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Different Cultures: The Crusades

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The Crusades were classified as a holy war against the infidel (Spielvogel 331), and were caused by religious differences, who held control over the Holy Land, and a clash between two different civilizations such as the Christians and Muslims. Christians and Muslims are two groups of people that believed in different gods and have different views about life and the world, mostly on religion. They both wanted control over the Holy Land and this led to multiple Crusades. Christian Crusaders often waged attacks on cities filled with Muslims, but they also got sidetracked by emperors who asked for their help. They would sack others cities taken over by Muslims, like Constantinople, on their way to Jerusalem, the Holy Land, and a lot of the time …show more content…
Christians wanted to worship one God while Muslims wanted to worship many gods. This caused conflicts in cities like Constantinople and Jerusalem. Muslims charged into Constantinople and threatened the power of the emperor who in turn enlisted the help of the Holy Roman Emperor. The Holy Roman Emperor was planning to take over Jerusalem, but on the way there, his Crusaders went to help the Emperor of Constantinople get rid of all the Muslims, “They laid waste the buildings and towers in which they had been lodged, setting fire to some, pulling others to pieces, thus causing irreparable damage to Constantinople,” (Albert of Aix). The Crusaders sacked the city and gained so much wealth that most of them did not even go to Jerusalem (Spielvogel 336). Jerusalem was another city that caused a lot of problems because it was considered the Holy Land and both Christians and Muslims wanted control over it. All throughout the Crusades, especially the First Crusade, the Christians were trying to take over control of Jerusalem: “Capturing the Holy Land was hard enough; preserving Christian rule was even more difficult,” (Aymeric). At one point during Muslim control, three bands of nobles fighting for the Catholic church entered Jerusalem killing women, men, and children of all different races because they were unable to tell who was who (Spielvogel 333).

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