Whether the Crusades Was a Successful Failures - Case Study Example

It is found that the immediate cause of the First Crusade was the capture of Jerusalem in 1055 by the Seljuk Turks and Christians, particularly the Christian kings and knights of Europe benefitted the most during the military expedition in pursuit of rescuing the Holy Land from the Muslim Turks.

Despite this picture of heroism, however, historical accounts indicate that the original crusade launched through the founding endeavor of St. Dominic was organized in a manner by which crusaders preached and begged barefoot and in plain suits. Hence, on this ground rests the basis for the claim of certain historians that crusades are considered “successful failures.” I further agree that such crusades made failures that amounted to a victory for the zeal of the First Crusade did not merely subside but rather served as a source of motivation for the Second, Third, and Fourth Crusades. Nevertheless, hostilities and misfortunes emerged upon the Second Crusade when crusaders were severely defeated by the Muslims, paralyzing their ability to regain Jerusalem which in 1187 fell into the military clutches of Saladin instead.

Perhaps the success side pertained more to the fact that the pilgrimage to Jerusalem continued yet the losing side, on the other hand, comprised the truth that for hundreds of years, cultural imperialism of Islam at the longest period was immensely far from being driven out of the Holy Land. Compared to the initial state of the crusade, the latter crusades had been influenced by the advancements made to the western civilization whereby the meaning and significance of ‘crusade’ has evolved from martial into clerically contextual implications.

For one, legalized persuasions within religion to convert non-believers to a certain Christian denomination may acquire the label ‘crusade’ which can be extended to putting up campaigns that aim to increase solemn devotion to Christianity. Beyond religion, however, ‘crusade’ loses any ecclesiastical function and embarks on an entirely different perspective and goal about organizing movements that are targeted to initiate reforms on political, social, and even ethnic structures of the communities involved.