In April 1291, a Mamluk army laid siege to Acre, the last great Crusader fortress in the Holy Land. For six weeks, the siege dragged on until the Mamluks took the outer wall, which had been breached in several places. The Military Orders drove back the Mamluks temporarily, but three days later the inner wall was breached. King Henry escaped, but ...
The Hospitallers was established by a group of Italian merchants from Amalfi in the mid-11th century as part of a widespread charitable movement to help pilgrims.
This book tells the story of the momentous campaign that led to the Muslim capture of Jerusalem in 1187, following the disastrous Crusader defeat at Hattin, where Saladin's troops destroyed the Christian army. These events resulted in the collapse of the kingdom of Jerusalem and sparked off the Third Crusade under Richard I. The authors take a ...
The clash between King Richard I 'The Lionheat' of England and Saladin has become legendary, and the strategy and tactics of a resolute, heavily armed Anglo-Saxon army versus their more lightly armed opponents have continued to fascinate military enthusiasts down the ages. The religious and geopolitical significance of the third crusade are ...
To many people the Crusades were the First Crusade. This first 'armed pilgrimage' to the Holy Land was, of course, the only Crusade that really succeeded. It resulted in the establishment of four so-called Crusader States in the Middle East and its repercussions can still be felt today. But in addition to its historical significance, this book ...
A very broad and complete coverage of the Mongolian culture and its military campaigns. The book focuses on the four great Mongol leaders: Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, Hulego and Tamerlane.
The first of its kind, a unique exploration of the history of human conflict, Essential Histories is the most comprehensive and fascinating study of human conflict ever undertaken. Leading historians from around the world have been commissioned to write 42 accessible and definitive guides to every major war throughout history, with an emphasis on ...
The Hospitallers were the first of the Secular Crusading Orders to be created, though they were only 'militarized' after the establishment of the Templers. The Hospitallers played a major role in the military struggle between Christendom and the Islamic World throughout the medieval and early modern periods. The Hospitallers recruited from a wide ...
In the early decades of the 8th century AD, Islamic forces were flooding into Europe through the Iberian peninsula, threatening Frankish and Burgundian territory and raiding it with ever-increasing ferocity. At the battle of Poitiers, also known as Tours, Christian forces under the Frankish leader Charles Martel "The Hammer" (grandfather of ...
The very name El Cid sums up much of the special character of medieval Spanish warfare. It comes from the Arabic al sayyid, master or chieftain, and seems to have been given to Rodrigo de Vivar by his Muslim foes. But was it given in recognition of El Cid's victories against Islam in the 'Reconquista' - or because this Castilian nobleman was as ...
The Medieval era was a period of huge variety and invention in the field of siege warfare. Before the use of cannon and other gun-powder artillery, siege engines relied on assorted sources of power from torsion 'energy storage' systems to man-power, counter-balances and others. This book reveals how the combining of technological traditions from ...
Since the end of World War II the Egyptian Air Force (EAF) has fought in the 1948 War of Israeli Independence, the 1956 Suez Canal conflict, the 1967 Six Day War and the subsequent war of attrition, the 1973 Yom Kippur/Ramadan War, and numerous border skirmishes, as well as in the conflicts elsewhere in the Middle East and Africa. Phoenix over the ...
Throughout history, powerful nations have attempted to extend their spheres of influence by invading the lands surrounding them. While some efforts have been fruitless, others have resulted in the emergence of true empires. From the ancient Akkad Empire of Iraq to the modern world of the superpower, the "Atlas of Empires" profiles the rise and ...
Salah al Din Yusif ibn Ayyub, known to his Muslim contemporaries as al Nasi, 'The Victorious', and to an admiring Europe as Saladin, is the most famous single figure in the history of the Crusades, being even better known outside the English-speaking world than his Christian foe Richard the Lionheart. Traditionally portrayed as a quiet, deeply ...
This work provides a comprehensive description of Islam's long and dynamic history. It provides a survey of the history of the Islamic world and of Islamic civilization from the time of the Prophet Mohammed until the consolidation of the Ottoman Empire. Maps and detailed commentaries locate each Islamic region in its historical context, with ...
The birth of the Ottoman state is shrouded in legend. Whatever the truth of its origins, the Ottoman's formed an Empire which almost succeeded in bringing Christian Europe to its knees. During the last decades of the 13th century, the ambitious Osman Bey's tiny mountain state took eight frontier castles plus the Turkish town of Eskisehir. In 1299 ...
The bloody crusades that swept across the Middle East in medieval times left their mark on the landscape, where fortifications that once acted as bastions of power for the beleaguered Crusader States now cast their ruined shadows over the earth. "Crusader Castles in the Holy Land" is a beautifully illustrated guide to the development, construction ...
Covering the period between the 5th and 15th centuries this volume charts the peoples, armies, weapons, strategies, fortifications and leaders of warfare in Europe. Biographies of important characters of the period are included, with lists on heraldry, military theory, morale and motivation.
The Military Order of Teutonic Knights was one of the three most famous Crusading Orders; the others being the Templars and the Hospitallers. Like these two, the Teutonic Knights initially focused upon the preservation of the Crusader States in the Middle East. Wielding their swords in the name of their faith, the crusading knights set out to ...
Of all the castles constructed by Western Europeans during the Middle Ages, none have caught the public imagination so much as Crusader castles. These structures, ranging from the very simple to the huge and elaborate, also encompass almost all aspects of Western European military architecture during the golden age of castle building from the 12th ...
The story of the struggle between the Teutonic Knights and the Russian city state of Novgorod, under their leader Alexander Nevsky. The Teutonic Knights were a powerful military order with the backing of the crusading zeal of Europe, the blessing of the Pope and the support of the Holy Roman Emperor. The clash of arms around the frozen shores of ...
In 1187, Christian Europe was shaken by the momentous defeat of the Crusaders at Hattin, and the Muslim capture of Jerusalem. Saladin's victory marked the beginning of the end for the Crusader states. This book examines and analyses this, Saladin's greatest victory.
The debacle of the Second Crusade in 1148 caused the Crusader States to realise the necessity of developing a more cautious strategy. The original expansionist spirit largely disappeared, and the Crusader States made priorities of strengthening their existing fortifications and towns and building new castles. These structures encompassed core ...
The Hospitallers were the first of the Secular Crusading Orders to be created, though they were only "militarized" after the establishment of the Templers. The Hospitallers played a major role in the military struggle between Christendom and the Islamic World throughout the mediaeval and early modern periods. They recruited from a wide section of ...
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