Not to offend anyone, where were positives to come out of the Crusades?

Question

If the Europeans had not stopped the incursion of Islam into Europe, what would our world be like today?

Would we have had an Italian Renaissance?

Would there be a Mosque were the Parthenon now stands? That has happened in Egypt where the Muslims took stones from ancient Egyptian monuments to build their Mosques...

What about the Pantheon or the Colosseum, would there be Mosques there as well?

What about all of the beautiful architecture, art, and music that came out of Europe, would we have that?

What about Shakespeare, would we have had that?

What about the United States?

AGAIN< THIS NOT TO BE OFFENSIVE, I AM WELL AWARE OF THE TERRIBLE ATROCITIES THAT OCCURRED DURING THE CRUSADES....

I AM IN NO WAY DOWNPLAYING THEM...

IN ANY WAR THERE ARE MANY ATROCITIES...

CORRECTION:

Not to offend anyone, where there
positives to come out of the Crusades?

CORRECTION 2:

WERE*

Answer 1

One. The muslim world virtually kept western civilization alive from the years 900-1300. Had the crusades been lost, there probably would not have been an Italian Renaissance, but instead a Turkish or Spanish Renaissance, 300 years earlier.

Second, the Muslim Turks never destroyed the Aya Sophia (the greatest church in Christendom), there's no indication they ever would have destroyed anything outside of war. The Christians did that (although to their credit, the Spanish never destroyed the Alhambra. And BTW, EVERY culture takes available resources whenever they can. Look at the US right now).

Yes there would probably be Mosques, and they would be beautiful, just like in Turkey and Syria.

We would still have had beautiful architecture, art, and music from Europe. It would probably sound very similar, because the European Renaissance was heavily influenced by the exposure to the Islamic culture (e.g., Spain in the 1400s).

We would have had someone like Shakespeare. Even if Europe had lost the Crusades, there is no way Christianity would have been obliterated. Something like the US would have existed. However, the ideals that shape the US come from the Bible, England, Washington, Lincoln, the Founding Fathers, the Greeks, etc., etc., Change anything in history, and you would have a very different US.

Answer 2

Trying not to be too wierd, but could we possibly estimate the change in the world's present population today the crusades caused. that might be the best thing that came from the crusades. i.e. there are too damned many people on this planet. What ever happened to that short period of time several decades ago when Americans tried too curtail their (way out of control breeding habits)?? Large families were once a must to insure the family survived. Oh, well, I've digressed again. Much love and happiness from the OOOLDE HIPPY

Answer 3

Misconceptions about the Crusades are all too common. The Crusades are generally portrayed as a series of holy wars against Islam led by power-mad popes and fought by religious fanatics. They are supposed to have been the epitome of self-righteousness and intolerance, a black stain on the history of the Catholic Church in particular and Western civilization in general.

The Crusades were not the brainchild of an ambitious pope or rapacious knights but a response to more than four centuries of conquests in which Muslims had already captured two-thirds of the old Christian world. At some point, Christianity as a faith and a culture had to defend itself or be subsumed by Islam. The Crusades were that defense.

From the safe distance of many centuries, it is easy enough to scowl in disgust at the Crusades. Religion, after all, is nothing to fight wars over. But we should be mindful that our medieval ancestors would have been equally disgusted by our infinitely more destructive wars fought in the name of political ideologies. And yet, both the medieval and the modern soldier fight ultimately for their own world and all that makes it up. Both are willing to suffer enormous sacrifice, provided that it is in the service of something they hold dear, something greater than themselves. Whether we admire the Crusaders or not, it is a fact that the world we know today would not exist without their efforts. The ancient faith of Christianity, with its respect for women and antipathy toward slavery, not only survived but flourished. Without the Crusades, it might well have followed Zoroastrianism, another of Islam's rivals, into extinction.

Answer 4

We owe the Arab people our knowledge. They kept it alive during the dark ages. They made advances in science and math when we couldn't even read. There are trade offs of all kinds like this in history. We really can't say what might have been if. That is not realistic. We have what we have and many races and nations are to be thanked for it. Who can say what would have been better or worse. History has a strange way of doing the opposite of how we think it should or would happen.
The crusades were based on religion. That in itself is wrong. Taking back Jerusalem for Jesus? Give me a break. There were other things on their minds. They weren't trying to save anyone from the Arab world. The pope had an agenda and he didn't care what it took to achieve it. Mass murder for the pope. Gee, where have we heard that before? Killing in the name of god.

Answer 5

After the Roman Empire had almost totally collapsed theree existed no organised armed forces in Europe. Nothing largewr than what could be assembled by small fuedal villages. The Crusades by providing an opportunity for plunder and wealth by military exploites started the rebuilding of professional armies through out Europe. If that is considered to be a positive thing. It also saw the development of the Knights Templars who created the first effective transfer system of funds by means of bank drafts. In effect the start of international banking.

Answer 6

There's really no way to know. Virtually none of the religions present today are as they were in their original form. We probably wouldn't have had many of the things you questioned, but there would be other things in their place which would be equally meaningful to whatever culture happened to arise from it. You can only examine the possibilities from one who has come from the history we have come from, so the world might have turned out better in our eyes, or worse, but what we'd think of it wouldn't matter. It would be what the society to emerge from such a history thinks about itself that would be important.

This kind of speculation is certainly intriguing, and there is no reason to avoid it. But for all practical intents and purposes, it's useless. We don't have to be doing something practical & useful with 100% of our time, of course, but if you're interested in doing something that is more practical & useful, look at the world we have today and see what we - that includes me and you - might be able to do to improve things. Things are greatly improved over a thousand years ago, but there will always be room for improvement. More important than where we might have been today had we been somewhere else yesterday is where we are going to be tomorrow.

But like I said, it -is- an interesting topic to speculate on, so I'm not intending to imply that it wasn't a good question. It was, I just like being sure not to get completely lost in it, as such speculation can also lead to hostilities and animosities over what might have been in light of what has actually come to be. That kind of result would be counter-productive.

Answer 7

Christianity has been on the defensive against Islam almost from Islam's very beginning. From medieval Muslim aggression to present-day aggression in America, Sudan, Armenia, Malaysia, Indonesia, jihad (in the sense of "holy war"; the word itself simply means "struggle") is an historical and extant Islamic reality.

The Crusades were a series of defensive wars against Islamic aggression in the Middle Ages and attempts to recapture the Holy Land from Muslim conquerors in order to allow safe pilgrimage and to protect and maintain the Christian presence there. Jerusalem had been Christian for hundreds of years when Caliph Omar seized it, and following that victory, Muslims warred their way into Egypt, other parts of Africa, Spain, Sicily, and Greece, leaving Christians dead and churches in ruins. They stole lands in the area now known as Turkey, destroying Catholic communities founded by St. Paul himself. They siezed Constantinople -- the "second Rome" -- and threatened the Balkans. They warred their way as far north as Vienna, Austria and Tours, France.

Not too shocking considering the Qu'ran teaches:

Q.9: 29 ”Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, even if they are of the People of the Book [Jews and Christians 1], until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”

and

Surah 47:4: "When ye meet the unbelievers, smite at their necks"

and

Surah 4:74: "To him who fighteth in the cause of Allah" [whether he is slain or gets victory] "soon shall we give him a reward of great value."

In other words, Christians are to "convert, submit, or die"

All this understood, it must be said that the Popes' noble, reasonable purposes for the war, however, became entangled with the purposes of those with secular interests and more interested in dynastic feuds, economic concerns over Mediterranean trade, or destroying the Eastern Roman Empire. Many "bad guys" jumped onto the Crusade bandwagon and evil was done by some of the Crusaders: the sacking of Constantinople (including the destruction of churches) and the murder of Jews along Crusade routes most definitely took place and are deeply lamentable. There is no excuse for such behaviors except human evil, but this evil was not sanctioned in any way by the Church, in no way reflects on Church teachings or her purposes for the Crusades, and resulted in the excommunication of many Crusaders responsible.

The inherent evil of the Muslim religion does not mean that all who call themselves "Muslims" are evil! Many Muslims are of the same sort, religiously speaking, as many "Christians"; they don't take their religion that seriously, are merely "cultural Muslims," have enough natural virtue to try to explain away and defuse the Qu'ran's exhortations to violence, or are simply ignorant about Islam's violent history. May God bless, not their religion, but them, bringing them to all Truth, Who is Christ -- not only a Prophet, but the Son of the Living God.

Answer 8

They are an embarrassment to present day Christians, and there are a lot of Better ways to spread the bible around, but I suppose some of that was accomplished It is about the same as present day Muslims killing all the infidels!

Answer 9

The Crusades were not a response to any Muslim incursion into Europe. The Crusades were the incursion. I don't know of any positive results of the crusades. It's worth mentioning that the crusades were not just about invading the holy land. They were also about killing Jews. Many Europeans who couldn't take time off from work and travel to the crusades stayed closer to home and slaughtered Jews.

Answer 10

All things work to the good of those that love the Lord. Christianity as Christ taught it bears no resemblance to the crusader armies and even less resemblance to the children of the Crusaders in the form of Protestants. Flawed copies of flawed copies of misconceptions. The kingdom of God is inside us and the wise man closes his eyes and listens to his heart to hear God.

Things turned out as they have so people like me can say things like this. If the Crusaders had been truly like Christ then freedom wouldn't exist unless the Sufis took over Islam but the Sufis are to Christlike for that.