The Crusades?

Question

I need a topic for my research paper. It needs to be in the realm of why the Crusades were a successful failure. I'm not allowed to be as broad as "they had an impact of civilization" It has to be specific, it is a 8-10 page paper. An example my teacher gave was the economic influence it had, someone is doing the Knights Templar, another is doing the role of women, ....etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated. :-D

Answer 1

You could do a paper on Peter the Hermit and the real reasons for the first crusade. You could do a geographical paper tracing lands won and lost during the crusades. (Maps are fun.) A paper on the causes and results of the Childrens' Crusade might be interesting. Or, you might research developments in weaponry, or trade, or medicine etc. over the period. The crusades covered 200 years, and a lot of political and technical changes happen over such a long period. I think it's kind of hard to write such a short paper on "The Crusades" as a lump -- they all may have had the same general goal, but each one was distinct in itself as well.
Good luck!

Answer 2

don't know what your friend doing economic is focusing on, u could talk about the renewal of trade between western and eastern areas that had been over for hundreds of years. Or that it led to a sharing of ideas, ie algebra and medicine which led to the steep learning curve of the Renaissance. Or you could talk about how the crusades led to the safe keeping of pilgrims money and effected today's banking.

Answer 3

I've always been fond of Saladin! He defeated the Crusaders, but even they granted his humaneness (considering the time)! He unified the Islamic world. Here's a bio to start. A fascinating guy!
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/saladin.htm

Answer 4

How about Christians. If you would go to:ask.com there is a lot of information on the Christian Crusades. Sounds faily easy.