Onward Christian Soldier!!!
View attachment 2812051
I heard the year 1212 was a GREAT time for French Children!
the crusades were a direct response to Moslem invasions of Europe, murder of pilgrims, rampant piracy on the high seas, raiding of silk road caravans, and many other offenses by the Moslem Caliphate against the "Christian World"
if you take "Moslem" and "Christian" out of the equation the crusades were a territorial war between two powers, one had been the aggressor for hundreds of years, the other power finally got sick of it and marshalled their forces to drive back the aggressor.
the crusades were NEVER a war of totalitarian extermination, the crusades' stated aim was to drive the aggressors out of territory they took by force, and end their predations on the trade and territory of europe and the levant (the holy land).
it was international politics in the age before diplomacy, and the Moslems started that shit.