Multicultural Empires and the New World

Multicultural Empires and the New World

Origin of crusades
The crusades did not just happen as a result of a specific event. There were combinations of factors that united to spur religious, economic, social, and political environment that promoted crusading spirit across Europe and the Middle East. However, crusade first happens in Europe and later spread to the Middle East. The origin of crusades can be traced from the time of the arrival of the Seljuk Turks during the eleventh century. The Turks, as they were named by the Byzantines were nomads. By the tenth century, they converted their faiths to Islam and joined the Muslim empire. Seljuks became very powerful to a point where they started overrunning the Middle East. Among the parts of the Middle East that they captured include Baghdad, Syria, and Persia. Their invasion began in the year 1055 and went to the year 1071 when they overthrew Tatimids, an Egyptian Muslim dynasty that was ruling Jerusalem. It meant that the holy land of the lord was not in safe hands. Even though the Byzantine tried to defend their emperor in the year 1071, they were badly defeated by the Seljuks. The invasion of the Byzantine scared both the Christian countries of Europe and the Westerners. Christians believed that since the Seljuks were Muslims, they will stop Christians from accessing the Holy City of Jerusalem. On the other hand, the capturing of the Byzantine that acted as a buffer between the Europe and the Muslim emperor would mean that the western countries would be under constant attacks by the Muslim Empire.

During the same period, Eastern Orthodox Church had split from the Roman Catholic Church (Nicholson, 2004).
Therefore, Pope Gregory VII saw this as a perfect opportunity of reuniting the church. He tried to convince the other Christians that they had a common enemy in Seljuks that was threatening Christianity in the Middle East. However, his main intention was to arm twist the Greek Orthodox Church to be submissive to the Romans. It was until the year 1095 when Pope Urban II called for the first crusade following the plea from the Emperors Alexius. The first crusade lasted for four years when it was won by the Christian army regaining the control of the Jerusalem in the year 1099. (Riley-Smith, 2007). The success of the first crusade that was marked with the capturing of the Jerusalem in the year 1099 encouraged occurrences of many other crusades that resulting in the spreading of Christianity among the Latin states (Nicholson, 2004).
The crusades did not end at that point because the Muslims also vowed to fight back with the aim of regaining control of the Latin states. As time went by, there was a deterioration in regards to the relationship between the Latin states and the crusaders, particularly in the Byzantine Empire. This deterioration of the relationship fueled the war further that ended up with the sacking of the Constantinople in the year1204 as well as the emergence of the third crusade. However, the emergence of the Mamluk dynasty in Egypt towards the end of the 13th century spurred the end of the crusaders. The European invaders were driven out of both Syria and Palestine (Nicholson, 2004).
The Roman Catholic Church methods that promoted the Crusades
During the middle ages, all the European countries were staunch Christians. By that time, the Roman Catholic Church was headed by the pope. Besides, the pope also possessed a lot of power and was in a position of not only influencing political decisions but also military movements. Therefore, Roman Catholic Church through their leader the Pope used numerous methods to promote the crusades. Below are some of the methods that the Roman Catholic Church, through their clergy employed to convince the crusaders to fight in the crusades (Riley-Smith, 2007).
One of such approaches was convincing the crusaders that whoever became a crusader by joining the march to the Jerusalem was to have his sins automatically cleansed and forgiven. Therefore, Roman Catholic Church made people believe that by mere joining the crusades, they would be granted a free ticket to heaven. Therefore, Pope Urban II exploited his influence and the great Christianity culture and identity of the people to promote the crusades (Nicholson, 2004).
Another method that the church used was to assure the crusaders that they would receive countless benefits and individual protections by accepting to join the crusades. Moreover, pious monarchs also participated in convincing the rest of their people to join the crusades. Besides, priests, as well as bishops, also embarked on a massive preaching of the rewards they were likely to enjoy the ones they managed to conquer east. These three methods promoted massive migration to Palestine, where the crusaders fought against their enemies (Riley-Smith, 2007).
The Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties expansion methods
The Umayyad dynasty came to power following the death of the Mohamed. After ruling for 100 years, Umayyad dynasty was overthrown by the Abbasid dynasty. The two caliphates can be argued to have different methods of ruling and expansion of their imperial territories. As an expansion tool, Umayyad focused on the coast of the Mediterranean while the Abbasid dynasty focused on the Iraqis and Iranian plains (Zaydān & Margoliouth, 2007). This was the reason behind the shifting of the capital from the Damascus as was during the Umayyad dynasty to the Baghdad during the time of the Abbasid dynasty. Unlike Ummayad’s, Abbasid’s conquered most of the non-Muslim states and converted them to Islam. However, Abbasid dynasty was characterized by the not only splitting but also sharing power with the non-Islamic authorities. Additionally, Maynard’s emphasized on the military expansion while the Abbasid’s were for the knowledge expansion (Zaydān & Margoliouth, 2007).
The Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties contrasts concerning political administration and the religious policies
The Umayyad Dynasty lasted for about 100 years before being overthrown by the Abbasid Dynasty that ruled for about 500 years. However, Abbasid Dynasty was also overthrown by the Mongols in the year 1258 AD. The difference between these two dynasties was seen in their approach to the political administration. Abbasid was a pro inherited empire while Umayyad was pro-military invasion as a way of expanding their territories. Besides, as opposed of the Umayyad that focused on the Empire expansion, Abbasid believed in the knowledge expansion. Moreover, Abbasid valued their women and involved them in making of key political decisions. On the other hand, Umayyad disrespected and devalued their women. In addition, Umayyad was interested in the coast of the Mediterranean while Abbasid had their eye on the plains of Iraq and Iran. As for the Umayyad, they did not appreciate the conversion of the non-Muslims to Muslims, unlike the Abbasids that embraced the conversion of the non-Muslims to Islam (Zaydān & Margoliouth, 2007).
The significance of the Silk Roads
The ancient silk roads were very significant as far as the cultural exchange between China and the West is concerned. Through this road, remarkable civilization was shared among India, Persia, Greece, China, and Europe. In terms of the technology, the silk roads facilitated the exportation of the Chinese advanced technology to the west. An example of such technologies includes silkworm breeding, paper making, silk spinning, gunpowder, and the printing using movable parts (Umesao & Sugimura, 2012). As for the growth of the international trade, silk roads ensured exchange of the products from the west to China. Examples of such materials include carrot, peppers, grapes, spinach, jewelry, clover, walnuts, and beans. From China, the west received lacquers and Chinese porcelains. Apart from the above-mentioned benefits of the Silk Road, it also contributed to the spread of the epidemic diseases such as leprosy, anthrax, and the bubonic plague (Umesao & Sugimura, 2012).
References
Nicholson, H. J. (2004). The Crusades (3rd ed., Vol. 4, Ser. 2). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Riley-Smith, J. (2007). The Crusades. What Were the Crusades? 12(2), 1st ser., 1-8
Umesao, T., & Sugimura, T. (2012). The significance of silk roads in the history of human civilizations
(3rd ed., Vol. 21, Ser. 2). Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology.
Zaydān, J., & Margoliouth, D. S. (2007). Umayyads and ʻAbbásids, being the fourth part of Jurjí
Zaydán’s history of Islamic civilization. Leyden: E.J. Brill, Imprimerie orientale.