Subject: Re: 50,000 US troops in mid-east now
The First Crusade - in reaction to Islamic conquest of the Holy Lands and the plea for help from the Byzantines (the Eastern part of the Roman Empire) - resulted in the recapture of Jerusalem.

BTW- During the 4th Crusade, the armies of Western Christendom sacked the city of Constantinople, weakening it to the point that it never really recovered.

In the ill fated Children’s Crusade, an army of children was led to its death.

All of the Crusades were financed by western (particularly Venetian) business interests seeking monopolies on trade routes and the weakening of commercial fleets from the Levant.

Some things never change- just the cast of characters.