Crusades Dbq

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Pages: 3

The First Crusade, led by Pope Urban II, was a successful battle resulting in new Christian allies, the expansion of the Holy Roman Empire, and possession of the sought-after Holy Land. The Crusades as a whole were a series of holy wars, used to either expand the Holy Roman Empire or to assist allies in battle. There were seven major crusades in addition to several minor ones, the timeline of these wars starting from 1096 to 1291. While the First Crusade was the most successful, the others were not.
The Holy Roman Empire by the end of the 11th century had control over a substantial amount of land and was a respected empire. Seeing that the church was one of the highest powers of the Empire at the time, Pope Urban II played a large role in initiating the First Crusade. Pope Urban II was pope from 1088 to 1099 and the first crusade was one of the biggest achievements. Gaining power in the Holy Land as well as being able to gather such a big army was a big feat for his time and his time as pope was a successful one.
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This, however, wasn’t the only reason why the Pope called all of his people to action. He also wanted to help his fellow Christians in the east in the hopes of fixing the rift that was formed between Roman and Orthodox Christianity. The Schism of 1054 left relations between the two groups rocky and this was seemingly the perfect way to mend things. Pope Urban also wanted to end the constant tension between feudal lords and knights that had resulted in seemingly endless conflict. He wanted to police the tension so that there wouldn’t be any reason for any sparked physical fighting. Shortly after he received his request for help, the Pope delivered a speech at Clermont to draft troops for the