The Second Crusade

The second crusade was yet another crucial crusade which was initiated from
Europe, and lasted from 1147 to 1149. It was officially announced by Pope Eugene
II, and was the very first crusade to be led by kings such as Louis VII of
France and Conrad II from Germany. Also, this embarkment was originally arranged
in 1145, in reply to the fall of the County of Edessa during the previous year
from a people group known as the Zengi, which was the very cause of this
particular crusade. It was this county of Edessa that had been previously discovered
during the first crusade and in addition, there were many important factors to the
second crusade which included the major battle between the Germans and French,
the journey to Jerusalem, and the siege of Damascus.

The course chosen by the Germans to take under Conrad II was that they would
confront the French at Constantinople. However, upon the Germans arrival, Conrad
II encounter his enemy Geza II of Hungary, but he permitted them to make their
way through without penalty. "While Conrad the II’s confidence had been shaken, it
was soon reinforced when 20,000 more German soldiers arrived, strengthening the
forces."(Phillips 87) They had finally arrived at Constantinople on September 10, where the
correspondence between them and the French became a conflict, and caused the
Germans to take an alternate route to Asia Minor. While they avoided the French,
they ended up fighting the Turks Iconium at the battle of Dorylaeum. The Germans
ended up losing, and even Conrad II himself was wounded.

A key site that was involved in the second crusade was a significant journey to Jerusalem. This involved Louis VII, who arrived in Antioch on March 19. He was
expecting several important officials to help in defending them against the
Turks, and to also join them in the quest of fighting against the major Muslim
city of Aleppo. This location was very crucial because it was the entryway to
Edessa, however Louis VII’s response was that he would not partake in the
combat, as he wanted to continue his voyage to Jerusalem, due to the fact that his was because he wanted his primary concentration to be on the military facets of this crusade. It was after he made this decision that he found out that Conrad’s troops, in addition to several others had already arrived in Jerusalem, and requested that he joing them. He arrived with his troops, when suddenly King Baldwin II decided that he wanted the leaders and their troops to switch their focus and express a siege towards Damascus.

Upon their arrival in Damascus, the troops decided to strike from the west
where there were many orchards to provide nourishment for the soldiers. They
made their way to the location within Damascus known as Daraiya on July 23. It
was the next day that the Muslims were prepared to fight against them and attack
through the orchards that provided subtle coverings. "They managed to push
Conrad’s troops back from the walls were they currently were, and into the
orchards, were they were susceptible to ambush."(Nicolle 54) It was after this that they readily
moved to the eastern part of the city, which was very protected . The nearby
crusader lords had refused to carry on this battle, and made the decision to
retreat to Jerusalem on July 28, as Turkish archers were continually harassing
them.

In the end, the Second Crusade had both good and bad consequences that
resulted. Within the east, the outcome was very bleak as the Christians were
left devastated. The Second Crusade also had grim effects on the Holy Land, as
Damascus was no longer the foundational center of the reliable crusader kingdom.
In contrast, Jerusalem was able to make successful battles against Egypt that
caused them to dominate Cairo in the 1160’s, and this was made possible through a
strong alliance with the Byzantines under their main leader King Amalric I.
However, this success did not last very long as the majority of these expeditions
ended in failure. The main implication of this was that this alliance official
came to an end when Manuel I emperor of the Byzantines died in 1180, thus
resulting in Jerusalem being taken over by Saladin, which is the primary focus of
the approaching Third Crusade.

Nicolle, David. The Second Crusade 1148: Disaster Outside Damascus. New York: Osprey Publishing, 2009.

Phillips, Jonathan. The Second Crusade: Scope and Consequences. NewYork: Manchester University Press, 2001.