MIDN 3/C Ionatan Soule, USN
The First Crusade was the first Christian attempt to retake the holy land promised in the Old Testament. Even though the Crusaders defended Constantinople, they had no greater claim to the holy land than any of the other Abrahamic religions.
To discuss this topic fully, it is important to recognize the significance of the holy land, primarily Jerusalem, has for each of the three religions: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. To the Christians, Jerusalem is home to the majority of Jesus’ actions and life, especially his death and resurrection. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is supposedly built on the hill of Calvary, the location of Jesus Crucifixion, and his tomb, where he was resurrected, is located inside. The significance of these is events is core to the Christian religion and it is no wonder that they believe they had the rightful claim to this land during the first crusade. The Muslims would disagree, however, because Jerusalem also contains the al-Aqsa Mosque. This mosque is the third most holy location in the Islamic tradition because it is said that Mohammad ascended into heaven there. For the Jews, Jerusalem contains the Wailing Wall which supported the Holy Temple before its collapse. Additionally, they believe the foundation stone from which the rest of the world was created is located there. All these reasons make it clear that every branch of the Abrahamic religions has significant claims to Jerusalem.
Since every branch has a very good and valid reason why Jerusalem should be under their control, it would be unfair to give one branch sole rights to the area for these reasons. Looking back to the first crusade, the crusaders may have been fighting for what they thought were noble reasons, but their reasons were no nobler than those of the Muslims and Jews. Since they did not have a greater claim to Jerusalem, other methods must be used to determine the justifiability or unjustifiability of the crusades.
Using Just War Theory as an ulterior way to analyze the situation, it is clear that the Christian Crusaders were not justified in capturing Jerusalem. Despite their claims, the local population—with similar claims—had already inhabited that region for many centuries and had established their own government and way of life. Since they posed no threat to the European powers, Europe was not retaliating against an aggressor, rather it was the aggressor thereby making their actions unjust.
Though the Crusaders had many biblical and traditional reasons to fight the first crusade, they were not justified in doing so. An ideal solution would have been to diplomatically arrange safe passage to all faiths in order to make the pilgrimage to the holy lands and practice their beliefs without the need to control the region outright.
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The West in the Pre-Modern World 