The Crusades: unprovoked aggression ?
Hardly.

It took a few centuries but the invading Muzlims conquered North Africa, the Middle East, Asia Minor, and most of Spain.

In fact by the end of the eleventh century the “peace lovers” had captured two-thirds of the entire Christian world.
Next was Constantinople, and eventually Europe itself.

The First Crusade was called by Pope Urban II in 1095.

It was designed to liberate the Christians of the East from the invaders and conquerors.

Namely, a defensive war.

During the First Crusade, Jews, however, did not fare well at all. Christian crusaders entered the Rhineland and proceeded to rob,rape and kill the Jews they found there.

Many had been taught that the Jews, as the alleged crucifiers of Christ, were legitimate targets of the war.
Not all religious leaders objected or even tried to stem this tide.

Pope Urban II strongly condemned the attacks on Jews.
During the Second Crusade, many Jews in Germany were killed. Whole Jewish communities were slaughtered along the way.

The entire Jewish population of Cologne was destroyed.
30%-50% of the Jewish community of Europe were killed.

Some 10,000 Jews of an estimated population of about 20,000-30,000 were slaughtered by Crusaders mobs.

After all, the “Crusaders” were made up of untrained peasants, often with their families and a core of trained soldiers.

Many Crusaders saw their role as to rid the world of as many non-Christians as possible.

The Crusaders gave the Jews two choices :
Convert or die.

As a matter of fact, the Crusades are referred to by some Jewish writers as the “first Holocaust.”

In Jerusalem there was wholesale slaughtering of men, women, children, even newborn babies.

6,000 Jews hiding in a synagogue, were burned alive.
Over a 200 year period, approximatley 200,000 people were killed.

However, The Muzlim warrior Sa-lah a-Din subsequently recaptured Jerusalem from the Christians.

Muzlims, once upon a time used to celebrate the Crusades as a great victory.

After all…They won.

But after the PC Western writers re-wrote history and portrayed the Crusades as wars of aggression by the Christians against the poor, poor Muzlim helpless victims, they seized upon this new found “status” and have milked it ever since.

The term “crusade” will always evoke visions of genocide, mass murder, and mass extermination of innocent people.

But painting the invading, conquering Muzlims with a broad “victim” brushstroke?
Hardly.

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Others sharing:
PlancksConstant, StrangeFire

This entry was posted on Monday, September 18th, 2006 at 7:42 pm and is filed under Angel's Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.