Today, professor of religious studies Carole Cusack considers the Crusades: can we really understand anything about Islamic State by looking at its rise as the latest incarnation of a centuries-old struggle between Islam and Christianity?
In 1996, late US political scientist published the book . Following the collapse of communism in 1989, he argued, conflicts would increasingly involve religion.
Islam, which Huntington claimed had been the opponent of Christianity since the seventh century, would increasingly feature in geopolitical conflict.
So, it wasn’t particularly shocking when, after on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, the then-US president, George W. Bush, used the term 'crusade' to describe the American military response.
Framing the subsequent '' as a crusade acted as a red flag to journalists and political commentators, who could treat the events as simply the most recent stoush in a centuries-old conflict.
The actual themselves evoke a romantic image of medieval knights, chivalry, romance and religious high-mindedness. But representing them as wars between Christians and Muslims is a gross oversimplification and a misreading of history.
Early Islamic conquests
That there were wars between Muslims and Christians is certainly true. After the death of , the Prophet Muhammad’s father-in-law and first caliph, the second sent the Islamic armies in three divisions to conquer and spread the religion of Islam.
Whole regions that were Christian fell to Islam. , which comprised modern-day Palestinian territories, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, for instance, was defeated. And Egypt was conquered without even a battle in 640.
The , officially , had been conquered by 642. Weakened by war with the Christian , Persia was no match for the Muslim forces.
Muslim armies marched across north Africa and crossed the Straits of Gibraltar into modern Spain, eventually securing a large territory in the Iberian Peninsula, which was known as (also known as Muslim Spain or Islamic Iberia).
They also marched across the Pyrenees and into France in 732, the centenary of Muhammad’s death. But they were decisively defeated at the (also known as Battle of Tours and, by Arab sources, as Battle of the Palace of the Martyrs) by the Frankish general, , grandfather of the great Emperor Charlemagne.
This was seen as a Christian victory and, after Poitiers, there were no further attacks on Western Europe. came much later.
The causes of the Crusades
The proximate causes of the include the defeat of the , who was crowned in 1081 and ruled until his death. His armies met the at the and were defeated.
This placed at risk of conquest. So, the emperor requested that the West send knights to assist him – and he was prepared to pay.
preached the Crusade at the in 1095. the Turks and Arabs attacked Christian territories and had “”.
All who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the pagans, shall have immediate remission of sins. This I grant them through the power of God with which I am invested.
Thousands answered the pope’s call and the First Crusade conquered Jerusalem in 1099. But the Crusaders' presence in the Middle East was short-lived and the port city of Ruad, the , was lost in 1302/3.
Many later conflicts that were called Crusades were not actions against Muslim armies at all. , for instance, was a Venetian Catholic army, which besieged Constantinople. Catholic Christians attacked Orthodox Christians, then looted the city, taking its treasures back to Venice.
Islam was not a factor in the , either. In that instance, used the language of war against the infidel (literally “unfaithful”, meaning those without true religion) against heretics in the south of France. So, “right-thinking” Christians killed “deviant” Christians.
The end of the Middle Ages
It wasn’t all intermittent fighting. There were also periods of peace and productive relationships between Christian and Muslim rulers in the Middle Ages.
For instance, (also know as Charles the Great or Charles I), who united most of Western Europe during the early part of the Middle Ages, sent gifts to , the Caliph of Baghdad. In return, he received diplomatic presents such as a chess set, an elaborate clepsydra (water clock) and an elephant.
In Spain, the culture from the early eighth century to the late 15th was known as “” (the co-existence), as Jews, Christians and Muslims lived in relative peace (though the level of harmony has been exaggerated). And there was an exchange of ideas in fields including mathematics, medicine and philosophy.
The Christian kingdoms of the north gradually reconquered Al-Andalus. And, in 1492, and reclaimed Granada and expelled the Jews and Muslims from Spain, or forced them to convert to Christianity.
A clumsy view
Clearly, to speak of an “us versus them” mentality, or to frame current geopolitical conflicts as “crusades” of Christians against Muslims, or vice versa, is to misunderstand – and misuse – history.
Modern Westerners would find medieval Crusader knights as unappealing as they do Islamic State.
And it’s impossible to miss the fact that the immediate entry into heaven Pope Urban promised to Christian soldiers who died in battle against the infidel Muslims is conceptually identical to the martyrdom ideology of contemporary jihadists.
Reality is more complex – and more interesting – than the simple continuation of a historical struggle against the same enemy. Muslims conquered Christian territories, yes, but Christians engaged in reconquest.
There were forced conversions to both Islam and Christianity, and – very importantly – actual governments and monarchs were involved. It’s a simplistic thing to say that “Islamic State is neither Islamic nor a state”, but there’s an element of truth in it.
The most important reason we should resist the lure of the crusade tag to any fight against jihadists is that groups like Islamic State want the West to think like that.
It justified the Paris bomb attacks of November 2015 as attacks against “the Crusader nation of France”. Osama bin Laden used the same reasoning after the September 11 attacks.
By adopting the role of Crusaders, Western nations play into Islamic State’s hands. It’s how these jihadists want the West to understand itself – as implacably opposed to Islam. But it’s not, and it never has been.
This is the sixth article in our series on the . Look out for more stories on the theme in the coming days.
Carole Cusack does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.
