In 1095, Pope Urban II called for a crusade to recover Jerusalem and help aid Christians. Beforehand, Christians in Jerusalem were prosecuted by Islamic rulers which ignited the fire within Christians to take action and participate in the crusades. The crusades were a series of religious wars with the intention of recovering Jerusalem that began in 1096. The crusades created a “crusading spirit” by giving Christians the will to attack Muslims. The crusading spirit gave many Christians the ability to be ruthless against Muslims to get what they wanted because they would not encounter negative consequences religiously. The first crusade was a success, but it can be argued that the crusades as a whole were failures. Christians were successful in achieving their goal during the first crusade by taking Jerusalem in 1099 and unifying Christians against non-believers, but there were many negative consequences in the later crusades such as losing Jerusalem and generating animosity between Christians and Muslims.
The initial goal for the crusades was to recover Jerusalem from Muslims, but people were willing to fight in the crusades for many other reasons. The most important reason that people were willing to fight was because the pope offered them forgiveness of their sins and eternal salvation. Pilgrimages as a religious practice was not uncommon. “What we today call a crusade could be described as a war answering God’s command, authorized by a legitimate authority, the pope, who… identified the war’s object and offered to those who undertook it full remission of the penalties of confessed sins…” (Tyerman, The Crusades: A Very Short Introduction, p.32) People were willing to sacrifice their lives for this cause because even if they died, they were promised salvation. Some simply participated because they cared that much about their religion. People were not allowed to make the vow and then not participate in the crusades. In order to achieve salvation, they had to fulfill their vow. “The duration of the spiritual and temporal privileges was determined by the fulfillment of the vow, by absolution or by death.” (Tyerman, The Crusades: A Very Short Introduction, p.32) The promise may have seemed like a positive thing for Christians, but the outcome of it was the complete opposite. The crusades caused massive death amongst both the Christians and Muslims which is not necessarily a good thing, but the Christians found comfort in knowing that they would go to Heaven no matter what. Christians were ruthless while prosecuting Muslims because no matter what they did, they knew that they would have eternal salvation.
During the First Crusade, the holy land of Jerusalem was protected with high walls around it, so it took a while for the crusaders to be able to attack successfully. On the first crusade, there was a man named Fulcher of Chartres. He was an eyewitness to the attack on Jerusalem, and he claimed that as soon as the crusaders managed to get over the walls, some Muslims who were defending the holy city fled. “Some Saracens, Arabs, and Ethiopians took refuge in the tower of David, others fled to the temples of the Lord and of Solomon.” (The Siege of the City of Jerusalem) The crusaders would hurt anyone who they encountered. Even women and children were not spared from the brutal attack. All that the Christians cared about was killing the Muslims even if they were innocent children and obtaining control of Jerusalem. Fulcher claimed that the streets were covered in blood, and it reached up to his ankles. The crusaders managed to take Jerusalem, and they appointed Godfrey of Bouillon as the first ruler of Jerusalem.
In the Second Crusade, the crusaders managed to keep Jerusalem safe, but an army of Arabs and Turks captured the city of Edessa. Pope Eugene III announced the second crusade to recover Edessa and give Christians back the control of the city. It was the first crusade led by kings who were Louis VII of France, and Conrad III of Germany. Both armies were attacked by Seljuk Turks and defeated. Then, they decided to attack the city of Damascus which was controlled by Muslims, but the attack failed. The crusaders did not accomplish their goal of recovering Edessa.
The crusaders did not manage to keep the city of Jerusalem protected for long because Saladin, a Muslim leader, united and led the Muslims to recapture Jerusalem in 1187, but he did not allow the soldiers to kill the civilians unlike the Christians did. The Third Crusade was another attempt to gain control of Jerusalem. It was not an easy task because there were not as many soldiers necessary to fight against the Muslims. King Frederick of Germany drowned on his way across Europe, and his death had a negative toll on his army because it saddened them causing some to leave and some to continue on the journey. King Richard and King Philip of France traveled by boat with their men, but they had to make sure that they captured the port of Acre from the Muslims in order to land their ships. They managed to accomplish that goal. King Philip decided to go back home because he and King Richard could not come to an agreement on certain issues and they did not see eye to eye. King Richard failed to take back Jerusalem from Saladin. He organized a truce with Saladin in which allowed Christian pilgrims to visit the city without having troubles with the Muslims. Neither of them liked the idea of coming to a truce, but they came to an agreement so that the wars would stop. There were other crusades after the third, but the first three crusades had the most significance in history.
The First Crusade was a success because the crusaders accomplished their goal of taking control of Jerusalem. It was what many people set out to do in order to achieve eternal salvation at any cost. It was also a success because it encouraged Christians to come together to attack non-believers. The crusades gave Christians a common cause to work together as one and it also gave them a common enemy. Many people can argue that the crusades as a whole were a failure because once Muslims obtained control of Jerusalem again after the first crusade, the crusaders were not able to recover the holy city despite many attempts. Not only did the crusaders lose control of Jerusalem, they also lost control of the city of Edessa when the Muslims managed to seige it. The crusades also created a lot of animosity between Christians and Muslims. The constant attacks back and forth to gain control of the holy city caused Christians and Muslims to hate each other. They did not have a way to live in peace by compromising because they both wanted complete control over Jerusalem. Even after the truce to end the third crusade, Saladin was not pleased with the idea of compromising, and King Richard was not pleased as well because they both wanted complete control over Jerusalem.
In conclusion, the crusades which were announced by popes to obtain control over Jerusalem were not a complete success. The crusades did create the crusading spirit which unified Christians and gave them the will to attack Muslims in order to obtain control of Jerusalem which could be considered a success. Christians were also able to siege Jerusalem during the First Crusade which was also a success, but afterwards it went downhill. Muslims took back the holy city of Jerusalem and gained control over Edessa in which Christians were not able to recover either of them. There was also an immense amount of hate amongst Christians and Muslims which was the underlying cause of the crusades. If they learned to live in a civilized manner amongst each other, it could have been avoided. Many people lost their lives due to the lack of compromise and the greed for power.