The Holy Wars: War and Religion

After an appallingly violent military campaign, Islam became the religion of many peoples, from Spain to Indonesia. Yet there was no Islamic Empire, just as there was no Christian Empire. Middle Ages signified: tiny states with warring princes and clans. This film relates the expansion of the Islamic and Arabic cultures which was brought about to a large part by military slaves: the children of non-Muslim Turkoman peoples were trained as Islamic elite warriors. Their triumphs led not only to the spread of war and the new faith, but also to the dissemination of a high culture: medicine, art, architecture, astronomy – a unique flowering of knowledge, culture and intellectual freedom that was felt as far away as Spain. The true threat for the realm of Allah did not come from Europe, but from the steppes of Asia. It was the Mongols who attacked their enemies, mercilessly, violently, insurmountably. In 1258 A.D., Baghdad – the seat of Islamic civilization – fell into their hands.

The times were turbulent around 1100 AD, when West-Roman Christianity was spreading out in all directions. The Crusades played an important – perhaps the most important – role here, and certainly the most well-known role of all. The advance of the Islamic Seljuks could not be stopped, especially their attacks on the travel routes of the pilgrims, who were on their way to the holy Christian sites. As more and more attacks were recorded, the Patriarch of the Eastern Roman Church, Alexios I, asked Rome for help. Christianity was already divided at that time, though not between Catholics and Protestants, but between the Eastern Roman (Orthodox) and Western Roman churches. The crusades were thus played out in the midst of these various interest groups. The expansion of the West Romans cut a swath through the Islamic territories, which had by then reached the climax of their development. The Byzantine realm increasingly lost its importance.