Quote:
Originally Posted by akv
The Jews, Christians, and Muslims all have holy sites in these lands. Chronologically perhaps the Israelis have the oldest claim. Regardless of religion doesn't it seem wars are ultimately fought over land and resources?...How does one define defensive war?...However when you have English, French and German armies stirred up by the Pope and attacking the Middle East how is this defensive in nature?
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Essentially, the argument that the Crusades were defensive goes as follows:
"St. Louis University scholar Thomas Madden has been exceptionally active in pointing out the widespread conquest and subjugation of Christian lands by Muslim armies prior to the calling of the crusades and, consequently, has like many scholars argued that the crusades were effectively defensive wars. He wrote,
Now put this down in your notebook, because it will be on the test: The crusades were in every way a defensive war. They were the West's belated response to the Muslim conquest of fully two-thirds of the Christian world. While the Arabs were busy in the seventh through the tenth centuries winning
an opulent and sophisticated empire, Europe was defending itself against outside invaders and then digging out from the mess they left behind. Only in the eleventh century were Europeans able to take much notice of the East. The event that led to the crusades was the Turkish conquest of most of Christian Asia Minor (modern Turkey). The Christian emperor in Constantinople, faced with the loss of half of his empire, appealed for help to the rude but energetic Europeans. He got it.(7)"
Source:
http://www.crusades-encyclopedia.com...ecrusades.html
For a more in-depth discussion, see Robert Spencer's "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades."