The remaining crusaders now get going themselves retrograde a new opponent, the Fatimids from the Egyptian Muslim state, who had due re - conquered Jerusalem. The Fatimids had a 3 or 4 to 1 standard in garrison. The remaining 12, 000 crusaders which reached Jerusalem were too spent to keep a siege reciprocal to that at Antioch. The siege of Jerusalem ( 9 June - 15 July 1099 ) was dominated by preparation for the successful assault, which taken down the more several Fatimid defenders. It was an audacious and well executed siege against heavy odds of success.
After the fall of the city, the crusades sacked the city, massacring most of the cats, not limiting themselves to the Moslems, shocking equivalent their contemporaries with the acuteness of the sack. It was however standard for armies of the time to decimate cities which would not surrender to a siege. The Moslems were experts at annihilating entire populations having done so numerous times throughout the Arab and Turkish conquests. The Turks would make the streets of Constantinople run with blood in their pillage of the weakened Christian capital in 1453.
After taking Jerusalem Godrey of Bouillon was now elected its Guardian but faced yet another large Fatamid relieving army arrived from Egypt. Despite outnumbering the Crusaders 5 to 1, the Fatamid army was nowhere near as dangerous as the Turks had been, and Godrey won a crushing victory at the Battle of Ascalon ( 12 August 1099 ). The crusade had been an overwhelming success, but the seeds of eventual failure were already present. The crusaders established four principalities - Jerusalem, Edessa, Tripoli and Antioch - which were often at odds with each other, while many of the crusaders returned home soon after their victory, reducing the crusader strength in the east. Despite this, the crusader kingdoms managed to survive until the fall of Acre in 1291.
This outreach of European power was vital for Europe ' s development. Europe was not an impoverished unenlightened backwater circa 1100 A. D. It had a complex political - economy. Numerous inventions populated the military, agriculture, science and medicine inventions never developed by the Arabs or Muslims. Numerous centers of learning and artistic development dominated whole regions of Europe and the massive stone structures of the Gothic era give current testimony to the intelligence of European engineering and the use of advanced machinery none of which could be found in any contemporary Islamic state.
Thick forested Europe with a hard climate and varied geography was an advanced and confident state by 1100 A. D. Its collective resources far outweighed that of the Moslems and the Turkish empire. The problem for Europe was unity of purpose without which a decisive eradication of the Muslim threat would never occur. Europe was in almost every respect by 1100 A. D. superior to the Moslem states. The Crusades were but a reflection of this basic fact.
Yet in today ' s world the really ' smart ', ' progressive ' types loathe the Crusades. In their very profound ' study ' and ' analysis ' after independent reading, these massive minds reach a very quick conclusion that the Crusades were a bloody and criminal failure. How dare anyone travel thousands of miles to fight peaceful, sedate, cultured and superior Muslims they cry! After all the Muslims had only conquered, slaughtered, enslaved and extirpated Christians, Greeks, Berbers, Jews and Europeans for 4 centuries! Why the rush to fight back? What about dialogue and comity of cultures and multi - cult harmony they implore?
In reality of course the First Crusade was a holy success and a definite turning point in European and world history all for the better. This deeply offends the relativists and the great numbers of Western hating bigots who unfortunately populate the heights of popular culture, politics education and the media. Ignorance is not bliss, it is just simply ignorance.
