Dbq on Causes and Effect of the Crusades and Word Wars

World War 2, famously known as the most devastating war, had causes dating back to WWI as well as,pre . Some people refereed it because of the Treaty of Versailles which most of the people agreed one that it was too unfair for Germany and that their anger was going to appear sooner or later. The people thought it will create fascism. Some historians saw that the failure of The League of Nations was also another factor.

The crusaders traveled by land and by sea to take back the holy land from the Muslim infidels they tried to set up crusader states to claim more land but they failed. The crusades contributed to the construction of many European castles and missions and gave more power to the church. The crusades also helped contribute to the start of

The Crusades were an important part of World History during the post classical era. Between 1096 and 1270, the Europeans attempted to acquire Christian sacred areas from the Muslims ("The Crusades"). Supported by Western Europe, Christian armies were sent to take over the Holy Land and other surrounding areas ("Crusades"). The Holy Land surrounds Jerusalem and, to this day, contains sacred sites to Christians, Jews, and Muslims ("Crusades"). These sacred sites were very important to people of these religions and many pilgrimages occurred there ("Crusades"). During the eleventh century, Muslims acquired the Holy Land and expanded their empire ("Crusades"). This prompted Alexius Comnenus, the Byztantine emperor, to write to Pope Urban II in need of trying to reacquire this sacred land ("The Crusades"). This prompted the start of the Crusades. There were four major Crusades and several others that occurred ("Crusades"). The first was probably the most significant out of all of them. The First Crusade allowed for the capture of The Holy Land and also prompted an influence of Middle Eastern culture and ideas to Western Europe.

Prior to the First World War, Europe was the world center of industry and capital. Massive death, destruction, and resentment after World War I left most countries unable to recover to a normal existence and damaged the world economy. The economic collapse and the political instability caused by World War I eventually led to the rise of fascism in Europe. Forceful dictators in Italy, Germany, and Japan took advantage of these problems to seize power by territorial expansion. These events caused a major repositioning of world power and influence. This paper traces a variety of significant factors and forces that contributed to the outbreak of World War II.

The Crusades, a series of wars, are an extremely important part of history in the 12th century, occurring during the Middle Ages. The Middle East or the Holy Land was always a place that Christians traveled to to make pilgrimages. The Seljuk Turks eventually took control of Jerusalem and all Christians were not allowed in the Holy City. As the Turks power grew, they threatened to take over the Byzantine Empire and Constantinople. The Byzantine Emperor, Alexius I, asked Pope Urban II for help and Pope agreed, hoping to strengthen his own power. He He united the Christians in Europe and In 1095, Pope Urban II waged waged war against muslims in order to “reclaim the holy land.”

Did you know the crusades were primary caused by political / economic gain? The Crusades were a series of eight Christian military journey fought against Muslims for the Holy Lands between the years of 1096 and 1270 C.E. I personally think that The Crusades were primarily caused by political / economic gain but other people might argue that they were primarily caused by religious devotion because people say that it was because of documents. The crusades were primarily caused by political and economic gain, rather than religious devotion because they have desire for more power and more opportunities for trade.

A big reason that crusaders were fighting was because the land was sacred and they were trying to get it back from nonbelievers of their religion. The Pope was telling everyone about the holiness of the city when he said: ”This royal city, therefore, situated at the centre of the world, is now held captive by His enemies, and is in subjection to those who do not know God, to the worship of the heathens.”(Document 1). The land was holy to the Christians and it was overtaken by the Persians so the Pope was relying everyone together to go and take back their holy land. The middle east is more fruitful than Europe and it talks about the wonderful fruitfulness in the middle east in the bible when it says “That land which as the Scripture says "floweth with milk and honey," was given by God into the possession of the children of Israel Jerusalem is the navel of the world; the land is fruitful above others, like another paradise of delights.”(Document 1). In the Bible, it stated that the Middle East is fruitful and that its fruitfulness is like a paradise of delights. In conclusion, the land that the crusaders were fighting for was holy and fruitful.

Germans lost some parts of their land as a consequence from the Treaty Versaille. They lost Polish Corridor, a part East Prussia, Alsace, Lorraine, a part of Denmark. The loss of Polish Corridor caused difficulty to the Germans because it splits the country so they no longer have common territory. Also Polish Corridor was a port city and they lost it. It became difficult

The First Crusades was a military group that was started by Christians in Europe who wanted to gain back the Holy Land that was being occupied by the Muslims. Pope Urban II preached a sermon at Clermont Ferrand on November 1095. Most histories consider this speech to be the spark the fueled a wave of military campaigns to gain back the Holy Land. This speech was meant to unite the Europeans and to gain back what was taken from them. The holy land was a small area on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. The First Crusades was a very successful military expedition that was driven by religious faith to reclaim Jerusalem and other holy places that fell under Muslim control. driven by religious faith. They wanted to gain back the Holy Land that was once theirs. Arabs and the Muslim Turks otherwise known as the Seljuk Turks were the Muslims that invaded and conquered land rightfully occupied by the Christian’s. Many European men, women, and children joined the Crusades and fought in the Middle East. Pope Urban II granted forgiveness of all sins to those who died in battle thus assuring them ascendancy into heaven. Which gave those who volunteered to fight assurance. Nobles and peasants responded in great numbers to the call and marched across Europe to the capital of the Byzantine empire. Having the support of the Byzantine emperor helped make them a stronger army. The Crusaders took over many of the cities on the Mediterranean coast and built a large number of fortified castles across the Holy Land to protect their newly established territories. Soon after seizing power the Seljuks face a very different challenge to Islamic civilization. It came from Christian Crusaders. Knights from western Europe who were determined to capture portions of the Islamic world that made up the holy land of biblical times. Muslim political division and element of surprise made the first of the Crusaders assaults, between 1096 and 1099, by far the most successful. Much of

The first crusade was the first Christian journey to Jerusalem, the holy land so that they could aid the Eastern Christians lay siege to the city and take it back from the Saracens, a name for the Muslims during the Crusades. In November 1095, Pope Urban II called for the first crusade and announced it at the town of Clermont, central France. He proposed that Christians go to Jerusalem to liberate the church in the name of religious devotion, a cover-up for people seeking honour or glory. The crusaders were mainly comprised of peasants from France and Germany. When the crusade began on the 1st of November 1098, Bohemund and Raymond Toulouse both claimed to be in charge; an argument broke out. While the Crusaders captured the town of Ma’arra, Bohemud returned to Antioch and captured the city for himself. Bohemund proposed that he would let Raymond lead the crusade if he could have Antioch, and so Raymond led the crusade. On 7th June 1099, the crusaders finally reached Jerusalem. It is said that as the great walls of the city came within sight they wept with joy, but this was not the end of their journey. Jerusalem had solid defence and was heavily guarded which presented a challenge for the Crusaders as they did not have the necessary siege equipment to break through the walls as that would require wood which was scarce. Then a priest had a vision that if the Soldiers marched around the city 3 times bare foot. The crusaders did this and within a week they took control of the

During the time of the Crusades land was considered of much value and symbolized power. More land someone owned the more powerful that person became. Pope Urban called the first Crusades because it was an opportunity to gain control of the holy land of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is located next to seas and waterways making it perfect for trade. The map shows Jerusalem located next to the Mediterranean Sea. (document 7) Gaining control of lands near waterways meant more money gained from trade. This would boost economy. According to Chronicles of Fulcher of Chartres “for those who were poor there, here God makes rich. Those who had few coins, here possess countless besants...who had not had a villa, here, by the gift of God, already possess a city.” (Chronicles of Fulcher of Chartres, document 3) The people in the East were blessed with riches and land. According to the Jewish chronicler, Solomon bar Samson “...Frenchmen and Germans...passed through the towns where Jews dwelled…” (Jewish chronicler, Solomon bar Samson, document 5) The Christians passed through many different lands on their way to Jerusalem. This was an opportunity to conquer the people of the foreign lands and take their money. Easy way to increase their economy. This motivated the Crusaders to keep on

The crusades were a bunch of wars in the Middle Ages when the Christians and Europeans tried to retake control of Jerusalem from the Muslims. Jerusalem was important to Muslims during the Middle Ages because it was believed to be where Muhammad ascended to heaven. The Christians found it important because it was believed to be where Jesus Christ was crucified and rose again.

From the end of the eleventh century and into the thirteenth century, a series of holy wars known as the Crusades were launched. There were nine crusades, the first of which Urban II issued in 1097 to gain control of Jerusalem, the Holy Land. (io) Which had been until then under Muslim command. The reason behind the Crusades was because Muslims and Christians both wanted control over Jerusalem. For Muslims, it was important because their founder, Muhammad, had risen to heaven from Jerusalem.

Fulk of Chartres, in a history of the first crusades, tells of the many knights and their relatives colonizing the seized land, with some holding “homes and servants which they have received through inheritance” (Doc 1). The prosperity of the victors is described as a gift from god, not as a direct goal of the crusades. Fulk is attempting only to record history for the future, not to convince a reader of motivations for the crusades. And as a result, it seems more plausible that the extra land was more of a side effect than a goal of the crusades. In fact, the land gained was often used to build religious sites, like the Fortress of the Knights Hospitallers (a religious order) shown in document 4. Even the Muslims, who were evicted from Jerusalem, viewed the matter as one of religious practice, not political wars. Saladin, an Islamic leader having dealt with the fallout from the first crusade, pointed out that “God has received nothing from us here in the way of adoration,” when trying to drive out the crusaders by motivating his fellow Muslims (Doc 2). Saladin had experienced the control of Jerusalem by the crusaders, and still focused on the religious aspect of the crusades. If the crusaders had truly been after money and resources, the

There are many different causes that led up to WWI, but there were a handful of root causes that accelerated the development of hostility between nations. One of the main reasons was the shifting of the balance of power. The balance of power between nations is a delicate equilibrium that can be easily thrown off if one nation shows a bit of hostility, or if there is an emergence that threatens the sanctity of this balance. For a power to emerge or change, it directly affects all other nations involved through a butterfly effect of events. In WWI specifically, the unification of Germany threw off all alliances and the control of powers, as it was overwhelming for such a strong power to step up. Structurally and emotionally, this was a dramatic change to the stability of the balance of powers, and such a quick change disrupted the peace between the nations so greatly that WWI occurred. Apart from the breakdown of the balance of powers and emergence of hegemonic threats, other institutional and structural theories can explain the events that caused WWI. Some of these events include social conflicts within the countries, shifting alliances, power rankings, and the struggles to negotiate different resources between countries.