What were the Crusades really about - and why do they still matter today?

In this deep-dive episode of UNAPOLOGETIC, historian and political scientist Professor Roy Casagranda comes back to the show to unpack the history, legacy and weaponisation of the Crusades. 

We begin by exploring why Jerusalem holds such profound spiritual and political importance to Judaism, Christianity and Islam - and how that shared reverence resulted in periods where the city was pluralistic and multicultural, and other periods where it was subject to conquest, ethnic cleansing, colonisation and occupation. 

From the First Crusade and the fall of Jerusalem, to the leadership of Salahuddin, to the devastation of the Mongol invasions, Roy walks us through a thousand-year arc of conflict, ideology and empire. But this isn’t just about the past.

We examine how the logic of the Crusades impacts our current political landscape and geopolitics. Was the partition of the Middle East by colonial powers after World War I an extension of the Crusades? What about the War on Terror, drone strikes and ongoing Western interventions in the Muslim world?

UNAPOLOGETIC is hosted by Ashfaaq Carim. 

Chapters

0:00 Intro collage  

3:00 Why Jerusalem matters  

7:40 Jewish roots and the Temple  

12:20 Rise of Christianity  

17:00 Islam and early rule  

21:40 Muslim rule of Jerusalem  

26:20 What triggered the Crusades  

31:00 The call to crusade (1095)  

35:40 Norman warriors and motives  

40:20 The first massacres  

45:00 Taking Jerusalem (1099)  

49:40 Crusader brutality revealed  

54:20 Crusader states form  

59:00 Muslim response builds  

1:03:40 Zengi, Nur ad-Din and resistance  

1:08:20 Rise of Salahuddin  

1:13:00 Egypt campaigns begin  

1:17:40 Salahuddin becomes wazir  

1:22:20 The Fatimids fall  

1:27:00 Power struggles with Nur ad-Din  

1:31:40 Salahuddin unifies Syria  

1:36:20 The peace treaty  

1:41:00 Breaking the peace  

1:45:40 Battle of Hattin  

1:50:20 Retaking Jerusalem  

1:55:00 The Third Crusade begins  

1:59:40 Legacy of the Crusades  

2:04:20 The fifth Crusade?  

2:09:00 Zionism as settler project  

2:13:40 Clash of civilizations  

2:18:20 Anti-Arab hatred in the West  

2:23:00 Demographic shifts and Gen Z