Title: The Christian Crusades – What were they?
Headings: The Christian Crusades – What were they?
The Christian Crusades – What were they?
Content: The Christian Crusades – What were they? The Christian Crusades – What were they? The Crusades were a series of attempts from about 1095 to 1230 by Europeans to retake land in the Middle East from Muslims. They were brutal, bloody, lengthy, and mostly unsuccessful. Some leaders of the Crusades drummed up support by using Christ as a rallying cry. The first Crusade was underwritten by the Pope. Others had various degrees of support from the Roman Catholic Church. However, most people involved in the Crusades were not really Christians. Still, history sometimes refers to the Crusades as Christian Crusades because they were devised by people from "Christian" nations who marched against those following Islam. Christians had predominated in the Holy Land and surrounding areas from about AD 200 to 900 when Muslims gained power and took the area by force.