Emperor Conrad III left The Holy Roman Empire in May 1147, after he arrived at Constantinople the Byzantine emperor Manuel Comnenus met him, Manuel suggested Conrad follow the Coastal route of Asia Minor, but Conrad rejected his advice and moved his main force past Nicaea directly into Anatolia, unfortunately, Conrad and his army were destroyed by the Turks on October 25 at Dorylaeum, not far from where the First Crusade won their victory, Conrad himself retreat to Nicaea. King Louis VII the while, had just entered Constantinople on October 4, about a month after Conrad, In November, the French finally reached Nicaea where they heard the defeat of Conrad. They started along the coastal route and began to march towards Antoich, but marching in the midwinter was not easy, supplies ran short, and the Byzantines were unjustly blamed. Byzantium had to defend against the angry Crusaders attacking their city, which meant that the French spent more energy attacking the Christians instead of the Muslims, when Louis arrived at Antioch, the Turks destroyed his main troops. The Second Crusade's goal of recapturing Edessa was no longer feasible. Louis and Conrad arrived at Jerusalem where they found out about Queen Melisende and that it was possible to form a troop with 50,000 soldiers, they decided to attack Damascus instead of Edessa, the ruler of the Muslim Nūr al-Din noticed the movement of the Christians, and told the ruler of Damascus Unur to defend the crusader to wait for his backup. Meanwhile, the Crusades were not only poorly conceived but also poorly executed, on July 28, after 4 days of siege, with Nūr al-din's Army nearby, the Crusaders had to retreat and the second Crusade ended.