The First Three Crusades Were Beneficial to Western European Countries Only

The Crusades That the crusading phenomenon, primarily the first three crusades (1096 C.E. – 1192 C.E.), was beneficial to Western Europe as it directly triggered Western expansionism.

The crusades were only three of a series of nine Holy Wars fought between the European Christians and the Middle Eastern Muslim forces for control over the universally religiously renowned Jerusalem (Tyerman, 2004, 14). The first three crusades (1096 C.E. – 1192 C.E.) brought both cultural benefits and economic expansion* to Western Europe by bringing peoples of many different nationalities together, causing an interchange of ideas, customs and resources (Munro, 1921, 225). Renowned secondary source historians Tyerman, Munro, Newhall, Myers and Dutch all agree that the intermingling of cultures instigated by the crusades brought cultural and economic benefits to Western Europe that had previously been unseen since the Roman Empire (Tyerman, 2004, 10; Munro, 1921, 109; Newhall, 1927, 45; Myers, 1889, 12; Dutch, 1998). These views are also supported by extant primary source Fulcher of Chartres, who implies that the intermixing of nations and religions, (both old and new) created a diverse range of opportunities for the European Christians. This included new methods of exploration and travel, innovative approaches to warfare, different trading partners and trading materials and an influx of demand for workers to meet the needs of the armies (Dutch, 1998; Fulcher of Chartres cited in Peters, 1998, 96). Furthermore, new educational opportunities arose, with the ancient Muslim and Byzantine empires sharing knowledge of medicine, architecture and even literature with the mostly illiterate Western Europeans (Myers, 1889, 225). As a result, the European Christians flourished due to these cultural and economic benefits initiated by the first three crusades.

Prior to the crusades, the majority of Western Europeans were illiterate, uneducated and immobile (Guisepi, 2009). Renowned

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