Islam Way

The 1st Crusade was the only Crusade successful in Christian control of Jerusalem excluding the 6th which was achieved with diplomacy. The muslims had superior technology, so what did the Christians have? Richard the Lionheart?

The First Crusade was considered the best organized. The armies were divide into four groups all set to meet in Constantinople. Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine, led the people of Lorraine, the Germans, and the northern French. The followed the valley of the Danube, crossed Hungary, and arrived in Constantinople in late 1096. Hugh of Vermandois, brother of King Philip I of France and Robert Courte-Heuse, the Duke of Normandy and the son of William the Conqueror, led bands of French and Normans across the Alps and set sail from Apulia, on the boot heel of Italy, to Dyrrachium, which is in modern day Albania. From there the army continued overland to Constantinople where they arrived in May of 1097.

The First Crusade came at a time when Muslims were politically divided. Seljuk Turks had recently risen to power in the Holy Land and they did not yet have firm control over the area. The crusaders took advantage of their disunity and established authority over Palestine. After the reconquest of Jerusalem, the crusaders organized the lands into a number of counties, fiefs, and principalities based on the Medieval feudal system to build a Christian state in Palestine.

The popularity and success of the First Crusade inspired a string of crusades that lasted for nearly five centuries. None of these crusades was ever as well organized or effective as the first. In fact, the wars more often resembled a steady stream of people heading east rather than an organized military campaign.

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