The Fall Of Constantinople During The Fourth Crusade

The First Crusade was launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II in response to a call for aid by the Byzantines. The resulting army swept through Asia Minor and into the Near East conquering several cities along the way. Upon the successful conquering of the region, the crusaders divide the land among themselves forming four crusader states: County of Edessa, Principality of Antioch, County of Tripoli, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. This takeover and dividing of territory is incredibly similar to what occurs in the fourth crusade. Upon conquering Constantinople in April of 1204, the crusaders proceed to divide the land among themselves much like they did earlier. They divided the land

The fourth Crusade was one of the most astonishing turn of events during the Middle Ages. Each Crusade was called for one purpose, to reconquer the Holy Land from the Muslims. With that in mind, the fourth Crusade was disaster, not only failing to get anywhere near Jerusalem but then to attack and conquer two Christian cities, which had been unprecedented to this time. When discussing these points in history, it is important to discuss how such events came to be, and whilst the sacking of Zara and Constantinople are not in question, what is in question is how much of a role did Pope Innocent III did play in the 4th Crusade? Was he the mastermind, or was control of the 4th Crusade taken from him? This

The Byzantium Empire had lost considerable territory to the Seljuk Turks. In 1095, Alexius 1 of the Byzantine empire sent envoys to Pope Urban II asking for mercenary troops from the West to help confront the Turkish threat. The relations between Christians in the East and West had long been fractured, but Alexius’s request came at a time when the situation was improving and Pope urban the second agreed to send help. (History.com)

The Crusades were a bloody war that the church deemed holy and necessary for salvation of the knights soul. The Crusades are a highly controversial and very dark stain on the Catholic church and Hierarchies past. The war was brought to the church from there Roman allies who they had tense dealings with. The where seeking aid in the fight against the muslim turks. The church decreed there act holy and justified. The people who were under the churches thumb had no objections to the slaughter that their beloved God had suposably justified.

The Crusaders were masterminds who called 4 major wars, called the Crusades, to get back the Holy Land from the Muslims. They had successes, and some times where they failed. So, were the results of the Crusades more positive or negative? After the Crusades, there were still lots of conflict between religion, and the crusades left a bitter legacy, so the result was more negative. After the Crusades, there was a lot of conflict between religion.

Three of the world’s most powerful religions had gone to war during the Crusades, the same war that is responsible for an estimated 1.7 million deaths. The Crusades were a series of Christian military expeditions that lasted through nine Holy Wars. The first crusade, in 1095, was called upon by Pope Urban II in an attempt to stop the Muslim expansion to the Holy City of Jerusalem. Through this, the Christian, Catholic, and Muslim churches will go into a time of warfare as an attempt to both show their religious superiority and have a religious expansion. The western side of Europe was the most significantly impacted by the Crusades because of the 4th Crusade, the foreign influence from the East, and Europe’s economic relations with the world.

Hoping that the Pope would accede to his wishes, Alexius looked to rectify the Turkish invasions. November of 1095 Urban II consented to Alexius' request and called all to aid of their fellow Christians who had been attacked by the Turks. Perhaps having various other reasons for aiding Alexius, the sole reason that seems to stand out is that of healing relations between the Eastern and Western Church which had been severed after the Great Schism. To what extent the Crusades were successful is debatable. Ultimately, however, the Crusades did not manage to heal the split between the Eastern and Western Church, but did manage to strengthen the Roman Catholic Church and simultaneously accelerated trade and gave huge economic gains to Western Europe. In other words, the Crusades were a successful failure.

Throughout the 11th century, the Byzantine Empire began to receive many attacks from invading Seljuk Turks. It was this that caused Byzantine Emperor Alexius to ask for Pope Urban II for support in their fight against the Turks. Pope Urban II called upon the western Christians to aid the Byzantines and to recover the Holy Land in the year 1095.The people's overwhelming response to his call as European Christians lept at the opportunity to fight the Muslims and to Recover their Holy Land.

“You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you.” (source # 7) When United States General Dwight Eisenhower said these words he gave the go-ahead for the Allied forces to launch Operation Overlord, an attack on a 50-mile stretch of beach along France’s Normandy region, which was currently occupied by Germany. This day, which we have come to call D-Day, has become forever ingrained in our country’s history and that of other countries. Before D-Day, Germany had spread its influence across Europe and the Allies hopes of winning were dwindling. The Allied forces launched the D-Day attack (codenamed Operation Overlord) in hopes of swinging the momentum of the war in their favor. When the Allied forces succeeded in the attack of Normandy, they swiftly moved across the Western Front as the Soviets closed in from the east. Soon they had encircled Berlin and less than a year after D-Day, Germany had surrendered. On D-Day, Allied troops sacrificed their lives to change the momentum of the war and the world for future generations.

The Crusades began when the Byzantine sovereign Alexius I Comnenus requested help against the Seljuk Turks. Seljuk Turks were Muslims that had taken control of the Asia Minor. The Crusades were “Military expeditions carried out by European Christians in the Middle Ages to regain the Holy Land from the Muslims.” (Mcgraw Hill Textbook definition) Eight major wars undertaken by Christians to recapture the Holy Land in Palestine from the Muslims. Only one was successful. Crusade means “war of the cross”. The Crusades basically stopped the whole world from becoming completely Muslim.

The fall of Constantinople in 1453 was one of the most influential events in history and marked the end of the Byzantine Empire. The main effect of the fall of Constantinople in 1453 was the downfall of the Byzantine Empire and the rise of the Ottoman Empire. The city was mainly populated by Christians and now has become an Islamic city. The capture of Constantinople stated the end of the Roman Empire, which lasted for about one thousand five hundred years. The invasion of the city of Constantinople and the end of the Byzantine Empire marked the end of the Middle Ages.

Constantinople was the newfound Christian capital of the eastern Roman Empire, otherwise known as the Byzantine Empire. Throughout its long history, there have been many different attacks on the religious capital city. Over a period of 1123 years, Constantinople was a solid city controlled by the Byzantines apart some small upsets. Multiple attacks and sieges were attempted to overthrow the city, however, most failed miserably. It wasn’t until 1453 that the city finally fell to the Ottoman Empire. Some victories of the Byzantines may have been caused by a weapon called Greek fire, believed to be invented around the 650’s AD (Groller). The weapon was similar to today’s weapon, napalm.

Before the fourth crusade, the Byzantium empire was very centralized government. There was a lot of unity between the government in the capital and the provinces. The main political effect of the fourth crusade was the fragmentation of the byzantine world. After 1204, the unity of the byzantine government was shattered forever and a new Latin empire was set up, which was very decentralized and fragmented state. The empire was shattered into many parts including the empire of trapezoid, the empire of Nicaea, the Despotate of Epirus and the Latin States (Latin empire plus crusaders’ controlled areas in central Greece) all of which were running autonomously. In terms of religious repercussions of the fourth crusade, many churches and monasteries

The sixth, seventh, and eight crusade were not at all successful. Although the Byzantines recovered their capital in 1261, the Fourth Crusade did a long-lasting damage to their Empire. By the time it was over, the frictions and misunderstandings between East and West which had begun with the First Crusade had turned into permanent hatred.

1st - Sack of Constantinople by the Venetian Crusaders during the 4th Crusade. When the Byzantine's finally re-took the city some 60 years later, they were never able to recover financially.