Third Crusade - the Beginning - Kings and Generals DOCUMENTARY

[Music] shout out to squarespace for sponsoring today's video learn more about squarespace and their offer at the end of the video the third crusade was a monumental clash with fascinating battles legendary warriors and fantastic military commanders triggered by the ayubid seizure of jerusalem in 1187 it turned into a massive military venture by all the major european powers which finally checked the seemingly invincible generalship of saladin welcome to the first episode in our series on the third crusade starting with the siege of akka in july of 1187 at hattin the ayubid sultan of egypt and syria picked apart and crushed the army of the kingdom of jerusalem led by gee of lasigno on the 20th of september 1187 sultan of the ibid realm saladin arrived with his victorious army outside jerusalem while the city's defenses had been strengthened jerusalem was a city in crisis it was swollen by refugees from the countryside fleeing the war and was deprived of fighting men by the annihilation at hattin although the defenders commanded by ballia of the resisted with valor the city was bombarded by catapults and manganese and after days of siege these sides started to discuss peace as was typical of saladin lacks and even generous terms were finally reached on the 2nd of october the surrender was agreed days later and on the 9th of october 1187 saladin peacefully marched into the holy city after that siege saladin had captured most of the crusader cities on the levantine coast including the economic center of akka meanwhile the ancient city of taya resisted the muslims when an italian noble conrad of montforat arrived from constantinople and seized command [Music] conrad of montferrat now in total control of tyre sent the archbishop of tyre joskius to the west he bore tales of christendom's catastrophic defeats to the pope urban iii who died on the 20th of october 1187 supposedly from the shock of the revelation that jerusalem had been lost shortly after his death gregory viii succeeded him and by the end of the month the proclamation for the third crusade was made it is at this point we must take a moment to look at the situation in western europe and the reaction to the fall of jerusalem deepening rivalries between and within the western powers exacerbated the problem that the previous second crusade which had been utterly defeated had discredited the notion of holy war in 1152 frederick the first barbarossa had assumed power in the holy roman empire and in 1155 he formally ascended to the imperial throne his realm was powerful on paper but its regions were also notoriously reluctant to conform to central authority and he had to spend decades subduing warring factions in the empire to the west the counts of anjou who were formerly vassals of the french capacion kings began to grow in power henry of anjou the current ruler then proceeded to add the duchy of normandy to his holdings after marrying eleanor of akita who was previously married to the french king louis vii in 1152 he ascended to the throne of england in 1154 ruling over a realm encompassing parts of the modern british isles and france and known to historians as the anjavin empire the angevins were the vassals of the french kings from the capetian dynasty via their holdings on the continent but they were often more powerful than the capetians and this friction would leave a mark on the upcoming crusade however the stunning victories of saladin in 1187 were enough to break the deadlock as the pope's declaration of crusade was spread through europe's royal courts tens of thousands of latin christians pledged themselves to the cause which created a massive upheaval in european society especially in france where many aristocrats began to rally their own contingents however the participation of kings was crucial to crusader success this is where we must introduce one of our main christian protagonists richard the prince who would later become known as the lionheart this young prince who was warring against his father supported by the new french king philippe ii augustus was the first to take up the cross in november of 1187. it should be noted that the prince was rash and eager to enhance his own glory and prestige richard's decision sent shockwaves throughout western europe forcing the anjavins and capetians to act felipe augustus and henry ii met at gizor during january of 1188 in order to discuss a settlement in the presence of leading nobles among the attendees of this assembly was archbishop josquius who preached a sermon on the dire state of christianity in the holy land this address prompted many french lords to pledge their support amid the zealous fervor of the meeting the two monarchs made public declarations of their determination to fight in the third crusade in order to raise funds for the venture the so-called saladin tithe was imposed but was more successful in the more centralized english territories than the decentralized french holdings though they were among the first to commit both england and france were still embroiled in conflict and neither would displace their military forces unless the other did the same which caused delays in the crusade richard worried that his father was about to disinherit him as heir to the throne allied with the french king in autumn of 1188 the two launched a swift assault into normandy during june of 1189 unable to resist this invasion the english king sought a peace settlement at a conference on july 4th henry accepted all terms richard was confirmed as the successor twenty thousand marks were paid in tribute to philip and the three would crusade together during the following year however by this point henry was physically shattered and ill and died three days later his son ascended to the english throne as richard the first upon taking the throne richard immediately began intensifying the realm's efforts to raise funds and organized his professional army after he and the french king had done this they met in late 1189 and early 1190 for final preparations then in two identical ceremonies one after the other the kings took up their symbolic pilgrim satchels and staffs before setting off for the levant on the 4th of july 1190. they would march to the coast and then make their way across the mediterranean by ship at this point richard had around 17 000 troops while phillips contingent was smaller further east emperor frederick barbarossa through decades of tireless campaigning and shrewd politicking had imposed a never-before-seen amount of central authority onto the feudal realms of the empire and also reached advantageous agreements with northern italian states and the papacy in terms of wealth martial resources and international prestige barbarossa's power easily outstripped both the engines and the capacions after biding his time for a few months after the crusades proclamation in order to see which way the popular wind was blowing the holy roman emperor took the cross on march 27 1188 he made swift preparations exiling his political enemy henry the lion and leaving his eldest son henry in germany as heir most of the crusaders under barbarossa marched along the route used by earlier crusades in order to ease his passage diplomatic contacts were made with hungary the byzantine empire and even the seljuk ruler of anatolia khilijasland ii all went well until the germans reached byzantium's borders as emperor isaac ii angelos had already formed a pact with saladin to deny any crusader access barbarossa progressed with force anyway capturing philippopolis before advancing on adrianopol with frederick quickly bearing down on the capital a compromise was reached in february 1190. the byzantines allowed the crusader army to move to gallipoli and cross into anatolia with the aid of peacen and greek ships [Music] back in the levant events were progressing rapidly all attempts by saladin to take the principal christian enclave of tyre had failed including a lengthy blockade and an assault with manganese instead saladin turned to politics to help foster inter-christian conflict believing he was a spent force saladin released the monarch of the kingdom of jerusalem ghee of lusinha who had been a muslim prisoner since the destruction of his army at hattin in exchange for a promise that he would never take up arms against muslims again upon his release gee rejoined his queen in tripoli and then marched upon tyre which was a city in his own realm when he arrived gee demanded to be admitted to the city as its king but conrad refused stating that he would keep the city until the crusaders came and so gee returned to tripoli when the first peasan and sicilian ships arrived to assist in early 1189 ghee took a high-risk decision to besiege the coastal trading center of akka on august 22nd he set off down the coastal scandalian pass but was discovered by the muslims a few days later relayed gee's position to the sultan but he hesitated and did not meet them in the past the relatively small christian army arrived outside akka on august 28 1189 not thinking this meager force a threat the defending muslim garrison jeered at it mockingly however since his defeat at hattin gee had apparently developed a sense of strategy he encamped in a strong position on the nearby 120 foot high mount tauren where he had a natural defense and a commanding view over akka the first proper action took place on august 31st when the christian forces unexpectedly attacked with ladders almost succeeding in taking the battlements by shock and door before saladin's advanced scouts arrived afraid of being caught out in the open he's attacking forces retreated back to the camp over the next few days saladin himself arrived with the main army destroying any hopes the latins had of a quick victory and forcing them to fight on two fronts it is likely that if at this point saladin had coordinated with akka's garrison he could have crushed the christians but again he wavered instead holding a cautious position on the hillside of el cariba about six miles to the south east under the veil of darkness the sultan managed to sneak a detachment of reinforcements into the city while during the day mounted muslim skirmishes would be dispatched to constantly harry key's camp in any other situation this would have been a good strategy but saladin's caution at akka was a fatal misreading of the situation one crucial factor made this way of warfare fail the sea slowly at first but growing as the weeks wore on a constant stream of frankish ships began to arrive in the region on september 10th a massive group of 50 ships arrived carrying twelve thousand frisian and danish crusaders in addition to the ground reinforcements these ships also helped to tighten the christian blockade of the city by sea by the end of the month even conrad of montferrat had come south from tyre to assist gee supposedly bringing 1 000 knights and many thousands of infantry with him with their increased numerical strength the christian leaders decided to attack the sultan's main force which was behind them head-on unless they did this full attention could not be focused on the siege of the city so on october 4th ghee arrayed his forces on the akko plane into three ranks archers and crossbowmen were in the front melee infantry formed up behind them with heavy cavalry in the rear the army was also split into three divisions on the left right and in the center notably templar cavalry was in the center and hospital cavalry was on the far right rather than charging the crusaders advanced at a walking pace towards saladin's muslim army aiming to cohesively engage the enemy all at once at mid-morning the christian left finally made contact with the enemy where takia al-din was the commander hoping to lure the franks into a trap he sent in mounted skirmishers and then feigned a retreat this maneuver was so convincing that saladin really believed his nephew had been defeated and dispatched troops from the center to aid him weakening that part of his line observing the shift the crusaders sent in reserves and routed the weakened muslim center opening the way to the muslim camp for a moment it seemed saladin would be defeated flooding through the gap in his line some crusaders even reached the sultan's personal tent where one of saladin's attendants was killed however the lure of victory and its spoils were too much to resist the latin formation coherent until this point disintegrated when the undisciplined footmen turned to looting and plunder halting their momentum completely greed was certainly a motivation but intense hunger also played a part meanwhile the veteran templar knights doggedly pursued the fleeing muslims but were now unsupported by their infantry they had charged too far saladin turned and expertly managed to rally his fleeing army speeding across the line on his horse to motivate his soldiers and leading an attack on the isolated templar contingent which attempted to retreat in the ensuing conflict many brothers of the proud order were killed along with its veteran commander gerard ridderford at this point the situation for the christians became even more dire when the 5 000 strong akka garrison sallied forth from the city threatening the camp and the rear of the army sensing they were about to be surrounded and witnessing the defeat of the templars the crusader force fled back to their camp those in the christian center who were still looting the muslim tents were caught and killed while others were cut down while attempting to run though he attempted to do so saladin was unable to press this advantage as latin reinforcements sent to the crusader camp under the command of joffrey of luzinya fiercely resisted muslim attempts to overrun their positions the christians had come seeking battle that day and had been defeated with some three thousand to four thousand dead or dying which the muslims threw into the river bellas however saladin had also suffered during the battle in terms of dead and injured losses had been relatively small but those who had fled during the route to the camp did not return and proved hard to replace worse still the attack on the camp had crushed morale as the crusaders had plundered vast amounts of money the siege of akka and the third crusade would continue into the next year [Music] thanks to squarespace for sponsoring today's video squarespace gives people a powerful and beautiful online platform for which to create your website and allows you to create a website for seamless communication with your customers or followers through squarespace you can link your various social media accounts to your website so you can post simultaneously to all accounts as well as using their mailing list feature to get your message across to the right people those subscribed to your website if you've been thinking about creating a website either 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Channel: Kings and Generals

Views: 553,457

Rating: 4.9445825 out of 5

Keywords: Crusades, Third Crusade, Kings and generals, documentary, jerusalem, ayyubid, sultan, saladin, salah ad din al ayyubi, Crusader kingdoms, Holy roman empire, frederick barbarossa, france, england, philip II, philip augustus king of france, richard I, richard lionheart, acre, balian of ibelin, kingdom of heaven, documentary film, full documentary, world history, animated documentary, history lesson, historia civilis, military history, decisive battles, arsuf, jaffa, iconium, Philomelion

Id: kHTLBHt3zUM

Length: 18min 39sec (1119 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 01 2019