Kingdom of the Franks, it's only in the XIIIth century, that is approx. 120 years later after the battle of Bouvines that we would start to talk about "Kingdom of France", the term "Franks" was still in use for the French later for diplomatic relations "Rex Francorum Rex Francia...)

[liveinfear]

I like how everyone became a historian all of a sudden

[HistStory-ns]

The energy and depth you bring to these narratives are truly impressive. Keep up the great work!

[Michael-ekeb]

I love how everyone keeps thinking Palestine was ever a country. It was the borderlands of Syria and Egypt. It wasn’t called Palestine until the British owned the land. To this day it is not a country.

[davidcross]

What really happen was that the Muslims imposed a halt to Christian pilgrimage in the Early 1090s AD. to the Holy Land, which was the name in Europe for the region, not Palestine. Using this name, is mere politics bias, in this channel.

[NickSchouten-mz]

Hey boss, it wasn't Palestine at the time. You might want to correct that.. your bias is showing