In the XI-XII centuries, at the call of the Vatican and with the approval of the Byzantine emperor, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of Europeans left their countries, moved to liberate the Holy Sepulcher, and in essence, to conquer Asia, to “liberate” the lands that once belonged to the great Byzantine Empire. Their target was Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia. Only a small part (mainly executives) returned home. Traditionally, it is believed that the rest died, because there is no information about their fate.
In fact, many died in battles, or from hunger and thirst, from epidemics. However, for everyone to die? It's impossible. Man is an extremely tenacious being. We believe that most of the crusaders, knights and peasants survived and spent their lives in the East, giving it their knowledge and skills, skills and culture. A peasant in a Muslim country will remain a peasant, and warriors are equally needed by kings and sultans.
By offering a modern version of the chronology of civilization, we return to history information about their fate. Look for the missing crusaders in the "ancient" countries of the East!
Below we quote extensively from Bernard Kugler's The History of the Crusades, first published in Russia in 1895 and reprinted in 1995.
Kugler writes:
“The goal of the Crusades was not simply the liberation of Jerusalem, but also to re-subjugate the East to Christian Western domination. In this sense, they appear to be a migration of peoples directed to the east, but which began in an age of rather meager geographical knowledge and extremely undeveloped means of communication. Therefore, these pilgrimages could be performed only with such a huge consumption of human material …
The great Germanic migration of peoples, which stands at the beginning of medieval history, is sometimes glorified, it is true, as the most brilliant and most victorious manifestation of German power, but at times it was also pointed out that during this resettlement a truly terrifying multitude of noble tribes perished in comparison with the results achieved."
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1st Crusade, 1096-1099
The first detachments of the Germans, joined by "several Italian crowds", invade the Turkic lands of Asia Minor, knowing nothing of either the geography of the land or the forces of the enemy. They were able to take possession of the city of Xerigordon. The Turks simply surrounded them and cut off their water.
“For several days the Germans endured the torment of thirst; in the end, one part of them went over to the side of the enemy, who now had no difficulty in coping with the exhausted rest of the people,”writes B. Kugler. Hearing about this, the new crusader detachments, not listening to the chiefs, went to the rescue and, of course, ran into a fierce battle.
“The pitiful remnants were taken on the shore (of the Bosporus) by the Byzantine fleet and taken back to Constantinople. There, the unfortunates sold their weapons and scattered in miserable poverty in all directions (October 1096)."
Meanwhile, a colossal force had already moved from Europe, at least 300,000 crusaders, "… well-armed soldiers, followed, of course, by a long train of servants and monks, women and children, spielmans and girls." This army did not have a general leadership, because "every independent person armed himself, undertook his journey to the Holy Places, how, when and in what direction he wished."
That is, there was no statistical record of who had gone where.
As a result of the 1st Crusade, they captured Jerusalem and created the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. The crusaders also founded several principalities in Syria, usually along the Mediterranean coast.
Later, thousands more people decided to join the fighting in the East. In 1100 the Lombards moved, in 1101 the French and Germans. Soon the troops of Marshal Conrad, Stephen of Burgundy, Stephen of Blois and other gentlemen joined forces on the Asian coast: “So even before the arrival of the rest of the Germans and Aquitanians, there - according to legend, of course, little reliable - gathered at least 260 thousand crusaders. The Lombardians had the idea that for the glory of the Savior something extraordinary and grandiose must be undertaken, namely … to conquer Baghdad and thus destroy the Caliphate itself”(B. Kugler).
In general, in order not to mess with the outskirts of the Caliphate, the knights decided to take the capital of Iraq. The Byzantine Emperor Alexei did not approve of such an adventure and persuaded him to go to Syria and Palestine, in support of the King of Jerusalem, but could noble gentlemen be held back? Having no maps, they set off and for about two weeks walked directly to the sunrise, then took the city of Ankira, turned northeast, reached the Gangra, but, not daring to attack this fortified city, headed east again. And they met the warriors of the Caliph of Baghdad.
“The defeat was terrible and decisive for the entire army. Only the weak remnants of it were able to reach the coast, and only a few of these survivors happily reached Constantinople, namely Stephen of Burgundy and Stephen of Blois, Raymond of Toulouse, Marshal Conrad and Archbishop Anselm of Milan. The latter, however, died soon after this catastrophe on October 31, 1101"
In subsequent years, the crusaders not only fought off the Seljuk Turks, but also began to "press" their faithful allies, the Armenians, and even to be at enmity with each other.
The next disaster happened in 1119, when the Muslims utterly defeated the troops of Prince Roger, and the prince himself was killed. Antioch almost fell, Edessa (Novgorod in Hebrew), Tell-Bashir and small Armenian possessions were in the balance.
“The North Syrian Christians were unable to hold out for long on their own. If they could be saved and secured from the attack of the Seljuks, this could happen now only thanks to the increasing power of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the meantime."
As you can see, the rather weak and disorganized troops of the Europeans conquered the eastern lands for themselves, because the troops of the East were also rather weak. Some 20 years have passed, and now the power of the Kingdom of Jerusalem has increased, but the Muslim troops have also increased significantly.
2nd Crusade, 1147-1149
Many years have passed, a new generation of European, primarily Germanic chivalry has grown up. The troops were collected by both the German king Konrad and the king of France Louis. In addition to the knights, their troops included light cavalry, infantry and a baggage train.
“It is interesting that the Greeks, when they later wanted to count the German army during its passage through the Bosphorus, found more than 900 thousand people,” writes B. Kugler.
We will not go into the details of how they with outrages passed through Europe to Constantinople, while the Byzantine Greeks made peace with the Turks, and the Germans almost fought with the Greeks. It is not important. It is important that this (German) army was defeated, the remnants fled, and 30 thousand more died of hunger and disease.
When the Germans were already finished, the French arrived, led by their king. Soon they found themselves in an even worse situation and asked the Greeks for a court to get away from this Syria. The ships were sent by the Greeks, but they were few; they were able to accommodate only the most distinguished gentlemen. Louis, of course, sailed away, and "the remaining units, of course, all died in speed," says B. Kugler. Are EVERYONE dead? “Don't fool us,” as E. Ermilova would have remarked with her inherent wit.
That's what is curious. As a result of the 1st Crusade, hundreds of thousands of young European men of conscription, relatively speaking, age remained in the territories of Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Egypt beyond the control of Christians. Knowing men from personal experience, we will not even assume that they lived their lives as bachelors and did not let hundreds of thousands of children walk in the Muslim East. And for their children the very East has become their homeland. Who taught the boys the martial arts? Together with the Muslim teachers, also their fathers, yesterday's European knights.
50 years passed between the first and second crusades. Two, even three generations have changed. European culture, which came to Mesopotamia with the crusaders (which scholars take for the ancient Assyrians and Hittites), began its peculiar development here and continued to move eastward - to Iran, India and China.
The crusaders of the 2nd campaign were fought by the descendants of the crusaders of the 1st campaign. At the same time, the indigenous population of Muslim lands, especially those that were not directly affected by the war, did not feel zeal for battles. Sultan Saladin, who conquered Syria and Palestine, repeatedly asked for help from the Caliph of Baghdad, the kings of Iran, Arabia and even Morocco. They did not want to fight. “Is there a single Muslim who follows the call that comes when his name is called? Saladin complained. "Muslims are sluggish, lacking in courage, indifferent, weary, insensitive, not zealous for the faith."
People born in the 20th century have developed certain stereotypes, an understanding of what war is, what it is. However, this understanding should not be applied to the Crusades.
What are wars at the beginning and middle of the 20th century? The armies subordinated to the general command seize vast territories. The enemy troops are opposing each other along the fronts.
But back in the 19th century, the war was completely different! Remember the famous Patriotic War with Napoleon Bonaparte. Was there a confrontation between the troops along the front? No, there was a military campaign: the French army was moving along two roads from the Russian border to Moscow (which, by the way, was not the capital of the state). Already in 30 km from these roads, there seemed to be no war! The young ladies of the surrounding towns gave balls to the hussars who had come to rest, asked about the course of the campaign. This is the era of typography, newspapers, advanced geography, strategy and tactics.
And for 600-700 years before Bonaparte there was not only a front line, but also general command, geographical plans of the area, reliable means of communication.
Many chronicles (for the most part dating earlier than the era of the Crusades at times) mention the passage to the east of large masses of equestrian people with iron weapons. Gone, that's all. Who! Where? Traditionally, these messages are considered to be written confirmation of the so-called "great migration of peoples", and this is the migration of culture. These were the crusaders.
Individual units could get quite far from Syria or Iraq.
It is also not necessary to think that during the entire time of the Crusades, continuous battles raged throughout this territory and that Western Asia was in ruins. None of this happened! People continued to live, the land bore fruit. In battles, Muslims and Christians competed in dexterity and cruelty, in between battles, soldiers converged amicably for joint games and fun. The Christian lands of Syria gradually became the center of world trade. Lemons, oranges, figs and almonds, fine oils, heavy wines and fruits, silk fabrics, purple and glass were all traded:
“In the big port cities, various goods of the West met with the works of Greek technology and the treasures of Persia, India and China. For example, rhubarb growing in East Asia, musk from Tibet, then pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, aloe tree, camphor and other products of India or its islands were delivered to the markets of Akkon and Beirut, ivory also from there or from eastern Africa, pearls from the Persian Gulf, and incense and dates from Arabia."
The kingdoms and principalities of the Crusaders are the prototype of the historical Assyrian state. It was located in the north of Mesopotamia with the center in the city of Ashur, where the crusaders were holding. This is one and the same story recorded by different chroniclers. The Assyrian policy of NASAHU, uprooting, is in fact the settlement of Northern Mesopotamia by captives and free Germans, French, Italians.
There are many descriptions of battles and campaigns in which soldiers and monks glorified themselves, their commanders and God's help. But the captive peasants and artisans do not write their memories. Hence the bias in the perception of events.
3rd Crusade, (1189-1192)
1187, October 2 - Sultan Saladin took Jerusalem, and this was the prologue of the 3rd Crusade. Europe was torn apart by political passions, as always the papacy and the German (holy Roman) emperor dived in. Pope Urban III received the sad news of the fall of Jerusalem on October 18 and, unable to bear the blow, died on October 20. His successor, Gregory VIII, put aside all political squabbles and called on European monarchs to begin preparations for a new campaign.
The campaign was personally led by the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Frederick I. Taught by bitter experience, the Germans decided to create an army only from people fit for war. No poor pilgrims, no fanatical religious crowds! They collected 100,000 or a little more people, “but they were all princes, knights and seasoned warriors” (while for each banner, that is, for each noble lord, 20 servants were relied on).
Discipline in the army was maintained exemplary. During the campaign, Emperor Frederick proved himself to be an outstanding commander!.. If he had remained alive, perhaps the political map of the world would have been completely different now, but a misfortune happened to him: at one of the crossings he drowned in an Asian river. Discipline fell, confusion and strife began in the army. And how do you think the case ended? B. Kugler, based on the documents of that time, reported: "In the market in Galeb, captured Germans were sold in droves, like slaves."
D. Kalyuzhny
Recommended for viewing: A Brief History of the Crusades