Causes and Effects of Crusades Towards 1071 AD, Seldjuk Turks had grown powerful and had started conquering the East. Christians began to find it difficult to reach the holy places during their pilgrimages. The military expeditions planned and fought by western European Christians that began around 1095 AD, are known today as the Holy Wars, or the Crusades. The purpose of these expeditions was to overtake and gain control of the holy land of Jerusalem, from the …showed first 75 words of 657 total…

…showed last 75 words of 657 total…plunderers destroying everything in their path. When they took Jerusalem on July 15th, 1099, they viciously murdered all the Jews and Moslems, carrying a cross in one hand and a sword in the other - and Satan celebrated one of his greatest triumphs: he had made the church sin in God’s name. The Reconciliation Walk was founded to help express their regret to the Moslem people, who still feel the crusades are an open wound.