The Crusades, a series of religiously sanctioned military campaigns over

the course of hundreds of years. You will likely know about the Crusades
from things like TV shows, films and even video games. Lets start with
establishing the Crusaders, who were they? Well, the first thing that pops
into your head is likely [THIS].

Usually youd associate this guy with chivalry and religion, great tales of
war and valour. But in reality people went on Crusade for many reasons,
often for religious reasons but there was also a sense of adventure or
opportunity. To some, the Crusaders can be seen as failures or even
monsters given the endless bloodshed the Middle East saw during this
period. In fact, the First Crusade is widely regarded as the only successful
Crusade as it achieved its goal of taking Jerusalem and earned some land
for the Christians.

In todays video, we will be talking about the Third Crusade, which is

considered to be the only other successful Crusade. But theres still some
who would disagree with that statement. So lets find out why!

In 1887, the Third Crusade was called in response to Saladin and his
Ayyubid forces retaking Jerusalem from the Crusaders. The Crusaders
soon amassed three great forces under three kings: Frederick Barbarossa
of the Holy Roman Empire with nearly 15,000 men, Richard the Lionheart
of England with 8,000 and Philip Augustus of France with 10,000 men.
However, since Barbarossa had the largest army he chose the land route,
but he would later drown near Byzantium so most of the men went home.
This is kinda sad because it would have been interesting to see
Barbarossa in action, but he had to go for swim

Ok that joke was a little uncalled for... alright one more time...

Moving on, basically Philip and Richard get to the Holy Land by boat but
some other stuff went down before that. The two werent on the best of
terms to begin with, in fact they only agreed to go on Crusade if the other
did because each of them was worried the other was gonna take their
land. Plus, Richard had paid Philip to get out of marrying his sister and
instead settle for some Spanish lass whose name I cant pronounce.
Actually, Richard was kind of a rebel, he took Cyprus on his way to the
Holy Land despite not really needing to. In fact, Richards actions werent
entirely sanctioned by the church either this trend of attacking non-
objective areas even occurring in later Crusades.

Long story short, the two didnt get on and this was worsened by the fact
that they supported different people to place as the King of Jerusalem
Guy and Conrad. This meant that it was difficult for the two kings to work
together but they successfully took Acre despite the two of them being ill.
The Muslims surrendered in 1191 but Saladin failed to release Frankish
prisoners and return the True Cross in exchange for the prisoners from
Acre, some claim he tried to offer money but the payment for their
ransom seemed to not have been delivered. Nonetheless, Richard knew
he didnt have enough food to maintain so many prisoners and that if he
gave them to Saladin then theyd only fight against him later, so he had
most of them killed actually around 2,000 according to some people.
This is a pretty big deal as it showed he wasnt messing around but it also
contrasted highly against how Saladin acted he would treat prisoners
reasonably well and was widely regarded as being quite generous.

At this point, Philip had enough and decided to head home because he
was ill, still irritated by Richard and he also had to go assert his right over
Flanders since the Count died. Sure he promised to leave Richards
territory alone but this was something that would distract Richard for the
rest of the Crusade. He couldnt trust Philip but was still committed to the
Crusade. Arguably this was a good thing because it meant less conflict in
leading the remaining troops however it also left the Crusaders
undermanned after just one battle. Theyd successfully taken Acre but
failed to maintain their size or retrieve prisoners or the True Cross from
Saladin.

Nonetheless, they pushed on and moved along the coastline from Acre.
This was primarily to ensure that they didnt get surrounded as theyd
always have one side to the ocean which could be used for strategic
retreats if necessary; this tactic also allowed for them to focus the
defensive lines which was especially important given that there were less
of the Crusaders by now. While marching from Acre to Haifa, Richard
decided to join the rear of his forces in an attempt to maintain morale and
supervise equipment and other means of care and health. This followed
after the Crusading forces had split into three, one division under Hugh of
Burgundy - as appointed by Philip. A small force of Saracens had attacked
the vanguard and word quickly spread to the back where Richard was;
accounts claim he galloped to the frontlines like a "lightning bolt" to which
morale was boosted. So onward they went to Jaffa, where they aimed to
stop before setting sights on Jerusalem.

But disaster struck as, in 1191, they came into contact with Saladins
forces and thus began the battle of Arsuf just 25 miles from Jaffa. The
Crusaders had formed a shield wall to defend themselves in the battle
however a small number of Hospitalers decided to break formation and
charge after a fake Ayyubid retreat (pulling a Battle of Hastings). Richard
was forced to go on the offensive and successfully beat back Saladins
forces killing 3 Muslim commanders. While the total number of men
killed in this battle was rather few, when looking at the whole picture, the
victory was significant in building morale for the Crusaders and lowering
that of the Muslims whose forces fled and were left with fewer
commanders.

The campaign came to a head as the two forces met at Jaffa. Saladins
assault at Arsuf had halted the Crusaders long enough to establish his
men in Jaffa. It is here where Richard led his forces into battle and was
actually shot and wounded, he lost his horse but Saladin allegedly sent
the Crusading King a replacement during the battle (something he later
does again). The battle was hard-fought but the Crusaders won out, many
speculating that it came down to their equipment Ayyubid arrows had
little to no effect on the Crusaders and in reality the crossbow proved
more powerful. Baha al-Din also described the difference in power
between the Crusader crossbow and the bows of his own army. He saw
Frankish infantrymen with from one to ten arrows sticking from their
armour along with no apparent injury, whilst the crossbows struck down
both horse and man amongst the Muslims. Richard took this time to
recover and so he and his forces celebrated their victory by resting in
Jaffa.

Saladin allegedly sent fruit and snow to Richard when the King was ill with
fever due to his injuries, the snow coming from the mountain and was to
be melted into water. Additionally, Saladin had allegedly sent some of his
men to deliver a second horse to Richard - after seeing the Crusading King
has lost his in battle. These actions were bred out of Muslim beliefs (the
idea of helping those in need), however many like to believe it was also
out of a profound respect between the two leaders. Saladin's chivalry and
good character often being brought into Western writing; he even began
to build hospitals in areas he conquered such as Egypt, even denying his
men the (then) convention of plundering and pillaging cities he captured.
There are some out there that believe he used this as a means of spying
on the Crusaders and, in fact, Saladin did discover Richard's forces had
dwindled to 2,000 fit soldiers and 50 fit knights to use in battle. Richard
would not have been able to take Jerusalem with this number of men.

The Ayyubid leader took this time to also raze the fortifications between
Jaffa and Jerusalem in order to slow the Crusaders from advancing to
Jerusalem. This plan worked out, in fact Richard insisted on rebuilding forts
such as Ascalon. Fearing the supply lines leading to the coast being
severed, Richard even argued with the nobles at the time near Beit Nuba
by claiming they didnt have the forces to take Jerusalem. As a result they
retreated back to Jaffa before setting out once again for Jerusalem.
It is around this time that Saladin had launched an assault on Jaffa and
Richard swiftly returned in order to defeat the Muslim forces. In this battle,
Richard decided the Crusaders were to assault Jaffa from the water and
launched ships for an all-out assault. The two forces fought ferociously but
the Crusaders again won out having only lost 2 men (allegedly). In this
final battle, the Crusaders had still exhausted themselves and it became
apparent that neither side could go on; negotiations opened up to a treaty
by the end of 1192. The guidelines ensured that Jerusalem remain in
Muslim control and Ascalon be returned without defences, the Christians
were granted safe passage and dominion over the coastal region and
access to the Holy City which allowed for pilgrims to return to the land. It
is likely battling would have continued but the negotiations allowed for an
end to the conflict, which Richard needed. The English King had been
notified of an agreement between his brother John and Philip of France
that threatened his land and claim to the throne back in Europe.

In this conclusion, is it fair to say that the Third Crusade was a success? It
wasnt necessarily a failure as it clearly helped establish a Christian
foothold in the Levant, plus the Crusaders were able to win a number of
skirmishes and battles clearly indicating some military success.
However, the significance of these victories would be short-lived as
evident from future Crusades having to take place; Richard saw the
Crusades as a long-term conflict and therefore his rebuilding of
fortifications such as Ascalon suggest some foresight. The Christians
ultimately benefitted from securing these coastal areas because by re-
establishing a strong Christian presence in the Levant, safe passage was
ensured for Christians, namely pilgrims who were granted access to
Jerusalem. While he didnt retake Jerusalem, which was implied to be the
main objective, Richards campaign proved successful by reclaiming areas
for the Christians which is always nice. Had the Crusaders been more
united (namely had Philip not left or set aside his disdain for Richard) then
perhaps the Crusaders would have successfully taken Jerusalem; Richard
deciding against a siege of Jerusalem as he felt unable to actually win
and his judgement was clearly sound as shown by how many times he
was able to defeat the Muslim forces.

I suppose compared to future Crusades, the Fourth featuring Christian on

Christian conflict, the Third is perhaps able to be considered a success as
it at least gained more territory by the end than the Christians had at the
start. Undeniably, the Crusaders proved to be successful in terms of
military victories granted to them due to their better equipment and
even Richards ability to command and boost morale. But whether these
are enough to definitively call the Third Crusade an outright success is
rather difficult to say. It seems that it was far from a failure as the
Crusaders won every battle and gained territory with such a small force,
but I suppose it cant be called a success as evident from the
unsustainability of the areas and the failure to retake Jerusalem.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this video. Hopefully Ive offered you some
insight into the Third Crusade and helped change how you think of the
Crusaders. And so I leave you with [THIS].