The Different Christian Crusaders: Trust and Poor Coordination Between the Leaders - Essay Example

AIH2102 Varieties of History: The Crusades Dr. Katherine Lewis Tamas Zelei Essay Why did Islamic forces win the second crusade? Why did Islamic forces win the second crusade? Introduction Crusades are the military excursions / campaigns led by the Christians and the Roman Catholic Church in order to protect the Holy Places. The crusades took place between the late eleventh and late thirteenth century. There were a total of four crusades that were led by various Christian Popes, and European Kings against the Muslims. Out of these four, a few were successful campaigns while some failed. The second crusade was a failure as the Muslims won it and attained success. It should be noted that there were certain reasons associated with the success of the Muslims during the Second Crusade and the failure of the Crusade. With the help of this essay, the reasons behind the failure of the second crusade and the success of the Islamic forces will be highlighted. Furthermore, the essay will provide a background to the event and why did it take place. Background - The cause of the second crusade During the late eleventh century (High Middle Ages) and the thirteenth century (Late Middle Ages), there were military expeditions by the Christians of the Western Europe and Roman Catholic Church. These military excursions / campaigns were known as the Crusades (Lock 2006)1. After the capture of the county of Edessa following the first crusade in 1144, the Christians and Catholic Church tried to defeat the Muslims. The Muslims were still considered as a threat by the Christians who can retake control of Holy Lands. County of Edessa was among one of the three Crusaders state that were formed during the Crusade of 1101 (Tyerman, The Crusades: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) 2005). Compared to other Crusaders state, Edessa was the weakest and had a very less population. It is why it became the first crusader state to fall and was captured by Muslim states in its surrounding. These states were ruled by Ortoqids, Danishmends, Selijuq Turks2, etc. (Murray 2006). When the news of the fall of Edessa was reported to the pilgrims and the Christians they informed it to the Pope Eugene III who called for a second crusade against the Muslims. It was considered as an essential due against the capture of their county. Although the Crusade was announced by Pope Eugene III, European Kings Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany along with other small armies led the huge army (Tyerman, Gods War: A New History of the Crusades 2007)3. The Second Crusade The Second Crusade started with the formation of a huge army containing more than 10,000 crusaders and with a fleet of more than 150 ships. The second crusade was announced following the success of the first one; however, the consequences were somewhat unexpected (Tyerman, Gods War: A New History of the Crusades 2007). It was within a few months that the giant armies of the European countries, namely, France, England, Germany, etc. joined hand together with other small European countries in order to march towards Constantinople (Lock 2006). Led by the European Kings, Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany planned to invade the Muslim cities and destroy the Muslim armies that captured the county of Edessa, particularly, Turkish army. Furthermore, upon reaching Constantinople, the large armies planned to march separately under the lead of the two kings, across Europe. They planned to reach Anatolia by crossing Byzantine. However, when both the armies reached Anatolia they were overpowered by the Seljuk Turks (Tyerman, Gods War: A New History of the Crusades 2007). The defeat hindered the overall process, and the Kings faced major challenges to reach Jerusalem with the rest of the armies. Upon reaching Jerusalem, Louis and Conrad took part in an ill-advised attack in 1148. On the other hand, the failure of the crusade in the east automatically had an impact on the fall of Jerusalem and a success and a great victory for Muslims (Murray 2006). According to Tyerman, The Crusades: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (2005), there were certain reasons that are discussed below, led to the success of the Muslims armies and the failure of the European Kings (Tyerman, The Crusades: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) 2005). As a result of the losses suffered after the failure of the second crusade, the Economy of Europe was badly affected. Furthermore, it should be noted that the failure of the second crusade also barred the recruitment process. It was noted as the first and the initial sign towards the fall of the Crusaders State in the Middle East. For example, the Egyptians were under the rule of Saladin4 (Phillips, Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the Crusades 2010)5. He successfully managed to amalgamate Egypt with Syria against the Christians who were their common enemy. Such bonding created serious difficulties for the Crusaders States as they were largely surrounded by Muslim rulers (Tyerman, The Crusades: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) 2005). However, it is noted that after the failure of the Second Crusade, no protection was left for Jerusalem and for its safety and protection the Christians had to do something. It ultimately resulted in the need of the Third Crusade (Tyerman, Gods War: A New History of the Crusades 2007). Islamic Forces The Islamic forces at the time of the Second Crusade were not very large and consisted of small groups. These groups however compromised over professional troops that were accompanied by volunteers and recruits during wars. The largest Islamic force is said to be of the Great Seljuk Sultanate, which was also the largest Muslim state of that time (Murray 2006)6. The Seljuk had its power on most of the regions including the modern day Iran and Iraq, while it had an army of 10,000 soldiers. On the other hand, Syria and other states had relatively smaller armies and troop groups. Majority of the Muslim forces included Turk soldiers who were well trained and highly equipped (Tyerman, The Crusades: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) 2005). At the time of the Second Crusade, the chief Islamic commander of Damascus was Muin al-Din Anur7. He ruled the region from 1138 – 1149. Although it is told that Damascus was under the rule of Burid amirs but in actual it was under Anur’s authority as he was a military commander which made him the true ruler of the city. He took active part in Second Crusade and is also one of the major reasons why the Second Crusade failed, and the Muslims got Great victory over their enemies, Christians (Phillips, Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the Crusades 2010). The failure of King Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany Pope Eugenius III organized the second crusade, mainly led by the King of France Louis VII and King of Germany Conrad III to restore the Christian power in the Levant (Setton 2006). The success of the crusades was with the help and cooperation of Byzantine Empire. The crusader force, which was composed, had serious issues not only with the leadership but also with the cooperation, and it lacked a real sense of unity and brotherhood among themselves. It is considered that cooperation with the Byzantine Empire only gave rise to mistrust between two Christians spheres. The uncontrollable relationship between the leaders of the four country along with events and decisions made during the Second Crusade itself played a damaging role. The unproductive communication and coordination between the kings of Germany and France lead to the disaster of the Germans in 1477. At the start of the crusade, Pope Eugenius III wished to limit the participation solely to the king of France and his soldiers. A strong leadership was absent because of the disunited nature of the crusading force and it also lead to a misguided attack on Damascus. The crusader forces, for the tasks ahead were inadequately supplied with the provisions and also Louis VII is to be blamed as he abandoned majority of his forces in Adalia to reach the Holy land faster. The Crusades were strongly resisted by a highly determined and united Muslim leadership (Nicolle 2009). The above-mentioned reasons are the failure to the second crusade and both the Kings Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany. Jerusalem and Damascus The Second Crusade in the east was a big failure for the crusaders and for Muslims it was a big victory and it was expected to give rise to the third Crusade with the fall of Jerusalem. Louis VIII was welcomed to Antioch by his wife’s (Eleanor) uncle Raymond of Poitiers. Raymond expected that Louis will stay to defend them from the Turks but Louis VII refused it and preferred to finish his pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Otto of Freising and the remaining of his troops arrived in Jerusalem, and soon Conrad also arrived with his army, Fulk, Patriarch of Jerusalem, sent Louis VII. The remnant army of Louis and Conrad jointly attacked Damascus and at the arrival of the crusaders’ retaliation from the ruler Mu’in ad-Din Unur of Damascus started heavy preparation of war, strengthening the defense system and destroyed roads to Damascus. The Crusaders planned to attack from the west side of Damascus where orchards would provide constant food supply to them. Muslim army was ready to attack and attacked repeatedly the crusades, which were advancing from outside the Damascus. The crusaders were prone to guerilla attacks and were pushed back from the orchards, so the crusaders decided move towards the eastern side of the city, which was less fortified and low supply of water and food. The three Kings had no choice except to abandon the city as the local crusader lord stopped from carrying on the siege; first Conrad left to Jerusalem, and the rest of the army also returned back. The reasons behind the success of Muslim Forces The biggest success behind the Muslim forces was unity and brotherhood among them, which led them to victory from the crusaders in the Second Crusade. The Muslims were highly determined, cooperative and had a strong united Muslim leadership, which was their reason of success to defeat the crusades. Mu’in ad-Din Unur the ruler of Damascus came to know about the crusades, and he started making all possible and necessary preparations for war. He strengthens the fortification of Damascus and ordered his troops to destroy and divert the road and resources of his city so that the siege could be created. The ruler of Damascus even asked for help from Zangid ruler of Aleppo and Mosul (who were his enemies) but they did not arrive on time for help. The defenders also sought assistance from Saif ad-Din Ghazi of Mosul and Nur ad –Din of Aleppo, who assisted and personally attacked camps of the crusaders and forced them to move back from Damascus (Nicolle 2009). When Nur ad-Din arrived in the field, the crusades realized that it was impossible for them to return to a better position in the Crusade and considering that they gave up and refused to carry on the siege. The unity and trust among the Muslim forces were the main reasons behind their success over the crusaders in the Second Crusade. Conclusion The end of the crusade was marked when the King Louis VII departed from it, the different Christian crusaders felt betrayed by each other because of lack of trust and poor coordination between the leaders. Jerusalem suffered disastrous long-term consequences after the Second Crusade, and the position of the Christians darkened in the East. Nur ad-Din was formally handed the city as the crusaders were no longer trusted after they attacked Damascus. King Conrad III of Germany along with his troops planned to attack Ascalon, but no one arrived to help him because of mistrust among Christians, who recently failed in the siege. Christian Kingdoms in the Holy Land was ruined after the Second Crusade because of mutual distrust was expected to linger for many decades. Bernard of Clairvaux also attempted to call a new crusade but was humiliated as his attempt to do so fail; King Louis VII also went back to France from Jerusalem (Phillips and Hoch, The Second Crusade: Scope and Consequences 2002). One of the immediate visible results of the crusade was that the Muslim did not fear the western armies any more as they used to in the past. The mistrust and cooperation between the Christian leaders were the reasons of the failure of the Second Crusade, and the unity among the Muslim leaders was the reason behind the success of the Second Crusade. Bibliography Lock, Peter. The Routledge Companion to the Crusades (Routledge Companions to History). New York: Routledge, 2006. Nicolle, David. The Second Crusade 1148: Disaster Outside Damascus. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2009. Murray, Alan V. The Crusades: an encyclopedia, Volume 3. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2006. Phillips, Jonathan. Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the Crusades. New York: Vintage, 2010. Phillips, Jonathan, and Martin Hoch. The Second Crusade: Scope and Consequences. Manchester University Press , 2002. Setton, Kenneth. A History of the Crusades: The first hundred years, Volume1. Madison: Univ of Wisconsin Press, 2006. Tyerman, Christopher. Gods War: A New History of the Crusades. New York: Penguin, 2007. —. The Crusades: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions). New York: OUP Oxford, 2005. Read More