Were the Crusades just glorified raiding and pillaging? A lot

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>>1574989
Saladin was a worthy adversary & Richard the Lionheart a decent General. If the papacy wasn't so degenerated incompency the levent would be christian today & you'd have a greater Greek based civilisation through to India, Egypt, & Saudi would be a trade outpost next to Somalia. You'd probably push Asia into a corner & be fighting over the Pacific right now.

>>1575029
Rome and Constantinople should have pulled a consert of nations/holy alliance back then. Oh well, it's history now. European civilization will disappear within our life times.

>>1574989
They delayed Islamic expansion for a small while.

>>1575089
lol yeah right, maybe if the universe collapses in upon itself

>>1575126
They had no effect at all, since Syria and Egypt weren't the places that Islamic expansion would come from. All they did was take advantage of weakness but couldn't make it last.

>>1575126
I think the Mongols (and Timur) deserve credit for that.

>>1575327
No. While the Crusades had no effect, the Mongol and Timurid invasions had the opposite effect and instigated a new movement for Islamic expansionism and suppression of Muslim heretics and non-Muslims throughout the Middle East, and ultimately the Balkans.