Quote Originally Posted by Burton13 View Post
There's two sides to the "Crusades". Chrisitians will say it was defensive and others will say that it was just them taking out whoever who wasn't them. I'll take the latter since they killed pagans, jews, enemies of the pope and plenty of others, not just muslims. The crusaders were told to kill those people in exchange for a clean slate with their sins, I wouldn't call that a "defensive" tactic. I know the religion was growing, but I haven't heard of 75 percent of the world - they were taking over the Byzantine(sp) Empire of course.


As for the science part, they don't really go hand and hand at all when it comes to how we got here. Though evolution still is a theory, I'd say it has a lot more facts to it then Adam and Eve. Science without religion is lame and religion without science is blind, those aren't my words btw.
Here is a cut and paste; I don't have time to type it myself. I will stand by it as accurate:

630 - Muhammad conquers Mecca from his base in Medina.

632 - Muhammad dies in Medina. Islam controls the Hijaz.

636 - conquest of Syria. Victory in battle over the Byzantines gives Syria and the surrounding lands, all Christian - including Palestine and Iraq - to the Caliph.

636 - 642 Persia conquered by the Muslims.

642 - conquest of Egypt. The Arab/Muslim conquest moves west along North Africa into hitherto non-Arab/non-Muslim lands.

711 - Tariq (after whom Gibraltar is named: the Rock of Tariq - Gib al-Tariq) invades Spain. The Muslim conquest moves into Europe.
718 - conquest of Spain complete.
732 - Muslim invasion of France is stopped at the Battle of Poitiers (also called the Battle of Tours). This is regarded as one of the turning points in world history. The Franks, under their leader Charles Martel (the grandfather of Charlemagne), defeat the Muslims and turn them back out of France.


Thus, in exactly 100 years, from the death of The Prophet in 632, to 732, the Arab/Muslim realm has extended from the Hijaz, a province in Arabia, to encompass Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Persia, Egypt, the North African littoral, Spain and, temporarily, part of France. The first European interaction with Islam is with Islam in the role of a conquering army, and, in the case of Spain, one that comes to stay. Spain becomes a Muslim colony. Over several hundred years, Spain is reconquered - the reconquista - for Christendom. The last Moors are expelled in 1492 by Ferdinand and Isabella.


Flash forwar: My words

1453 - Muslim Turks conquer Christian Constantinople and make it the seat of the Caliphate
1456 - Muslims conquer Athens
1478 - Serbia, Bosnia, Crimea come under Ottoman control
1480 - Otranto in Italy taken by the Ottomans
1529 - Vienna besieged by the Ottomans
1683 - Battle of Vienna. The Turks are defeated by the Polish king Jan Sobieski leading a combined Polish-Lithuanian army. This is the high-water-mark of Turkish/Muslim conquest of Europe from the East.