What if the medieval popes never call for a crusade to the Holy Land? What would the consequences be in Europe and the Middle East?
You know I only learned about the Crusades in depth recently despite being a huge history buff. I think the reason is that while they contain some amazing stories, personalities, and themes...they just don't matter. They pop up. They go away. The people in that region today have nothing to do with the Crusaders. They just weren't that important form a narrative flow of history standpoint.
I think the 1st, 1101, 2nd and 3rd Crusades as well as the establishment of the Outremer states helped Byzantium to an extent by engaging the attention of the Islamic states in the region. Without the Crusades Byzantium would have to do all the reconquering of western Anatolia without assistance. Without Outremer the Islamic states would have been free to fight Byzantium.
I think the 1st, 1101, 2nd and 3rd Crusades as well as the establishment of the Outremer states helped Byzantium to an extent by engaging the attention of the Islamic states in the region. Without the Crusades Byzantium would have to do all the reconquering of western Anatolia without assistance. Without Outremer the Islamic states would have been free to fight Byzantium.
Prussia will never form for starters.
Constantinople doesn't get sacked in the fourth crusade.
Who knows what will happen with the 100 years war. Perhaps the Angevins hold on to their homeland from the Capetians.
Here's a video that should help get ideas rolling. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0zudTQelzI
1. It would also might mean that it would be likely that the Catholic Church will be decentralized and the Papal States will be confiscated sooner or later.
wasn't one of the reasons behind the call for Crusade to siphon off some of the warring going on between the various Christian warlords? Without that, you'd think that there would be a lot more war and destruction in Europe...