Elle+Wilson

1. Introduction--Describe a general cause or causes of the conflict.
= = Jerusalem. A holy land for three majour religions; Christians, Jews, and Muslims. A land which each religion believed was a gift to their people from God. Each religion wanted to control the city. Maybe the true reason for the conflict was greed, or the lust for power, but I believe it was because of each religions passion about having the right to control their holy land, though there were plenty other reasons for the crusades.

2. Background--Describe who, what when and where.
Europe started to recover from the dark ages in about 1000 A.D.. They undertook a period of expansion. In 1066, William of normandy defeated King Harold in the Battle of Hastings. And in the year 1095 Pope Urban called for the first crusade. The principle object being to drive the turks out of Anatolia. Pope Urban also had a hidden agenda; to save the Byzantiens from a great threat and thereby heal the damge of the Great Schism. "The objective of going on to reconquer the Holy Land for Christendom (as long as we're in the neighborhood) was almost an afterthought." (Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin) It was a year before the crusaders were assembled in Constantinople. "the First Crusade from 1097 to 1099 achieved all its major objectives in the Holy Land. The Crusaders did not decisively defeat the Turks but mauled them severely enough to halt their expansion and provide a promising basis for future offensives." (Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin) The crusaders proceded to massacre muslims after taking control of Jerusalem. Jews were also involved, but were never the main cause of conflict

3. Causal Factors--Describe three factors that led to The Crusades.
There were many different causes that all led to the crusade but some had more effect than others. In my opinion the three causes that had the most impact were the Seljuk Turks advancing. Pope Urban's attepmt to heal the Great Schism, and the interuption of pilgrim traffic.

4. Most Important Factor--Explain how one factor was more important than the others.
The most important factor was the attemp to heal the great Schism on Rome's terms once and for all. They planned to do this by rescuing the Byzantines from a grave threat and thereby obligating them. As I said, there were three objectives for the first crusade; To drive the Turks out of Anatolia, to reconquer the Jerusalem, and to heal the Great Schism.

5. Impacts--Explain how one religous group and an individual within that group were impacted by The Crusades.
"Perhaps the most significant effect of the Crusades was a vast increase in cultural horizons for many Europeans. For every European who went on a Crusade (let alone the minuscule fraction who returned) there were hundreds who knew someone who had gone, or who had seen the Crusaders march by." (Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin)

6. Conclusion--Explain how The Crusades could have been avoided.
I think that the crusades could have been avoided if Pope Urban didn't have the hidden agenda to heal the Great Schism. I think that his reasons for wanting to make the church one again were greed, and power.

7. Works Cited--List your sources in MLA format.
Dutch, Steven "The Crusades", http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/WestTech/xcrusade.htm