In this case, the European Crusade naturally happened. It was the Pope who took the lead in organizing the Crusades. The Pope also wants to plunder wealth from the East, and he also has a plan to expand the influence of the church: let Christian knights occupy the East and make the Pope the supreme ruler of the East and the West. In that case, the Pope and the church are really invincible.
/kloc-in the winter of 0/095, Pope UrbanⅡ held a religious conference in the French city of Clemens, and issued the "call" for eastward invasion for the first time. He shouted at the top of his lungs to the knights of all countries who came to listen to his speech: "Children of God, Jerusalem, our holy place in the East (it is said that Jesus was buried), was occupied by pagans. What a pity! God wants you to take back our holy land as soon as possible. You know, the eastern countries are full of honey and milk, which is simply the second heaven. Don't you answer God's call quickly? " He said, "If someone goes to Jerusalem to save the church of God for piety rather than vanity and self-interest, such a trek will be enough to replace all confessions." It means that those who take part in the crusade are completely exempt from punishment. Encouraged by the Pope, the knights immediately roared, "That's what God means! That's what God means! Let's run east! "
The invading army finally became famous under the banner of "recovering the holy land" Knights scrambled to sew a red cross on their chests (the cross is a symbol of Christianity). This is how the first Crusaders were pieced together.
/kloc-in the autumn of 0/096, about 30,000 to 40,000 crusaders, composed of knight lords from France, Italy and West Germany, set out from all over the country and marched to Jerusalem through Asia Minor Peninsula. At that time, Asia Minor and Palestine were under the rule of Seljuk Turks, but in fact they have split into some independent small countries. The crusaders came at once, and it was difficult for these small countries to form a unified resistance force. Crusaders took advantage of the situation and captured Jerusalem in July 1099. Although the Crusaders were exhausted by the fatigue caused by the long journey and the casualties caused by fierce confrontation, they cheered as soon as they entered the "holy land" of Jerusalem. What is "saving the holy land" and what is "promoting sacred religion" cannot be considered. Crazy killing, greed and plunder ... they rushed into the most famous Islamic Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and robbed all the jewels and property inside. Then it was used as an execution ground, and more than 65,438+/kloc-0,000 innocent Muslims were killed. All the residents living in Jerusalem, even Christians, were not spared, and all of them were looted by these European robbers. Crusaders made such a rule in advance: whoever breaks into a house first is the owner of this house. As a result, everyone who entered Jerusalem made a fortune, and many poor knights became rich overnight.
Crusaders established the kingdom of Jerusalem in the areas they occupied. However, in 1 187, under the leadership of Saladin, a warrior leader, the people of the East wiped out the main force of the Crusaders and regained Jerusalem. The German emperor and the king of Britain and France organized the second and third Crusades, but both failed and had to retreat in despair.
The failure to March into the East forced the Crusaders to change the direction of aggression and turn their attention to Byzantium. Arguably, Byzantium also believed in Christianity and should not be the target of the Crusaders at all. However, these European knights still mercilessly attack and rob countries that believe in the same cross. This reveals that their so-called conquest of pagans is just an excuse. Crusaders occupied Constantinople and established the Latin Empire. The cultural and artistic treasures of the Byzantine Empire for nearly a thousand years were completely destroyed.
The Crusades made European knights and churches rich, but they did not bring any benefits to the lower working people. At that time, there was an unprecedented famine in Europe, and the church called this evil expedition "on the way of the Lord." After the Clement Congress, Europe became even crazier, and all of Europe joined forces to persuade each other to take part in the expedition. Farmers sell their fields, houses and vineyards to raise money for travel expenses, while those with more property give them to the church and entrust monks to take refuge on their behalf. Church monks took the opportunity to make a fortune. After being tricked into joining the Crusaders, many peasants had no money to buy horses and hay, even no weapons, and could not follow the noble knights, so they had to follow a few priests blindly eastward. They don't know the path and they don't have any goals. When they see a city, they will ask, "Is this Jerusalem?" As a result, many people died of starvation along the way, and many others were taken to be slaves and sold. Several people finally dragged them to the edge of the East, but they met the Turks and were beaten to pieces-thousands of farmers died tragically elsewhere. Only a few people fled back to Constantinople and later joined the crusaders of feudal lords.
The most tragic thing is the "Child Crusade". 12 12 years, the Pope and feudal lords publicized the myth that "innocent" children can be blessed by God, and that children's crusades can create miracles, coaxing 30,000 children into joining the army. Most of them are farmers' children, and their age does not exceed 12. After gathering in Marseille, a seaport in southern France, they crowded into wooden boats to cross the sea for an "eastward expedition". As a result, some ships were caught in a storm and sank to the bottom of the sea, killing all the children on board; After some ships arrived in Egypt, the children on board were sold as slaves by the owners. In Germany, 20,000 children were tricked into joining the army. They finally crossed the Alps and starved to death by more than half; The remaining thousands went to Italy and were trafficked a lot. The "Child Crusade" victimized 50,000 to 60,000 innocent children.
129 1 year, the Crusaders lost Ake, the last stronghold in the East, and the Crusaders ended in failure.
The consequences of the Crusades were very complicated, which brought havoc to the people in Western Europe and the East. Two centuries of war have caused millions of casualties and heavy losses in western Europe. France alone paid $70 million in currency for the Seventh Crusade. But objectively, it also brought unexpected consequences to the initiator.
The Crusade strengthened its ties with Byzantium, Syria and Egypt in the East, and some advanced technologies were gradually introduced to the West. For example, the method of making gunpowder in China and the method of making glass in Byzantium were all introduced to the West during this period. The transportation provided by Crusaders is of great significance to the development of shipbuilding technology, and the Italian banking industry also benefits all parts of Europe. From then on, the commercial advantages of Venice, Genoa and Marseille in the Mediterranean region were established, which promoted the emergence of Italian capitalism and developed the trade of the East.
In commercial trade, after the Crusade, Europeans learned Arab commercial technologies, such as checks, bills of lading, joint-stock companies, etc. In addition, European businessmen borrowed many commercial shipping terms from Arabs. At present, English words such as traffic, customs duties, risks, checks, magazines, zero, muslin, bazar and Corvette are all derived from Arabic characters at that time.