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Book Review: The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land

I finally got around to reading The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land by medieval historian Thomas Asbridge.  The Crusades is a sweeping, authoritative single-volume history of the holy wars fought between Western European Christians and Near Eastern Muslims from 1095 to 1291. In my humble opinion, this single volume history of the crusades is the best place to start if you want to dig into the history and learn more about the era.



See it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/43YO3kH

And I do think the history of the crusades is very relevant to the world of today. With ongoing conflict in the middle east, the crusades often is deployed by leaders, political pundits and propagandists on various sides of the conflict. Politicians and propagandists both distort facts for their respective arguments and pushes, and so its great to have a good foundation in the actual facts.

And Asbridge does a great job of setting out the 200-year history of the crusades, from the motivations of western religious authorities like popes and bishops, to the knights and commoners that took up the cross and traveled to the Holy Lands.  He covers all the various crusades, the crusader states, and the Islamic dynasts and warlords who opposed the crusaders and eventually pushed the western Europeans out of the Holy Land.

In fact, he does a great job of balancing the historical facts, dispelling many myths that have arose over time, including the idea that the crusades were primarily defensive.  He is sympathetic and honest about both sides of the conflict, their mistakes, acts of brutality, their failures, as well as the positives.

My favourite part of the book was the history of the Third Crusade when Richard the Lionheart went head-to-head with Saladin, the Islamic leader who had reconquered Jerusalem.  The Third Crusade makes for great history – famous rulers, hard fought battles, strategic retreats and considerations of politics and strategy that ultimately shaped the events and outcomes.

Before I wrap up this review, I should say that Asbridge is a fantastic writer. The Crusades is absolutely compelling narrative! You really want to read this and follow the generals, soldiers and regular people as the tides of war ebb and flow. Generally, I would rank this as one of the best books on the Crusades for general readers.  I am looking for Asbridge’s other works.  All and all, I very much recommend The Crusades by Thomas Asbridge!

Love medieval history? Check out my review of The Plantagenets by Dan Jones.

Publication date: March 2011| Publisher: Ecco   | Page Count:  784


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