For hundreds of years, wars have played a determining role in history and have decided the rise and fall of civilizations.
For hundreds of years, wars have played a determining role in history and have decided the rise and fall of civilizations.
The Crusades had tremendous consequences for all those involved and claimed the lives of some 3 million people. Besides the obvious death, destruction, and hardships the wars caused, they also had significant political and social effects.
The Byzantine Empire ceased to be, the popes became the de facto leaders of the Christian Church, the Italian maritime states cornered the Mediterranean market in East-West trade, the Balkans were Christianized, and the Iberian peninsula saw the Moors pushed back to North Africa.
The idea of crusading was stretched even further to provide a religious justification for the conquest of the New World in the 15th and 16th centuries. The sheer cost of the crusades saw the royal houses of Europe grow in power as that of the barons and nobles correspondingly declined.
People traveled a little more, especially on pilgrimages, and they read and sang songs about the crusades, opening up a little wider their view of the world, even if it turned out to be a prejudiced one for many.
In the longer term, there was the development of the military orders, which eventually became tied with chivalry, many of which exist in one form or another today. Europeans developed a greater sense of their mutual common identity and culture, which also resulted in a sharper degree of xenophobia against non-Christians.
Literature and art perpetuated crusading legends on both sides - Chrisitan and Muslim, creating heroes and tragedies in a complex web of myth, imagery, and language which would be applied, very often inaccurately, to the problems and conflicts of the 21st century.
Name another war that has shaped the world.
Comments
Post a Comment