Medieval Crusades Essay

The Medieval Crusades occurred in a period of time when Christianity was trying to spread the word by sword (Corduan, 2012, p. 144). The Medieval Crusades occurred by the orders of Pope Urban II in hopes to gain control over the Holy Land of Jerusalem (History.com, n.d.). During the Medieval Crusades, numerous people band together to first fight the Muslims for land. Countless people had died for what was thought was God. In 1069, the first Medieval Crusade began against the Muslim. Recently, the Muslims secured Jerusalem, which is Christianity’s most sacred place (History Today, 2015). The goal of the Medieval Crusades were to gain back the city of Jerusalem by force and power. The claim made by Pope Urban II was that whoever fought the Medieval Crusade would be forgiven for their sins as they have fought for God.
Christianity created the Medieval Crusades as an answer to the Muslims taken over the Holy Land and suppressing the Jews. As I learn more about the Medieval Crusades, I see a similarity in al-Qaeda, who claims to be fighting for Allah and spreading the word of Islam. Neither religion is correct and I do not believe that the two are true believers of Christianity or Islam. Moreover, the Medieval Crusades did not achieve their goal to gain the Holy Land while converting the Turkish Muslims to Christianity (Shoeing in Middle Ages, 2012). Another goal was to wipe out the Muslim faith altogether, which also did not occur. Although, Muslims were converted along the way but not enough to for the Medieval Crusades to be a success. It seems to me that what al-Qaeda is doing to the West is the same thing. Although countless people are being killed, the main goal is not a success, which is to convert everyone to one center