Crusades In The Levant, 1096 To 1291

By André Geraque Kiffer

Crusade is called any of the Christian-inspired military movements from Western Europe to the Holy Land (the name Christians called Palestine) and the city of Jerusalem to conquer, occupy, and keep them under western European rule. Several reasons contributed to the failure of the Crusades, including: Europeans were a minority among a generally hostile population; oppression of the native population made the domain increasingly controversial; and the various struggles among the Christians themselves have also weakened them. Since the Persian Empire reinstated a Jewish state in Palestine - after its Diaspora by the Assyrians and Babylonians - through the Empire of Alexander and successors to the Roman Empire, there has always been a political-religious space for the descendants of Jacob (Israel). In the simulation it will be sought to establish and maintain a Crusader state territory (kingdom) in the Levant, more or less in accordance with the integration of biblical Israeli tribes maps from 1200 BC, the UN partition of Palestine in 1947 AD and the physical geographical area - like a stronghold based on safe boundaries.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Clube de Autores
• Release date: Feb 1, 2024

Book preview

ANDRÉ  GERAQUE  KIFFER

Crusades  in  the  Levant,

1096  to  1291.

A  Catholic  Historical  Simulation

Author’s  Edition

Resende

2019

---  Kiffer,  André  Geraque.

Crusades  in  the  Levant,  1096  to  1291.  A  Catholic Historical  Simulation.  André  Geraque  Kiffer.

Author’s  Edition,  Resende,  2019.

Bibliography:  195  p.  89  im.  21  cm..

1.  History.  2.  Art  of  War.  3.  War  Science.  4.  Wargames.  I. Author.  II.  Title.

ISBN  978-85-65853-30-9

2

3

My  story  will  be  less  certain  than  history;  but  whoever  wants to  relive  the  past  to  study  the  similarities  and  analogies between  human  conflicts  in  the  present  is  enough  for  me  to find  it  useful.  This  War  History  of  mine  is  a  definite achievement  and  not  an  ostentatious  work  for  a  current audience.

(André  Geraque  Kiffer)

4 PROLOGUE

I  was  inspired  to  build  this  work  by  reading  Arnold Toynbee's  book,  A  Study  of  History,  and  Trevor  N. Dupuy's  Future  Wars.  Between  2005  and  2007  I acquired  a  collection  of  board  wargames  in  New York,  and  reading  the  book  Wargame  Design published  by  Strategy  &  Tactics  Magazine consolidated  a  Matrix  for  A  Study  of  Military History.  Thus,  from  2008,  I  was  able  to  begin  an analysis  of  the  wars,  campaigns,  and  battles  of history  of  a  particular  time  and  /  or  civilization described  in  the  Smithsonian  Institute's  Atlas  of Military  History.  So  far  I  have  published  the  following series:  I.  Historical  Simulation  of  the  First  Empire Wars  in  2010;  VIII.  World  War  I  Historical Simulation  in  2011;  II.  Historical  Simulation  of  the Wars  in  Classical  Greece  in  2012;  III.  Historical Simulation  of  the  Roman  Wars  in  2016;  and  IV. Historical  Simulation  of  Wars  in  the  Medieval  Era  in 2018.  In  2014,  to  continue  my  work  "A  Study  of

Military  History,  I  read  the  book  Japanese  and

5 Chinese  Chess  -  The  Science  and  Art  of  War  and added  a  new  book  The  Study  of  Wars  and  Chess Games  to  my  planned  study,  associating  the foundations  of  chess  games  with  the  principles  of Art  and  Science  of  War.  In  each  book  of  the  work  a selected  war,  campaign,  or  battle  is  studied  at  any of  the  applicable  decision  levels,  namely  the Political,  Strategic,  Operational,  Tactical,  and Technical.  Based  on  a  summary  of  the  historical  fact I  seek  to  highlight  the  decisive  fact  (s)  causing  the negative  result  (s)  before  playing  the  simulation through  a  board  wargame  -  the  actions  on  the  other side  of  the  hill  (from  the  enemy)  are  studied through  a  parallel  electronic  wargame.  In  the simulation  all  the  possibilities  of  the  purpose  of  the study  are  completed  when  the  past  of  history  is analyzed  on  the  basis  of  present  theory  and projected  into  the  future  or  revived  as  a  what  if schematic  case.  When  we  play  we  will  follow  the maxim  WIN  ALWAYS  BUT  WITH  THE  LOWEST

POSSIBLE  COST".

6 Keywords:  History.  Art  of  War.  War  science.

Wargames.

7 SUMMARY

CHAPTER  1  –  CRUSADES  IN  THE  LEVANT,  1095 TO  1291...…………………………………………...…8 CHAPTER  2  –  CATHOLIC  STRATEGIC  & OPERATIONALANALYSIS.............................…...39 CHAPTER  3  –  CATHOLIC  STRATEGIC  & OPERATIONAL  SIMULATION...............................54

REFERENCES.................................................…186

8 CHAPTER  1

CRUSADES  IN  THE  LEVANT,  1095  TO  1291

For  the  reader  who  wants  an  introduction  to  the history  of  the  Wargames  and  the  historical  period  of the  Art  and  Science  of  Wars  in  the  Medieval  Age, we  recommend  purchasing  the  first  book  in  this series.

Im  1:  The  Levant.

9 The  Levant The  word  originates  from  the  French  Levant,

present  participle  of  the  verb  lever,  to  raise  -  as  in soleil  Levant,  rising  sun  -,  from  the  Latin  verb levare,  to  raise,  to  lift  (levans).  It  therefore referred  to  the  direction  of  the  rising  sun,  viewed from  the  perspective  of  those  who  originally  coined the  expression,  that  is,  to  lands  on  the  east  coast  of the  Roman  Mediterranean.

Research  in  Israel  shows  that  Homo  Erectus had  been  inhabiting  the  region  for  at  least  400,000 years,  producing  chipped  stone  artifacts  and hunting  elephants.  In  that  same  period,  evidence was  found  for  Homo  Sapiens,  which  appeared 200,000  years  earlier  than  in  Africa.  The  theory  is that  changing  the  diet  of  Homo  Erectus  (decreasing the  number  of  elephants  in  the  region)  would  have forced  him  to  develop  mental  agility  and  refinement in  his  instruments,  evolving  his  mental  abilities  to

what  scientists  consider  Homo  Sapiens  to  be.

10 Levant  is  an  inaccurate  geographical  term  that

historically  refers  to  a  large  area  of  the  Middle  East to  the  south  of  the  Taurus  Mountains,  bordered  to the  west  by  the  Mediterranean  and  to  the  east  by the  northern  Arabian  desert  and  Mesopotamia.

For  most  geographers  the  Levant  does  not include  the  Arabian  peninsula,  the  Caucasus  or  the Anatolian  peninsula  (although  sometimes  Cilicia  is included).  Overall,  the  region  boils  down  to  the present  territories  of  Syria,  Jordan,  Israel,  Palestine, Lebanon  and  the  island  of  Cyprus.  Other  sources define  the  Levant  more  broadly,  including  portions of  Turkey,  Iraq,  Saudi  Arabia,  and  Egypt.

The  climate  of  the  Middle  East  is  arid  and  semi- arid,  which  gives  rise  to  the  predominance  of  a  plant landscape  marked  by  the  presence  of  xerophilous species  -  from  the  'dry'  Greek  -  (in  arid  climate areas)  or  steppes  and  grasslands  (in  semiarid climate  areas).  Only  small  strips  of  land  in  the coastal  portion  have  slightly  wetter  climates  where

more  shrubby  plant  formations  are  present.

11 Even  across  a  barren,  low-rainfall  region,  the

Tigris  and  Euphrates  rivers  in  Mesopotamia  do  not dry  up  because  their  springs  are  found  in  a  region  of heavy  rainfall  in  Turkey.  Water  is  a  very  scarce natural  resource  in  the  Middle  East.

Im  2:  Pinnacle  of  the  Crusaders  States.

The  Crusades

Crusade  is  called  any  of  the  Catholic-inspired military  movements  from  Western  Europe  to  the Holy  Land  (the  name  Christians  called  Palestine) and  the  city  of  Jerusalem  to  conquer,  occupy  and

keep  them  under  western  European  rule.  These

12 movements  extended  between  the  11th  and  13th centuries,  when  Palestine  was  mainly  under  the control  of  the  Muslim  Turks.

Im  3:  Crusaders  Military  Orders.

In  the  Middle  East  the  crusades  were  called Frankish  invasions,  as  local  people  saw  these armed  movements  as  aggressions  and  because they  identified  the  invaders  as  a  frank  Germanic ethnic  identity.

The  rich  and  powerful  knights  of  the  Order  of St.  John  of  Jerusalem  (Hospitallers)  and  the  Knights Templar  emerged  during  the  Crusades.  The  term  is also  used,  by  extension,  to  describe  uncritically  any

religious  war  or  even  a  political  or  moral  movement.

13 The  term  crusade  was  not  known  at  the

historical  time  in  which  it  occurred.  At  the  time,  the terms  pilgrimage  and  holy  war  were  used, among  others.  The  term  Crusade  came  about because  its  participants  considered  themselves soldiers  of  Christ,  distinguished  by  the  cross  affixed to  their  clothes.  The  Crusades  were  also  a pilgrimage,  a  penance  or  a  request  for  grace.

By  the  year  1000,  the  pilgrimage  of  Christians to  Jerusalem  greatly  increased,  as  it  was  believed that  the  end  of  the  age  was  near,  and  therefore  it would  be  worth  any  sacrifice  to  avert  hell. Incidentally,  the  Crusades  did  much  to  expand  trade with  the  East.

Background

After  the  death  of  Muhammad  (632),  waves  of Arab  armies  were  fervently  launched  to  conquer their  former  rulers,  the  Byzantines  and  the  Sassanid Persians  who  were  warring  among  themselves.

The  Persians,  after  being  defeated  in  some

battles,  took  30  years  to  destroy,  due  more  to  the

14 length  of  their  empire  than  to  their  military resistance.  The  last  Sassanid  Shah  died  in  Kabul  in 655.

Im  4:  Expansion  of  Islam.

The  Byzantines  resisted  far  less:  they  ceded  a portion  of  Syria,  Palestine,  Egypt,  and  North  Africa, but  eventually  survived  and