Call for a crusade against the USSR. Pope John Paul II took an active part in the destruction of the Soviet empire

The First Crusade Proclaimed by Pope Urban II

The church could have benefited substantially from the crusade against the Seljuk Turks, since Urban II was aware of the potentially significant benefits of helping the Byzantines.

Pope of Rome Urban II announced First Crusade November 27, 1095 at the Church Council in the French city of Clermont. The church-sanctified attempt to expel people "enslaved by demons" would serve many purposes: the Seljuk Turks successfully occupied the Holy Land, which at that time was part of the Byzantine Empire. Since the time of the pontificate of Gregory VII and the fatal battle of Manzikert, in which the forces of Byzantium were defeated, Eastern emperors sent appeals to Rome for help. Now the Pope could act on an opportunity that would give him an excuse to do much more than just send a few knights on horseback.

Goals and objectives of the First Crusade

Europe has been a battlefield, a place of continuous conflict and endless war. Uniting the feudal factions against a common enemy would reduce the likelihood of further wars and direct their resources and energies against the Muslims. “ Let those who are accustomed to make wasteful private wars even against the Faithful, go further against the Infidels in a battle worthy of being undertaken,…” Pope Urban II issued the first unconditional indulgence of its kind to those who "fighting against the pagans". For a medieval man who was afraid of the fire of purgatory, this absolution was very convincing.

A successful crusade would greatly increase the prestige of the papacy and perhaps put an end to the schism that had taken place between the eastern and western Christian churches. And although the emperor Alexei I Komnenos asked for a relatively small number of professional soldiers - mounted knights, Urban called all Christians: knights, lackeys, “rich and poor”, and even "robbers". Despite the power, this army could not be led by any of the noteworthy kings; and Philip I of France, and Henry IV of Germany were excommunicated from the church.

Incentives for participation in the First Crusade

Those participants in the Campaign who owned the land, the Church guaranteed its protection and surety, so that while the lords are in distant lands, fighting for Christ, the violators could not take possession of them. Those who lift up the cross have their debts forgiven. Since usury was prohibited, many of these debts were incurred through Jewish creditors.

However, European Jews were not taken into account even when the participants of the Campaign began to mercilessly kill them throughout Europe. For them there was no difference between the Jews and the so-called Infidels, whom they were soon to encounter outside the borders of Constantinople. The Jews turned to the Church for help. Some brave bishops opened their gates to Jews seeking asylum, but many others remained deaf to their pleas.

The city of Nicaea was liberated from Muslim control in 1097, and in 1099 the army of the Crusade was already at the gates of Jerusalem. The final battle was a bloodbath: thousands were executed. Fulcher of Chartres writes that “If you were there, your feet would be submerged up to the ankles in the blood of the slain. None of them were left alive. They spared neither women nor children.”.

Legacy of the First Crusade

March 2000 Pope John Paul II apologized for the sins committed in the name of the Church, including the Crusades. The First Crusade resulted in approximately 150 years of crusading activity, both official and unofficial. Peasant Crusade, headed by Peter Hermit, ended in a full-scale massacre outside of Constantinople, while the ill-born Children's Crusade ended with the captains of the ships transporting young people to North Africa instead of the Middle East to sell them into slavery there.

The crusade did not end the schism, nor did it end the “private wars” in Europe. Nevertheless, it became the impetus for a new age of commerce and trade, the significant benefit, which was able to pave the way for the prosperity of the city-states that appeared in Italy.

The funds of the Museum of Local Lore contain interesting photographs of the 1930s, reflecting important events pre-war period. The photographs show a demonstration of the workers of the city of Penza, organized in response to the "crusade" against the USSR, declared by the Pope in 1930. The demonstration took place on Sovetskaya Square, which was attended by a large group of citizens with banners and banners.

From the very beginning of the existence of the Soviet state, the ruling circles of the capitalist countries of Europe and the USA, seeking to destroy or weaken it, tried to oppose the young socialist republic with a hostile bloc of European countries, allegedly united by Christian civilization. The Vatican provided all possible support to these circles. In 1918-1920. Pope Benedict XIV, hiding behind the slogan of protecting religion, actively supported foreign intervention in Russia, put together an anti-Soviet front. Ten years later, in 1930, another Roman high priest - Pius XI - proclaimed a "crusade" against the USSR, which served as a signal for unleashing an anti-Soviet campaign on an international scale.

In the 1930s, the "crusade" slogan was taken up by the German and Italian fascists. By calling for an end to "God-opposing Bolshevism," the Goebbelses and Rosenbergs sought to mislead the German and world public, portraying the fascist cutthroats as fighters for Christian principles, sought to mobilize the Germans to prepare for an aggressive war against the USSR. Characteristically, his plan of attack on Soviet Union The Nazis named after the German leader of the third "crusade", Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa.

Fans of Mussolini did not lag behind the Nazis, who in their own way even "improved" the practice of crusading propaganda, expanding the scope of its application. Exterminating the civilian population of Ethiopia in 1935, the Italian fascists insisted that they were doing so in the name of introducing the true faith of Ethiopians - heretics, schismatics and pagans: a "crusade" against Ethiopia was proclaimed - thus, the fascists hoped to sanctify the aggressive war in the eyes of believers Italians.

The same trick was used by the Spanish fascist rebels, who, together with their German and Italian allies, were strangling the Republic in Spain under the banner of a "crusade" against the "Reds".

Thus, even before the outbreak of the Second World War, the medieval slogan of a "crusade" was widely used in reactionary imperialist propaganda. The papacy and fascism, in their hatred of the USSR, acting hand in hand, invested in the concept of "crusade" a content different from the medieval one. They adapted it to their purposes, seeing in it important tool ideological preparation and substantiation of the bloody adventures of the imperialists.

This practice of lies and deceit has received further development during the Second World War, when those who directed Hitler's aggression tried in every possible way to instill in the fascist soldiers the idea that by killing and robbing, burning and destroying, the army of the fascist Reich was acting in the name of higher ideals approved by heaven itself. "God is with us" - such a motto was inscribed on the belt buckles of the Nazi warriors. The slogan of a "crusade" against Bolshevism, proclaimed by the German fascists, served as a banner for the darkest part of the soldiers of the German fascist army, Catholics and Protestants, drugged by Nazi propaganda.

Pope Francis performs first canonization in his life

On May 12, in St. Peter's Square, he canonized 800 martyrs from Otranto and two Latin American nuns. According to Vatican Radio, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, among other things, noted:

« Today the Church offers for our veneration a whole series of martyrs who were called together to the highest witness of the Gospel in 1480. About eight hundred survivors of the siege and capture of Otranto were beheaded near that city. They did not want to renounce their faith and died confessing the Risen Christ. Where did they find the strength to stay true? It is precisely in faith, which makes it possible to see beyond the human eye, beyond the boundaries of earthly life, that makes it possible to contemplate “open heavens” – as St. Stephen - and the living Christ at the right hand of the Father».

In our world, sometimes it happens that the reckoning of a particular person or group of people begins to acquire a political sound. It is possible that something similar could happen to the martyrs of Otranto. Recall that they accepted death from the soldiers of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. This sultan, known by the nickname the Conqueror, is a cult hero of Turkish history and politics. It is with him that the great victories of the Ottoman Empire are associated, including the capture of Constantinople. In 1480, the troops of Mehmed II landed with an army in Italy, just in the Otranto region. After the siege, the Ottoman soldiers took the city. 800 men of working age were invited to convert to Islam. They refused, for which they were beheaded, the legend goes.

It is possible that this was the case. Although for Mehmed II, who was a dervish, such cruel behavior was extremely uncharacteristic. However, today, in the 1990s, the Archdiocese of Otranto initiated a study of this story in order to consider the possibility of the canonization of the townspeople. In 2007 the Pope Benedict XVI launches the process of canonization of 800 martyrs of Otrant with the wording as murdered " out of hatred for faith". So Pope Francis only completed the work begun by his predecessors. Regarding the solemn announcement in the Vatican of the decision on new saints, the Turkish press has so far limited itself to only brief informational remarks. The only thing that the leading Turkish newspapers Milliyet and Zaman did was to add to the reprints of the news the formula that 800 residents of Otranto were “allegedly” executed for refusing to convert to Islam, thereby challenging the Vatican’s main postulate about the suffering of martyrs “out of hatred for the faith.”

The canonization was the second significant act of the Vatican, touching Turkey, in two weeks of May. Early this month news agencies announced the reissue of the book of the Pope Francis « In heaven and on earth”, in which he, in particular, condemned the Armenian Genocide. As the current pope noted, being then a cardinal Bergoglio, in the twentieth century, the Turks razed cities and villages to the ground, because they presented themselves as a god. Given that in the first two months of his pontificate, Francis, for the first time in the history of the schism between Catholics and Orthodox, invited the Patriarch of Constantinople to Rome for his enthronement, accepted the latter’s invitation to visit Istanbul and Jerusalem, and also held a number of meetings in the Vatican with representatives of the North African and Middle Eastern Churches, it begs next output. It is possible that in the matter of reformatting the Greater Middle East (let's use this American term), it is planned to introduce a new, additional religious factor. If so far only the confrontation between Shiites and Sunnis within the framework of a single Islam has been taken into account, then, perhaps, now the factor of Catholicism can be added to them.

This has already happened in this region at the dawn of the second millennium from Christmas when, as a result of the Crusades blessed by Rome, the Kingdom of Jerusalem was formed in Palestine. It existed for a relatively short time, from 1099 to 1291, but left behind a number of clues. In particular, political technologies for the development and distribution of militant Catholic orders were worked out here -. Orders were not subordinate to either the Pope or the King. They were largely independent and were not required to carry out military service, but in fact participated in all major battles. After the fall of the kingdom, the orders transferred their activities to Europe, where the same Templars began to represent a very impressive force, for which they were destroyed by the French monarch Philip the Handsome, and in 1312 the Pope Clement V disbanded their order. By the way, the current head of the Roman Catholic Church, Francis, comes from, perhaps, the most .

The current Vatican can find itself again in the Middle East only with the active support of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which is also called the Ecumenical. This is not an exaggeration. If in Istanbul itself the heirs of Byzantine Constantinople are locked up in the Phanar quarter, then outside of Turkey, the influence of the Ecumenical Patriarch extends to the USA and Europe, Greece and Jerusalem. Until now, the governor of the Phanar, the patriarch Bartholomew in political games was significantly limited by the need to adapt to the official Ankara. The accession of Pope Francis to the throne seemed to give room for maneuver. And in the first days of the procession of Francis, Patriarch Bartholomew made a number of careless remarks, when he even suggested that the old schism between Catholics and Orthodox would soon be healed with the prospect of creating a new super-Church ( those. ecumenism, betrayal of Orthodoxy and entering into an alliance with Rome, which sacked Constantinople during the “fourth crusade” in 1204 and the subsequent giving of the Constantinople hierarchs themselves, who accepted in 1439 the (“Florentine”) union with Catholicism , which led to the final decline in morals in Byzantium and the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453 - ed. ed ). Then the capabilities of the ruler of Constantinople could be reinforced by the power of the Vatican, which would have an unpredictable impact on the geopolitical situation in the Middle East region.

As can be seen, the Turkish authorities have calculated this option. The answer followed instantly. The Turkish police took Bartholomew under heavy guard after the appearance of " information about the planned assassination attempt». As reported On May 10, Reuters, the Turkish prosecutor's office received an anonymous letter outlining the assassination plan (while the press secretary Dositheus Anagnostopoulos said that the Patriarch did not receive any direct threats, but learned about the alleged plot from the Turkish media, which was later confirmed by the Turkish police - ed. ed .). The assassination attempt was scheduled for May 29, which marks the 500th anniversary of the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans. In turn, the Patriarch of Constantinople commented on the discovery of a conspiracy against himself as follows: I don't worry because I am protected first of all by God and secondly by the Turkish authorities and the Turkish government". This reaction is understandable. After all, under the pretext of the need to protect Bartholomew from intruders, Ankara could well make him restricted to leave the Phanar quarter for a long time. In any case, at the moment, the Patriarch of Constantinople will not be entirely up to Pope Francis.

Time will tell what the Vatican will do next in this situation. Let's notice one thing. Not so long ago, the Pope's former personal secretary John XXIII, archbishop Loris Francesco Capavila drew attention to the great similarity that exists between John XXIII and Francis. In an interview with the Vatican Insider Internet portal, the 98-year-old elder said that both pontiffs are united by love for the periphery. John XXIII was Bishop of Rome for less than five years, from 1958 to 1963. Prior to his election as pope, he was a diplomat of the Vatican, and served as papal nuncio (envoy) to Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and France. He is especially known for being the initiator of the convening of the Second Vatican Council ( who justified the Jews in the betrayal of Christ - approx. ed ), as a result of which part of the communities departed from the Roman Catholic Church ( it is no less symbolic that there were two popes bearing the name of John XXIII. In addition to what was mentioned above - who justified the Jews in their betrayal, in the history of Rome there was another John XXIII - "antipope"(cm. Leo Taxil. "Sacred Nativity"). Moreover, he was such an odious person that after him, for almost 500 years, none of the pontiffs took the name John - ed. ed ). There is much to ponder here, given the comparison made by Archbishop Loris Francesco Capavila.

Stanislav Stremidlovsky

In February 1930, Pope Pius XI addressed the clergy and believers with a call for a "crusade" against the USSR. This appeal served as the beginning of a broad anti-Soviet campaign in many countries, which, according to the organizers of this campaign, was supposed to make it easier for the imperialists to prepare for war against the USSR.

Pius XI borrowed the idea of ​​a "crusade" from the arsenal of the Middle Ages. From the end of the XI century. to the end of the 13th century. At the call of the popes, a number of military-colonization campaigns to the East were organized, which were called "Crusades". According to the statements of the popes, church preachers and reactionary bourgeois historians, the crusades were allegedly organized in order to "liberate the Holy Sepulcher" in Jerusalem, which was then under the rule of the Turks.

In fact, the crusades were military and predatory campaigns in the East, and it was not at all the struggle of Christians with Muslims, with "infidels", that lay at the heart of them.

Various classes of the then society took part in the crusades: large feudal lords (kings, princes, barons, dukes), striving to conquer new rich lands and increase incomes, small knights (nobles), who went on crusades with the aim of plundering and seizing lands and serfs. Many of them expected to get rid of debts for participating in campaigns. The crusades were also attended by the masses of the peasantry, downtrodden and crushed by the yoke of serfdom, whose situation at that time was extremely difficult. Going on campaigns, they hoped to free themselves from feudal oppression, escape from their owners, find freedom (serfs who went on a campaign were freed from serfdom). The crusades were supported and subsidized by the trading cities of Italy (Venice, Genoa, etc.), which hoped to win trade routes to the East with the help of the crusaders.

The crusades, which brought enormous wealth to the church, contributed to the rise of religious fanaticism among the population. The popes arranged special money collections and even introduced taxes on the organization of crusades, and the property of non-returning participants in the campaigns became the property of the church. Thus, the crusades, inspired and organized by the popes, raised the political weight of the papacy and served as a new source of increasing wealth and strengthening the influence of the church. The declassed rabble took an active part in the crusades: tramp and criminal elements who were looking for opportunities to plunder.

In 1095, Pope Urban II, at a church council in Clermont, called on the Christian world to a crusade to the East.

In 1096 the first crusade began. Unorganized crowds of peasants, bandits-knights and the criminal rabble that joined them moved from France, Germany, England, Scandinavia, Italy and Spain to Constantinople. Passing through the Christian states of Europe, they plundered cities and villages, raped, causing universal hatred for themselves.

The first detachments of the crusaders were defeated by the Turks, but already in the autumn of 1096 new detachments moved to the East. When the crusaders reached Constantinople in 1097, the Christian Greeks, whom the crusaders allegedly went to help against the "infidels" (Turks), saw that they were dealing with rabble, with rude barbarians who were looking only for personal gain, and began to take measures against the crusaders who tried to plunder Constantinople. From there, the crusaders moved to Asia Minor, making terrible devastation along the way and massacring the local Muslim population. Only in 1099 did the crusaders reach Jerusalem and on July 15 they took the city. Christ's army staged a massacre in the city, alternating with solemn divine services. Eyewitnesses report that the crusaders literally walked through pools of blood. They killed men, women, smashed children's heads on stones. The crusader army plundered everything that could be plundered: houses, churches, shops, public institutions.

Map of the Crusades. The path of the first campaign is indicated by crosses, the third - by dashes

Crusaders set up on the east coast mediterranean sea four small Christian states (Jerusalem, Antioch, Tripoli and Edessa), where they introduced the same order that existed in Europe: with the rule of feudal lords and the enslavement of peasants (some of the crusaders who came, but mainly Muslims, Arabs and Syrian Christians). The clergy played an important political role in these states. The Crusades brought great wealth to the church. The Italian trading cities, which received a number of trading privileges, greatly benefited from the campaigns. Karl Marx notes that the Italian coastal states, as a result of the first crusade, “…were enriched thanks to the free trade with the East, and the well-paid transportation of pilgrims increased their fleet.”

The conquests of the crusaders were fragile. With their atrocities and heavy oppression, they aroused the hatred not only of the Muslim population, but also the enmity of Christians, in particular the Greeks. In 1144, the Turks captured the Edessa state of the crusaders. Pope (Eugene III) began to call for a new campaign.

In 1147 the second crusade began, in 1189 the third. Following this, with short breaks, five more campaigns were organized. The last - the eighth - was launched in 1270. By organizing new crusades, the ruling classes of Europe hoped to divert the attention of the peasants from the class struggle that had become aggravated in European countries. Oppressed by feudal lords and monasteries, the peasants rebelled against their oppressors. They burned monasteries and feudal castles. In order to distract the peasants from the struggle against the oppressors, the church began again to call for a crusade to the East.

The predatory goals of further crusades were often not even covered by religious motives. During the fourth crusade (1202-1204), organized by Pope Innocent III, the crusaders, at the instigation of Venetian merchants who sought to defeat their trading rival, the city of Constantinople, took this city (in 1204). Constantinople was then the capital of the Christian (Orthodox) state - Byzantium. In Constantinople, "Christ's soldiers" staged a robbery and massacre.

Here is how the historian describes the deeds of the crusaders in this city: “These three days of robbery in the glow of a fire surpass any description. After many years, when everything had already returned to its usual order, the Greeks could not recall the scenes they had experienced without horror. Detachments of crusaders rushed in all directions to collect booty. Shops, private houses, churches and imperial palaces were thoroughly searched and looted, unarmed residents were beaten ... In particular, the barbaric attitude of the Latins towards art monuments, libraries and Byzantine shrines should be noted. Bursting into churches (Christian! - M. Sh.), the crusaders threw themselves on church utensils and decorations, broke open shrines with the relics of saints, stole church vessels, broke and beat precious monuments, burned manuscripts ... The bishops and abbots of the monasteries subsequently described in detail for edification posterity, what shrines and how they acquired in Constantinople. Although they described the history of theft, they called it holy theft…”. Pope Innocent III tacitly approved of these crimes. In the words of Marx, “the pope, having expressed his indignation for the sake of decency, finally gives absolution to this bestiality and the vileness of the“ pilgrims ”.

This is how the Crusaders acted, the army called by the Pope to "liberate the Holy Sepulcher"!

Capture of Constantinople by the crusaders in 1204 Fresco of the 16th century.

No less shameful for the papacy was the children's crusade. In 1212, about 30 thousand children, deceived and blinded by religious fanaticism, moved from France to "liberate Jerusalem" (in 1187 it was again conquered by the Turks). Soon another 20,000 children left Germany. Most of them died on the way, many were sold into slavery.

The history of the crusades shows that in the past, the church and the ruling classes covered up their selfish goals with religious slogans.

Objectively, the Crusades contributed to the strengthening of trade relations with the East and familiarization of Europeans with Eastern culture.

The popes organized "crusades" not only against Muslim countries, but also against Christian countries, which, for one reason or another, aroused the wrath of the Roman rulers. So, in the XIII century. they organized bloody campaigns against the rich cities of southern France and ruined them. The popes organized campaigns of crusading bands against the Slavic peoples in order to conquer them and at the same time to spread Catholicism among them.

The history of rivalry between East and West, Muslim and Christian civilizations, has hundreds of years. It had different periods - both extremely bloody and relatively peaceful. But even today, the relationship between Christians and Muslims is invisibly influenced by events that began more than 900 years ago - events that have gone down in history under the name "the era of the Crusades."

In the 11th century, the Seljuk Turks, who professed Islam, were rapidly seizing more and more new territories in Asia Minor. By 1085 they took control most Iran and Mesopotamia, Syria and Palestine, including Jerusalem, took all of Asia Minor from the Byzantines, captured Antioch.

Position Byzantine Empire became critical - the Turks were practically at the walls of Constantinople. The military forces of the empire were seriously weakened by previous wars, and the emperor Alexei I Komnenos asked for help to Pope Urban II.

The emperor appealed to the Christian compassion of the pontiff - Jerusalem is captured by the infidels, the Holy Sepulcher is in their hands, and Christian pilgrims are persecuted.

In fact, this was only partly true. Indeed, there were excesses associated with the actions of individual Muslim rulers and religious fanatics, but there was no mention of the total extermination of Christians and their shrines. It was not faith that needed to be saved, but the Byzantine Empire.

Prior to Alexios I Comnenus, Byzantine emperors turned to Rome for help more than once, but now it happened in a completely different situation - in 1054 there was a split in Christianity, also known as the Great Schism. Western and Eastern Church Fathers anathematized each other, and under these conditions, the conversion of the emperor of Byzantium was a last resort.

The Worldly Cares of the Church Lord

Pope Urban II ascended the papacy in 1088. In the world he bore the name Odo de Chatillon de Lagerie, and was a representative of a noble, but not very rich French family from Champagne.

During this period, the Catholic Church waged a fierce struggle for influence on secular power. A side effect of this was the emergence of a rival to the Pope - Antipope Clement II I, which annoyed not only Urban II, but also two of his predecessors, as well as one successor.

The socio-economic situation in Europe during this period was extremely difficult - the process of enslaving the peasants greatly worsened their living conditions, and to this was added a whole series of disasters in the form massive floods, epidemics and as many as seven lean years in a row.

The lower strata of society saw in what was happening signs of the end of the world, which contributed to a sharp aggravation of religious feelings.

In addition, the establishment of the feudal system created in the knightly class a significant contingent of people trained in military affairs, but who had neither work nor a decent livelihood in their homeland. First we are talking about the younger sons of noble families, who, under the new conditions of single inheritance, did not receive the lands of their parents, which were given to older brothers.

The request of Alexei I Komnenos turned out to be most welcome. Urban II saw in it an opportunity to solve several problems at once - the restoration of Christian control over the Holy Land, the increase in authority and the restoration of unity christian church, ridding Europe of thousands of armed young nobles staggering around.

"Peace is here, war is there!"

The idea of ​​a campaign to the East in the name of the liberation of the Holy Sepulcher by that period was already circulating in Europe, spread by preachers. One of the brightest of them was Peter of Amiens, he is Peter the Hermit, a talented speaker who called for a crusade.

Peter the Hermit achieved an audience with Urban II, who by this time had established himself in the need to realize his plan. Therefore, Peter the Hermit received from the pontiff a blessing for preaching and a promise of all kinds of assistance.

In November 1095, Urban II convened an ecclesiastical council in French Clermont to resolve various administrative and political issues.

But the main event of the council took place on November 26, 1095, when Urban II delivered a speech to representatives of the clergy, secular nobility, as well as to thousands of representatives of the lower strata.

The performance took place outside the city, in a field where a special platform was built for this. Of course, there were no microphones then, so the words of Urban II were passed from mouth to mouth.

The speech of Urban II is today recognized as one of the brightest and most effective in the history of mankind.

The Pope began by describing the suffering of Christians in the East. Urban II did not spare colors, so that soon thousands of those assembled began to sob. Having finished with a description of the horrors, he moved on to the practical part: “The land that you inhabit is compressed everywhere by the sea and mountains and therefore has become cramped with your numbers. It is not rich in wealth and barely feeds those who cultivate it. Hence it happens that you bite and devour each other like the best dogs, wage wars, inflict mortal wounds. May your hatred now cease, enmity cease, wars subside and God's civil strife slumber! Peace is here, war is there! Go to the Holy Sepulcher, and the Holy Church will not leave your loved ones under its care. Liberate the Holy Land from the hands of the pagans and subjugate it to yourself. The land flows with honey and milk. Whoever is sad and poor here will be joyful and rich.”

How the pontiff's cassock was torn into crosses

The effect of the speech was amazing. Those present in droves knelt down and vowed to liberate the Holy Land. "That's what God wants!" they exclaimed. Here, in the field, many sewed on their clothes the distinctive symbol of the new movement - red crosses. Urban II donated his purple cassock to this good cause.

The Pope spoke primarily to the knights, and they heard him. But at the same time, representatives of the lower classes also heard. People who had never held weapons in their hands got into carts and set off to liberate Jerusalem, hoping to exchange their current hard life for the "milk and honey" of the Holy Land.

The peasants who went on a campaign had no idea about the distance to Jerusalem. Soon, strange people with red crosses on their clothes began to appear near the walls of European cities, frightening counter questions: “Tell me, is this city Jerusalem?”

In total, according to various estimates, from 100 to 300 thousand commoners, who, as a rule, did not have any supplies, not the slightest idea about organization and discipline, moved on a campaign against Jerusalem.

Led it, so to speak, "army", Petr Hermit and French knight Walter Golyak, nicknamed so for extreme poverty.

The masses of hungry and destitute people on the way of their movement were marked by Jewish pogroms, robberies and violence in Eastern Europe, primarily in Bulgaria and Hungary. Local residents were forced to resist them, which is why the ranks of the first crusaders noticeably thinned out.

Doomed to the slaughter

By the autumn of 1096, tens of thousands of crusaders Walter Golyak and Peter the Hermit reached Constantinople. Emperor Alexei I Komnenos at first received them cordially, but very soon realized that instead of an army of professional military men, an uncontrollable crowd of people embittered by life arrived at him.

The emperor understood that nothing good would come of the further campaign of this "army" against Jerusalem, and suggested to Peter the Hermit to wait for the troops of the knights to approach.

Peter the Hermit at the Byzantine Emperor Alexei Komnenos. Photo: Public Domain

However, at that time, the poor crusaders literally began to wipe Constantinople off the face of the earth - they plundered and burned dozens of houses, several palaces, hundreds of merchant shops and even churches, although the Greek population tirelessly supplied them with food and shelter.

Alexei I Komnenos realized that he had to save his own capital from such "liberators of the Holy Sepulcher."

The Byzantine fleet transported the crusaders across the Bosporus, leaving them to themselves. In an already unorganized army, internal strife began, because of which the forces were divided.

The army of the Seljuk Turks achieved an easy victory. On October 21, 1096, the main forces of the crusaders were ambushed in a narrow valley between Nicaea and the village of the Dragon, and were utterly defeated. It was even difficult to call it a battle - the battle turned into a massacre, in which the Turks, with minimal losses, destroyed, according to various sources, from 25 to 40 thousand people. The youngest and strongest were taken prisoner and sold into slavery. Units managed to return back to Constantinople. Among those who escaped death was Peter the Hermit, but Walter Golyak died in battle.

Typhoid became an ally of Muslims

The catastrophe that befell the peasant crusaders in no way affected the intentions of the chivalry. The nobility went on a campaign on the dates predetermined by Urban II - August 15, 1096.

Count Raymond of Toulouse together with papal legate Adémar of Monteil,Bishop of Le Puy, led the knights of Provence. The Normans of Southern Italy were led Prince Bohemond of Tarentum and his nephew Tancred. Brothers Gottfried of Boulogne, Eustache of Boulogne and Baldwin of Boulogne were the commanders of the Lorraine, and the soldiers of Northern France were led Count Robert of Flanders, Robert of Normandy(eldest son William the Conqueror and brother Wilhelm the Red, King of England) Count Stephen of Blois and Hugo Vermandois(a son Anna of Kiev and younger brother Philip I, King of France).

Despite all the difficulties, disputes between the leaders of the campaign for superiority, the lack of a normal supply of troops, which again resulted in robberies of the local population, the knights were much more successful in their undertaking.

Nicaea capitulated in 1097 after a Crusader siege. In the autumn of the same year, the army approached Antioch, and on October 21 besieged it. After eight months of siege, in the early morning of June 3, 1098, the crusaders broke into the city. The real massacre began. The emir of the city fled, but was overtaken and beheaded.

The battle with the detachments of Muslims who came to the aid ended in a complete victory for the crusaders. Antioch finally fell on June 28, when the citadel in the south of the city was captured.

The siege of Antioch resulted in heavy losses among the crusaders. To those who died in the battles, those who died as a result of a typhus epidemic that broke out after the capture of the city were added. The campaign to Jerusalem was postponed for six months.

Procession of the Cross followed by an assault

Part of the crusaders returned to their homeland, not reaching the main goal of the campaign. Two crusader states were formed, the County of Edessa and the Principality of Antioch, whose new rulers, Baldwin I of Boulogne and Bohemond I of Tarentum, refused to participate in the further campaign.

Only in January 1099 did the crusaders begin their march to Jerusalem, which they reached on June 7th. By this time, the city was no longer controlled by the Seljuks, but by the Fatimid caliph.

Emir of Jerusalem Iftikar al-Dawla was not belligerent - his embassy offered the Crusaders an unhindered pilgrimage to the holy places, but in small groups and without weapons. In response, the Crusaders declared that they had come to liberate the Holy Sepulcher and would achieve this goal by any means.

The siege began, hampered by the lack of food and water - the wells around were poisoned in advance by the Muslims.

On June 13, the first assault attempt was repulsed. In addition, information appeared that the Fatimid army was coming to the aid of Jerusalem from Egypt.

On July 8, the crusaders shocked the besieged - barefoot knights staged a procession around the walls of Jerusalem. Inspired in this way, at dawn on July 14, they launched a new assault. The crusaders threw stones at the city from throwing machines, and the Muslims showered them with a hail of arrows and threw stones from the walls, poured boiling water, dropped “tarred pieces of wood” studded with nails, wrapping them in burning rags. The battle went on all day, but the city held out. Both sides spent the night without sleep, and in the morning the new stage assault. The crusaders managed to partially fill up the moat around the city and bring siege towers to its walls. The knights were seized with incredible religious ecstasy, in which they rushed to storm the city walls. The defenders could not withstand the pressure and began to retreat.

Blood for blood

The crusaders who broke into the city did not know mercy. Before the start of the assault, the defenders expelled all Christians from the city, and therefore the knights did not consider it necessary to spare anyone. In particular, the synagogue was burned along with the Jews who had taken refuge in it. In total, during the capture of Jerusalem on July 15, 1099, at least 10,000 citizens were killed. The knights not only committed a mass of murders, but also completely plundered Jerusalem.

After the capture of Jerusalem, a new Kingdom of Jerusalem was formed, the ruler of which was Gottfried of Bouillon. Gottfried did not want to be called king in the city where Christ was crowned with thorns, so on July 22, 1099 he took the title of Defender of the Holy Sepulcher.

The first crusade ended with the victory of the crusaders, but it created far more problems than it solved. Most of the knights, after the end of the campaign, returned to Europe, where there was still no place for them. The newly created crusader states were constantly attacked by Muslims and could not survive without outside help.

But most importantly, the bloody massacres against Muslims, routinely committed by Christian knights during the campaign, caused a response from the Muslims, who were now eager to avenge their brothers in faith, not distinguishing between the right and the wrong. And looking at the modern Middle East, it becomes clear that what began 900 years ago has not ended to this day.

And the main inspirer of the crusade, Pope Urban II, died on July 29, 1099, two weeks after the capture of Jerusalem. But at a time when there was no telegraph, telephone, radio and Internet, two weeks was not enough to transmit news from Jerusalem to Rome - the new pontiff already learned about the “liberation of the Holy Sepulcher”.