Nicole+Wood

SS2
Crusades Research == 1. Introduction--Describe a general cause or causes of the conflict. Jerusalem was a very holy city. It was sacred to all Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Our knowledge of the crusades now, comes from mostly a Christian point of view, yet Jerusalem was sacred to both Jews and Muslims as well as Christians. I believe that the Crusades were a result of overly greedy people. I think, also, that they were a result of people who had trouble understanding that anyone could feel as strongly as they did. They believed that it wasn’t possible for people to feel very very strong about their religion, like they were. ==

== 2. Background--Describe who, what when and where. There were many people involved in this conflict. One of them was, of course, the Seljuk Turks. But there were others as well. The crusades being wars, there were knights and nobles involved as well. They fought hard for their religion and what they believed in. Another person involved was Pope Urban the Second. He was the one who called for the first crusade. Then, there was Salah Al-Din. He was one of the greatest Muslim leaders of the time. Richard the Lionheart was another Christian leader, along with Pope Urban the Second. But it wasn’t all leaders and adults involved in the crusades. There were children, too! There was a children’s crusade, for a time, that didn’t last very long. Sadly, though, many children were lost. These people were all involved in the Crusades. But when did they happen? Well, there were 3 crusades. The first one was from 1096-1099, that was the one that Pope Urban called for. This led to a second crusade, which took place from 1146-1148. The crusade that ended it all took place from 1189-1192. As you can see from these dates, the shortest crusade was the second. Lastly, there were a lot of places that these specific crusades happened. One of them is Clermont. The general area that it all happened in, is Europe and North Africa. But, then, of course, some of it took place in Jerusalem, and some of it even took place on the Iberian Peninsula. ==

== 3. Causal Factors--Describe three factors that led to The Crusades. There were a lot of things that led to the Crusades. One of them was, the simple want that Jews, Christians, and Muslims all had for Jerusalem. When three very devoted religions all want the same city, there is bound to be war. Some smaller causes of the conflict were also, the Seljuks advancing. This scared the Christians and they started the first crusade, thinking this would scare off the Seljuks. Lastly, I think one of the causes of the crusades was that Europe was “Just recovering from the Dark Ages before the Crusades started – This could have led to them.”(:www.toureurope.net). ==

== 4. Most Important Factor--Explain how one factor was more important than the others. There is one factor that I think helped the crusades start more than any other, and that is the Seljuks advancing upon the Christians. If this hadn’t happened, I think that the Christians wouldn’t have felt less threatened, and maybe Pope Urban would not have called the knights for the first crusade. ==

== 5. Impacts--Explain how one religious group and an individual within that group were impacted by The Crusades. The crusades effected all three religious groups, but Muslims were effected in many ways. The effects that Muslims experienced were mostly related to surprise. They “ Were facing an entirely new phenomenon in their relations with Christendom - one which required a new response.”:([|www.athiesm.about.com]). In other words, these were things that they had never experienced before. They had been under their own rule for so long, that having this whole “conflict” thing start was quite surprising and weird to them. But, the overall effects on Muslims were ones that people going through war nowadays would experience. These include: “Depression, loss of family, deaths, kind of the effects of war nowdays.”:([|www.wikianswers.com]). These, as you can imagine, were tragic, but the Muslims had Salah Al-Din as their strong leader and they got through it without any major damage to their religion, or their moral as Muslims. ==

== 6. Conclusion--Explain how The Crusades could have been avoided. There are many ways that I believe the crusades could have been avoided. Since there are so many factors, any one of these could have not happened and they would have never happened. But I think, as one thing, if people weren’t as greedy, the crusades would have never happened. Greed is one of the most powerful causes of the crusades. If everyone had come to realize that some people believe some things, and others believe other things, and that’s just the way is it, then maybe the crusades wouldn’t have happened. Also, if people realized that if they were all going to believe in God, they would have to share this city, then that could have contributed, too. ==