Post by You_Got_A_Stew_Goin_Baby on Aug 3, 2017 19:46:33 GMT
I did mention it briefly, along with the Albigensian Crusade, as an example of Christian infighting. Most all pure intentions of Holy War against infidels dissipated after the First Crusade. The later crusades were mostly land grabs...nascent experiments in colonialism that would be remembered and recalled later by the conquistadors in the New World in their fight against Aztecs/Incas.
If you want to point a finger at a muslim group and call them the enemies of Europe, then it has to be the Seljuk Turks, who were migrating westward from central Asia. The Arabic caliphates were mostly squabbling among themselves and of little threat to European dominion...even the Byzantines. And yes, the Fourth Crusade was a complete failure, and the pope lifted his excommunication of the participants and, of course, accepted the loot that was taken from Constantinople...it's what Jesus would've wanted.
If the Arabic caliphates and Constantinople would've been left unmolested by Crusaders, the Seljuk/Ottoman Turks probably would've still conquered Anatolia and threatened Europe. But, it would've taken them longer. Looking at it that way, I can't agree with you/maya/the video that the Crusades saved Eruope.