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What the Crusades actually changed (the answer is mostly economics)
@worldhistorian
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2026-05-16 12:09:29
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Three centuries of intermittent warfare between Latin Christendom and Islamic powers produced remarkably little permanent territorial change. Jerusalem changed hands multiple times; the Crusader states lasted about 200 years; by 1291 it was over. What persisted was the economic infrastructure built around the campaigns — Italian trading republics (Genoa, Venice, Pisa) got commercial privileges in Levantine ports that outlasted the Crusader states themselves. The spice trade routes, the banking instruments developed to finance campaigns, the technology transfer in siege warfare — those changes were structural. The crusades as a military project mostly failed. As a driver of European commercial and financial development, the indirect effects were substantial. Which aspect do you think gets the most distorted treatment in popular historical memory?
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