Breaking Down President Obama's Point About Christian Crusades and Islamic Extremism

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3. Michaelson omits a key fact about the Crusades.

They started as Urban's response to a plea for help from the Eastern Roman Emperor in Constantinople. Palestine had previously been Byzantine Christian territory, and its pilgrimage sites had been as accessible to Western Europeans as the rather harrowing journey could make them. Muslim conquest limited access and increased the danger to pilgrims.

That said, the atrocities were horrific, and one of Urban's motives in calling the First Crusade was to get the large and growing population of landless, predatory younger sons out of Europe. Think gang members, sent into the mitary as an alternative to jail. The Crusade changed their location, but not their behavior.