06-11-2016, 12:56 AM
(06-10-2016, 08:07 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: Actually, Jerusalem wasn't part of the initial plan. The initial plan was to show that Pope Urban II was a great guy by getting troops to volunteer to go fight for the Byzantines, thus mending the rift between the two churches and bringing them back into the Pope's fold. He got more than he bargained for. He had no idea of the numbers of younger princes and nobles with little inheritance and seeking a kingdom of their own, as well as peasants seeking to strike it rich and get ahead in life. The idea of Jerusalem as an ultimate target developed later to focus the mob in a direction. And it was initially a mob. Urban had no idea that economically frustrated peasants would go off the rail before they even got to the middle east and start massacring Jews in Germany. The nobles came and eventually gave the mob a direction. The selection of Jerusalem as an ultimate goal further refined the direction.
And BTW - The Muslims were no more violent than the Christians.
And yet they would have had no targets had the Muslims been peaceful.
I don't debate whether the Christians were violent. Ofc they were you can't defeat evil with happiness and sunshine. Repeated attempts of Islam to push into christian territory kept this going. Yes there were other things that branched off ... That's what happens in war. But that does not change why the Byzantines needed help in the first place... Because of Muslim aggression.
Heck the Muslims even fought along side of Hitler. These are not good people.... The problem is they haven't changed since before the crusades. The rest of the world has moved forward except them. And until they have a reformation they can't be trusted.
