Islam has done it before...

Ever wonder why the Crusades were justified? Is it possible it was a long overdue response to centuries of Islamic conquest?

Here is a chronological listing of Islamic conquests prior to the first Crusade...

Year Event

613 Persians capture Damascus and Antioch

614 Persians sack Jerusalem

633 Muslims conquer Syria and Iraq

635 Muslims begin the conquest of Persia and Syria

635 Arab Muslims capture the city of Damascus

636-637 Arab domination of Syria

637 Arabs occupy Ctesiphon

637 Jerusalem falls to Muslim forces

638 Caliph Umar I enters Jerusalem

639 Muslims conquer Egypt and Persia

641 Islam spreads into Egypt

641 Muslims conquer Alexandria

649 Muawiya I leads raid against Cyprus sacking the capital Salamis-Constantia

652 Sicily is attacked by Muslims

653 Muawiya I leads raid against Rhodes

654 Muawiya I conquers Cyprus

655 Battle of the Masts

661-680 Mu�awiya moves capital from Mecca to Damascus

662 Egypt falls to the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates

667 Sicily is attacked by Muslims

668 First siege of Constantinople

669 Muslim conquest reaches Morocco

672 Muslims capture the island of Rhodes

674 Arab conquest reaches Indus River

698 Muslims capture Carthage

700 Muslims raid Island of Sicily

711 Muslims conquest of Sindh in Afghanistan

711 Battle of Guadalate

712 Conquest of Andulusia

715 Muslim conquest of Spain

716 Muslims captured Lisbon

717 Cordova becomes capital of Andalusia (Spain)

719 Muslims attack Septimania in Southern France

721 Muslims cross the Pyrenees

722 Battle of Covadonga First defeat of Muslims by Christians

724 Muslims raid southern France and capture Carcassone and Nimes

725 Muslim forces occupy Nimes, France

730 Muslim forces occupy Narbonne and Avignon

732 Battle of Tours (Christian Victory)

735 Muslim invaders capture Arles

750 Abbasids move capital to Baghdad - Map of extent of conquest at this point

756 The Emirate of Cordova is established - Another map of conquered territory

759 Pippin III ends Muslim incursions in France

792 Hisham I calls for a Jihad Thousands heed his call to cross the Pyrenees to subjugate France. Many cities are destroyed

813 Muslims attack the Civi Vecchia near Rome

816 The Moors support the Basques against the Franks

827 Sicily is invaded by Muslims

831 Muslims capture Palermo and make it their capital

838 Muslim raiders sack Marseille

841 Muslim forces capture Bari (in Italy)

846 Muslim raiders attack areas near Ostia and Rome. Some enter Rome and damage the Churches of St. Peter and St.Paul. The Leonine Wall is built to discourage further Attacks.

849 Battle of Ostia (Christian Victory)

850 Perfectus, a Christian priest in Muslim Cordova is executed one of the first of Many

851 Young Christians are executed for insulting the Prophet Muhammed

858 Muslim raiders attack Constantinople

859 Muslim invaders capture Castrogiovanni slaughtering several thousand

869 Arabs capture the island of Malta

870 Muslim invaders capture Syracuse

876 Muslims pillage Campagna in Italy

879 The Seljuk Empire unites Mesapotamia and a large portion of Persia

884 Muslims invading Italy burn the monastery of Monte Cassino to the ground

900 The Fatimid Dynasty assumes control of Egypt

902 The Muslim conquest of Sicily is completed when the Christian city of Toorminia is captured

909 Sicily comes under control of the Fatimids

909 The fatimid Dynasty assumes control of Egypt

909 Muslims control all the passes in the Alps between France and Italy cutting off passage between the two countries

920 Muslim forces cross the Pyrenees, enter Gascony and reach as far as the gates of Toulouse

972 The Fatimids of Egypt conquer North Africa

981 Ramiro III, king of Leon, is defeated at Rueda

985 Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir sacks Barcelona

994 The monastery of Monte Cassino is destrpyed a second time by Arabs

997 Under the leadership of Almanzar, Muslim forces march out of the city of Cordova and head north to capture Christian lands.

997 Muslim forces burn Compostela to the ground

1004 Arab raiders sack the Italian city of Pisa

1009 The Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem is destroyed by Muslim armies

1009 Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah orders the the Holy Sepulcher and all Christian buildings in Jerusalem be destroyed

1012 Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah orders the destruction of all Christian and Jewish houses of worship in his lands

1012 Berber forces capture Cordova and order that half the population be executed

1015 Arab Muslim forces conquer Sardinia

1064 The Seljuk Turks conquer Christian Armenia

1070 Seljuk Turks capture Jerusalem and begin persecuting Christian Pilgrims

1071-1085 Seljuk Turks conquer most of Syria and Palestine

1071 Battle of Manzikert

1073 Seljuk Turks conquer Ankara

1078 Seljuk Turks capture Nicaea

1084 Seljuk Turks conquer Antioch

1086 Battle of Zallaca

1088 Patzinak Turks begin forming settlements between the Danube and the Balkans

1090 Granada captured by Yusuf Ibn Tashfin

1091 Cordova is captured by the Almoravids

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1095 Launch of the first Crusade. Wasn't this about time? Talk about "turning the other cheek! It took 400 years for Christians to respond to Islamic aggression and conquest!

This was a military expedition by European Christians to regain the Holy Lands taken by the Muslim conquest of the Levant, which resulted in the re-capture of Jerusalem in 1099.