Thesis
Although the Crusades were launched as military expeditions to regain control of the Holy Land from Islamic control, the Sack of Constantinople exposed the underlying greed of the operation, as well as deepened the division between Western Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy previously created by the Great Schism. The Sack of Constantinople was a monumental historical turning point acted out upon the principle of greed, which cemented religious antagonisms and contributed to the fall of the Byzantine Empire.
Although the Crusades were launched as military expeditions to regain control of the Holy Land from Islamic control, the Sack of Constantinople exposed the underlying greed of the operation, as well as deepened the division between Western Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy previously created by the Great Schism. The Sack of Constantinople was a monumental historical turning point acted out upon the principle of greed, which cemented religious antagonisms and contributed to the fall of the Byzantine Empire.