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=Let's Go on a Crusade! =

Crusade Number One The 1st Crusade began after Alexius I called upon Pope Urban II for help against the Muslims. Alexius feared that his country would fall to the Muslims, since it was nearby other territory captured by Muslims. Pope Urban used this as a chance to call upon Christian knights to fight for the "War of the Cross." Urban made a speech asking Christian princes to rescue the Holy Land from the Muslims. He used their religious convictions, and the chance to have wealth and glory come to them, so they would join in. He also said Muslims were robbing and torturing Christian people who traveled to Jerusalem to pay respects to their shrines. These reasons appealed to many Christians. Some wanted to fight for their religion, while some had sinned and believed that fighting would grant them forgiveness. They traveled by foot to Jerusalem, which took two years. After fighting, the Christians won, with the Fatimid’s at a disadvantage, because they were also fighting against the Seljuks.
 * __Recapturing Jerusalem__**
 * Christians=1 Muslims=0.**

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Crusade Number Two Crusade Number Three The Third Crusade was started when Nureddin added Damascus to the land of his father, and when Nureddin died, the Kurdish general, Saladin took over. He conquered the Fatimid’s in Egypt. With this new land he was able to attack the Christian kingdoms in Israel and Lebanon. This irritated the people of Europe and once again the pope called for a crusade. King Richard the Lion Hearted of England and Philippe Augustus went to Jerusalem among other European kings. Along the way the German king died and most of his soldiers went home, leaving a smaller army to fight. Later they took the port Acre for 2 years, where Philippe then left back to France. Richard and his army were not enough to take Saladin. In 1192 they made peace, agreeing that Christians were able to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem but the Muslims still had control.
 * __The Muslims Strike Back__** After the first crusade, the Muslims were very upset about the colonies Christian knights had built along the coast of Israel and Lebanon. When they lost the initial crusade, Muslims realized that fighting not as a union was the reason for their defeat, and when they decided to overtake Edessa, they came in as one, so their ranks were stronger together. King Louis VII of France, his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Conrad the III of Germany, the Holy Roman Emperor, went on the second crusade to take back Edessa, and defeat the Zangi. From the beginning of the crusade, to the end, it was unsuccessful. Many of Conrad’s soldiers were killed along the way, as they marched through Turkey. After the knights had reached Jerusalem they decided to attack Damascus, which would have evened the score for the Muslims taking Edessa. However, the attack failed and they went home disappointed.
 * Christians=1. Muslims=1.**
 * __The Christians Try Again__**
 * Christians=1. Muslims=2.**

Crusade Number Four
 * __… And Again.__** The fourth crusade began when Pope Innocent asked leaders of Europe to help take Jerusalem away from the Ayyubids. Saladin had passed away; therefore the Crusaders thought they would be easier to beat. They planned on using a different method of attack by sailing south to Egypt, then coming up from there to Jerusalem. The crusaders made a deal with the Venetians, in that in exchange for the Venetians ships, the Crusaders had to help fight the Hungarians for the city of Zara. Pope Innocent didn’t appreciate this because Zara was a Christian city, and he excommunicated all of the Crusaders. The Crusaders succeeded in taking over Zara. Afterwards, Alexius Comnenus asked them to help him gain power again in Constantinople. The Crusaders agreed, and Comnenus gained power once again. However, Comnenus did not have the money to pay the Crusaders, and became highly unpopular among Constantinople when he started charging more taxes. He was eventually killed and a new emperor took over. Instead of ever traveling to Jerusalem, the Crusaders attacked Constantinople and stole all the money and jewels. When the returned, the Pope agreed to allow them back into the church.
 * Christians=1. Muslims=3.**

Crusade Number Five In 1216, Pope Honorius III got some more Europeans to try and conquer Jerusalem once again. This time, the Pope knew better, and he put himself in charge rather than the kings. The Crusade went to Egypt first, and made an alliance with Seljuk sultan Kay Kaus I, and attacked the port of Damietta in Egypt. It was a long battle, but finally the Crusaders captured Damietta, however there was still a big dispute over who would be in charge. In 1221, the Crusaders attempted to conquer more of Egypt; however the Ayyubids sabotaged them by flooding the roads by using the Nile river. This caused the Crusaders to be trapped, and the only way out was to make peace. They decided to give Damietta back to the Ayyubids, and returned back home. The Children’s Crusade The Children’s Crusade took place after the fourth Crusade. In 1212 two groups of young children from France and Germany appeared and believed that God would protect them and with this protection they would be able to go to Jerusalem and take over. Their leader, Stephen of Cloyes, was only 12 years of age, with no basic education. Stephen appealed to King Philip of France and was rejected. Though turned down by the king, he went around preaching to other children, calling them to come to arms. It is said that by 1212 he had an army of 30,000, all of which were children. This “crusade” was doomed to be a failure, though adults cheered them on as they marched through the streets. The journey from Vendome to Marseilles caused many children to drop out. Some had even died from exhaustion. The sea did not part as Stephen had said and they had to cross the Mediterranean Sea by boat. People knew that they had boarded seven ships, and that was the last anyone had seen of them.
 * __A New Pope Tries Again__**
 * Christians=1. Muslims=4.**
 * __The Children Come to Arms__**

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