re: #643 SanFranciscoZionist

In the 400 years prior to the Crusades, 2/3rds of the Christian world had fallen to the invading Muslim Empire. The central goal was to liberate these conquered Christian lands. The Crusaders did not invade any land in the Middle east which was not Christian prior to the Muslim conquest. There were other Crusades as well, against heretics in France, and against pagans in the Baltic region, to spread Christianity there. And of course, the movement included a great deal of violence directed at the Jews of Europe.