The First Crusade was an unprovoked war of aggression

The First Crusade was an unprovoked war of aggression is a nonfactual argument that is often brought forth by the political left and critics of the Catholic Church in order to highlight the barbarity and violence of Catholicism and organized Christianity. The First Crusade of 1096 was a military expedition and spiritual armed pilgrimage that was a direct response to an existential threat to the Christian community of Europe. This historic event is one of the most documented event of the Middle Ages for which many primary sources remain that can be easily accessed.

At the turn of the century, Christian Europe was already in great peril as more than half of the Iberian Peninsula had been relatively recently captured by invading forces of the Umayyad Caliphate. At this time the Seljuks, a nomadic people belonging to the tribe of the Oguz Turks, had descended into Persia from their ancestral homeland Turkestan. The Seljuk Turks quickly gained power through successful conquest and established themselves as one of the leading local powers. The Seljuk conquest drove westward for Anatolia which resulted in the subjugation of the Christian Armenian people and in a lasting military conflict with the Christian Byzantine Empire. This conflict ultimately lead to the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 at which the Byzantine Empire was decisively defeated by the Seljuk Empire. Byzantine Anatolia quickly fell to the Seljuk conquest as there were no significant remaining forces that could oppose the invaders. Territories as far west as Nicaea had fallen to the Seljuks within a relatively short period of time.

In 1095 Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos formerly requested military aid from Pope Urban II in order to prevent the total collapse of the Byzantine Empire and to free the Christian populations of Anatolia and the Levant that suffered greatly under their new Muslim rulers. These historical events constitute one of the main motivating factors for the First Crusade which was announced by Pope Urban II throughout the Council of Clermont in November 1096. It is therefore factual to argue that the First Crusade was envisioned by the Church and the participating European Noblemen to be a selfless armed pilgrimage that sought to stop Muslim conquest and to free the Eastern Christians from foreign oppression and rule.

To Do:

• Adding reference to primary sources.
• Examination of the Sermon of Clermont by Pope Urban II in order to provide more evidence for the displayed motivations of Crusade.
• Examination of the oaths that were sworn by the Crusading Noblemen to Alexios Komnenos as proven by the diaries of Anna Comnena and the descriptive European Sources.