The Battle for Jerusalem
1095-1291 AD
1095 1095
35.13E31.47N
MISC

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL
	All Emperor Alexius Comnenus had wanted from the West were soldiers to help him fight off the Turks, who had chopped his Byzantine Empire down to little more than the city of Constantinople.
	But Alexius' appeal gave Pope Urban II a different idea -- to retake Jerusalem from the Muslims.
	Thus began a disorganized series of crusades motivated by everything from religion to territorial ambition to trade with the east.
	After Urban's appeal for a crusade in 1095, an unruly mob of soldiers set off across Europe, through Constantinople (where they behaved badly), and on to Jerusalem, which they captured in 1099 with great slaughter, primarily because the Muslims were even more disorganized than themselves.
	They established the Latin Kingdom, and despite their bickering, Jerusalem remained in Crusader hands until 1187, when Saladin retook it.  The Crusaders were finally driven from the Holy Land in 1291.
	The West undertook eight crusades, including one made up of children.  They were aimed not only at Jerusalem, but also against Egypt and even against Christian Constantinople, which they ransacked.