During the Crusade Battles, which religion won more battles and gain more land?

Question

Muslims or Christians?,

Answer 1

First of all, NEVER trust wikipedia, any idiot can go in and change any item in it at any time for any reason, it is totally unreliable as source material and usually is rejected out of hand by teachers/professors and really, anyone else who is having a discussion.

all you need to know is that the muslims, in 1291, finally captured Beirut, the last christian outpost in the holy lands and that ended the crusades.

whale

Answer 2

Our colleague is a bit harsh on Wiki; as author of a couple of sites I can vouch that any inaccuracies are generally 'pounced on' and removed pretty quickly. Wiki is populated by far more 'obsessive correctors' than by vandals. I tend to think that teachers (who don't like Wiki) would do better to teach their students to 'use it wisely' rather than avoid it altogether. They might also admit that virtually all books (including textbooks) are written from subjective viewpoints.

Back to the question. Others have pointed out that in terms of 'land', the Christians Armies were eventually 'ejected' entirely from the Middle East. In terms of battles though, the experience was very variable, depending very much on who among the many leaders on both sides was 'in charge' on each occasion. Neither the Christians or the Muslims had a 'standing army', and both sides had deep divisions within their own ranks (at times enlisting the 'enemy' to fight their own colleagues).

Given that, then it wasn't so much a matter of either 'religion' being more successful, but a story of individual commanders. You'd probably do as well to consider whether the Christians ever had a commander to equal Saladin. Richard 1 perhaps, but his heart wasn't in an extended campaign in the Middle East.

Joscelin, Count of Edessa was typical of the best of the Christian warrior-nobility - even as he was dying his soldiers carried him into battle and the enemy fled, so great was his reputation. But Joscelin's territory was as often 'at odds' with his Christian as with his Muslim neighbours, and even where the Christians weren't working 'against' each other's interests, they almost never coordinated their diplomatic or military efforts.

Answer 3

It depends how you define crusades.
If you just mean the Holy Land ones, it's a push since the crusaders there lost any of the lands that they conquered.

If you consider the reconquest of Spain and Portugal part of the crusades, then it is definitely the Christians.

Are the Balkan Wars part of your question? because then it'd be the Muslims who almost reached Vienna.

Answer 4

Read all about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades