Saladin & the 3rd Crusade - Defending Jerusalem - Extra History - #4

outside acree august 20th 1191 an aide calls saladin out of his tent the crusaders it seems are making some kind of move in the months since akre's surrender solidan and richard have been mired in negotiations solidan has agreed to pay 200 000 in ours return the true cross and release captives in exchange for richard releasing the 2600 men of akras garrison but these talks have drawn out as sullivan scrapes up the money and seeks assurances that richard will release prisoners of rank and when the deadline for the full payment arrived solidan could only offer a hundred thousand dinars for half of the prisoners richard said no and now his troops are on the move clearly this troop deployment is some new negotiating tactic then sullivan sees the tied up prisoners at the center of the crusader army that doesn't make any no swords flash and spears strike and in an industrial display of brutality saladin's army watches as richard's men butcher every last muslim captive the fight for jerusalem has begun [Music] after the siege of akre saladon's position was more precarious than ever he had poured enormous amounts of both blood and treasure into its defense and now in addition to the humiliation of the loss he had to shoulder the shame of being unable to save his captured men his only recourse being to execute crusader captives in retaliation his army was exhausted and dispirited crucial support from the sultans and caliphs were drying up and his egyptian fleet birthed in the harbor had been captured worse than all of that during the siege of akrei his ayubid power structure the family members he'd placed in high positions failed to deliver key relations had held back reinforcements and resources looking after their own domains rather than aiding their sultan the truth was akri revealed the limitations and weaknesses of saladin's leadership true he was a charismatic commander who was excellent at inspiring troops and rallying disparate camps behind a single message and no one could doubt that his magnanimous generosity spotting talented soldiers and administrators then rewarding them handsomely to gain support was politically astute but more than anything he was lucky nuradine had died just as he and solidan were about to come to blows ghee had neglected to leave a garrison at jerusalem when he marched to hatin and frederick barbarossa drowned in a river this lock tended to look a lot like divine favor supporting saladin's claim to be god's instrument but it was becoming increasingly clear that saladin despite his many talents was not a great general and with this series of losses the flip side of his best qualities were coming out his extreme generosity now looked foolish having left the army financially vulnerable his charisma and campaign of rallying support by sponsoring schools and preachers to carry his message now just looked a lot like dragging allies into a costly conflict and with his luck seemingly deserting him people began questioning whether god still favored him so what did solidan do he turned to his best weapon letters he and his scribes drafted correspondence to all of his allies emphasizing that if they did not send aid jerusalem might be lost despite saladin's loss of face the crisis of losing akre and potentially jerusalem re-galvanized his patrons in baghdad and allies whose support had wavered which was good for him because richard was now in sole command of the crusade and he was ready to move after the crusaders victory at akre several nobles declared their part of the third crusade done and went home this included philip ii of france who having seen the count of flanders die during the siege decided to return in order to settle the succession richard was now the only king in the army and able to minimize some of the political infighting for instance who would be king of jerusalem conrad who held tire or gee well ghee was richard's relative so that kind of solved that but more important was richard's monopolization of military strategy and unlike saladin there was no question of richard's abilities as a general richard marched south but not an ill-considered march like the one that had doomed the christian army at hattine rather a steady disciplined move along the coast supported and supplied by a fleet of ships as before sullivan harried his force with archers trying to slow them as he had at hateen but the difference was richard had planned for a slow careful march never stretching his force out to make it vulnerable so slowly they marched with the heavily armored knights from europe sometimes having ten arrows sticking from their backs and this march worried saladin because it was clear that richard intended to take the city of jaffa one of the ports serving jerusalem and not only would this cut off saladin's palestinian territories from the sea it meant richard could then strike one of two targets both vital to the sultan the first and most obvious was jerusalem the holy city but the second the city of ascalon was the gateway between the ayubid territories of syria and egypt a terrifying prospect since egyptian wealth funded most of saladin's armies he had to strike arseph wood september 7th 1191 saladin's forces come out of the forest banging kettle drums blowing trumpets and banging gongs almost entirely mounted their light crossbowmen fire then part for the cavalry to come through and unleash their own reign of arrows then when gaps open in the crusader line they surge forward with swords and maces until they're beaten back the crusader vanguard has already reached jaffa and solidan hopes to stretch the army out by goading units into a counter-attack than surrounding and destroying them he goes to the battle line personally urging his troops on but the knights hospital are have had enough against orders they unexpectedly charge solidan's troops catching many of his archers dismounted and after a hesitation the rest of the crusader army follows in the attack king richard himself is seen fighting in the thick of combat it's a route saladin's army flees deeply dishonored and the christians take jaffa and thus the sea saladin's response is scorched earth knowing he has to choose between the holy city and ascalon he makes the only real choice he destroys ascalon's defenses as well as those of every fortress and captured crusader castle between jaffa and jerusalem then he mounts an intelligence campaign sending spies into the crusader camp and tasking bedouin tribesmen with kidnapping and interrogating crusader prisoners and he also opens secret negotiations because richard once again wanted to talk though this time it was a little different so saladin sent his most dependable brother a la dill to handle the diplomacy and the spying which went along with it aledil had been saladin's partner in conquest for a long while managing the wealth of egypt so it could be funneled to military pursuits but he was also a charming figure an excellent sportsman and hunter and an embodiment of the developing european idea of chivalry richard took a liking to him immediately and with these negotiations the crusader's image of saladin as the son of satan began to dissipate replaced by the image of a fair and noble opponent moral of the story get to know your neighbors before you decide to go to war with them in fact richard took such a liking to al adil that he proposed a secret plan to marry aladdil to his sister oh you heard that right richard wanted to make alidil his brother-in-law and install the couple as king and queen of jerusalem muslim troops would hold the city and christian troops the towns outside saladin seriously considered this even though he knew it might have been a ploy to try to separate the brothers by appealing to greed but then richard insisted that al-adil would have to convert to christianity so it was a hard pass with negotiations now breaking down richard opted to march to ascalon and on to jerusalem because solidan's army was falling apart the crisis had mounted for saladin his leaders were restless and his empire in need of maintenance his method of stalling the crusade by keeping an army in the field threatening their forces for years on end had taken a major toll on all of his men so on december 12th his commanders forced him to disband the army and solidan had to take what remained of his personal troops and fortified jerusalem against the eminent attack the defenders were so dispirited there was question whether any would stand richard seeing victory within his reach marched for jerusalem the peasants in his army though beaten down by the unusually harsh winter weather and eaten by lice and camp disease were still kind of in a religious ecstasy some had traveled and fought for years to achieve this goal and now they were finally here and they would take the holy city from the hated saladin but after they took it richard couldn't help but wonder what then there would be a counter-attack and they might not be able to hold the city not to mention his supply lines were stretched too long for a siege if it came to that particularly in winter despite saladin's defeats he had slowed richard just enough that attacking jerusalem now was too dangerous so 12 miles from jerusalem he ordered his army to go back to azkalan for the winter now this was the right decision militarily but it most assuredly broke the crusaders morale especially when it leaked that richard had been secretly negotiating with saladin so descent grew in the crusader ranks in four months solidan had lost most of the cities he'd won after hattine but he still held jerusalem and that's when it hit him he didn't need to beat richard all he had to do was outlast him a most legendary thanks to ahmed ziad turk gunner clovis alicia bramble kyle murgatroyd casey muscha o reals one and dominic valenciana for helping make this show possible [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Extra Credits

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Keywords: extra credits, extra history, extra credits history, saladin, home learning, third crusade, world history, richard the third, richard iii, defending jerusalem, saladin jerusalem, crusades jerusalem, siege of jerusalem, crusades history

Id: fGDs5tOX318

Length: 10min 6sec (606 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 23 2021