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
___________________
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.