The Assault On Jerusalem [Import] [Paperback]

Steven Runciman (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141022396
• ISBN-13: 978-0141022390
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,467,148 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Worthwhile excerpt..., April 10, 2011

By 

Paul Harris (near Brecon, Wales) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Assault On Jerusalem (Paperback)

Having not read the full three volume history of the Crusades that this excerpt is taken from, this Pocket Penguins 70s edition is a good quick read and a convenient shortcut to the crux of the 1st Crusade. It succesfully conveys the flavour of the main story of how Pope Urban II's call to arms in 1095 leads to the massing of western European Christian forces and their journey to the Holy Land. Via skirmishes with the locals in modern day Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria they arrive at Constantinople. War commences with the 'infidel' Moslems in Turkey and soon we are taken to the hills outside of Jerusalem.

The siege of that city is retold before the final assault on the great stone walls. The violence of the battle is as nothing compared to the bloodlust that ensues following the Moslem surrender. The Pilgrim soldiers run riot and put the city's Moslem and Jewish populations to the sword. The root of the Islamic world's mistrust of the West is clear to see...