The First Crusade

(1096-1099) *The crusades: The crusades were holy wars launched by the pope Urban II to recover the Holy Land (Palestine) from the control of the Muslims I will talk about the FIRST CRUSADE.

The First Crusade began when the Byzantine Emperor Alexius asked the Pope Urban II for help, because he needed aid to repel the Seljuk Turks. Then the pope Urban II agreed to help Alexius, and he launched a CRUSADE against the Turks in 1095. The Crusade soon turned into a religious conquest and an additional objetive that was created which soon became the principal objective - the Christian reconquest of the sacred city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and the freeing the Eastern Christians from Islamic rule. The Christians and Jews from many nations of Western Europe travelled over land and by sea towards Jerusalem, and captured the city in July 1099, establishing the Kingdom of Jerusalem and other Crusader states. Although these achievements, the Christians ruled the Holy Land for almost 100 years, because they began to fight themselves, while the Muslim armies grew stronger.