Today, 27th November, is the anniversary of Pope Urban II declaring the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont. Thousands of knights and many leading nobles joined up and the crusade took Jerusalem from the Turks and ran it as a Christian kingdom for nearly one hundred years.
The crusade came about because the Byzantine Empire (the eastern remnant of the Roman Empire) called on the west for help after losing battles against the Turks and losing a lot of land.
If the First Crusade had never been called, maybe Constantinople would have fallen and Islamic armies reached the Balkans centuries before they did. The whole ethnic makeup of the Balkans would be different and that would have affected conflicts right up to the present. Maybe Islam would have been stronger and able to resist the Mongols in the 14th Century. The map of the Middle East would certainly been different.
Furthermore, since the crusades are still a sore point amoungst Muslims in Europe, maybe tensions would be less today, but personally I doubt that.
Just posting a quick hello to all the old school Tolunites whom I have lost contact with since I went on something of a hiatus from this disaster of a site. How many of you are still posting here?
i think it is better to have a religion,the spiritual side of a human being is very important and without taking care of this side most people turns depressed.believing in god makes you optimistic and willing to live and modest.people try to improve thier manners and ethics for god's sake which is good for the community and the socities they are living in.
