Antioch

Antioch 1097-1098


 * date || 21 October 1097-3 June 1098 ||||||  ||   ||
 * location || Turkey near the modern city of Antakya ||
 * result || Crusaders capture the walls of Antioch ||
 * Crusader commanders || Robert of Normandy, Robert of Flanders, Stephen of Blois and Hugh of Vermandois ||
 * Muslim commanders || Yaghi Siyan ||
 * Crusader strengths || 20-30 thousand ||
 * Muslim Strengths || 4 thousand ||

__**Backround of the first crusade**__
The siege took place during the first crusade. in which was launched by Pope Urban II to make an expedition to the east. To fight for the ownership of the Holy lands. This anouncment was put forth on the 27th of November 1095 during the coucil of clemont. He also told the listensers that "God wills it!" will be the insipring war cry for the crusaders. Thousands joined the army to wear the cross, mostly French, Norman and Flemish nights. The large army assembled in Constantinople, to then make the further journey easy to battle the Muslims for the holy lands.

At this same time, the muslims are preparying for their Jihad (holy war).

But one of the key reasons in as to why the Crusades started had been building up for hundreds of years. As since the fall of the Roman emire Europe has been largely divided and unorganised. Which has meant that it has been very easy for people like the Vikings, Mongol tribes and the Islamic empire, to raid and attach Europe. Although Europeans considered the Islamic empire the greatest threat, as it also threatened Europes religion and culture. So when the Pope declared a Holy war, Europeans not only felt a sense of belonging, but for the first time in hundreds of years, they felt powerful and safe. This is one of the key factors in what made the Crusades so popular amongst medieval Europeans, they felt it would be a revolutionary change that would bring them out of their misery.

Once the Crusades had been organised and the Crusaders got under way on their journey to the Holy land, different leaders took different routes but they all met up in Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. In 1096 October, Anatolia (modern Turkey) the Crusaders suffered many losses to the Turks, until the Siege of Nicaea, which was the first major victory for the Crusaders. Then only a couple months later the Crusaders also had another victory over a Turkish army who planned to ambush the Crusaders. The Crusaders then swiftly progressed on to the city of Antioch. These multiple quick victories by the Crusaders et the scene for the remainder of the first Crusade.

=__Summary of the battle__=

The siege of Antioch took place on the 21st of October 1097 with the Crusaders and the Muslims led by Yaghi Siyan. The city was a fortress with over 450 towers in the walls, it also had a citadel in the south of the city. The Crusaders didn't have enough forces to do a mass attack on the city so they decided to sit and besiege the city to force the Muslims surrender. one by one the Crusaders sealed of the city walls.However a weakness that was present for the Crusaders was their ability to construct fortifications. They lacked the knowledge and capabilities to do so, unlike some other civilizations such as the Romans.A Muslim fort of Harran just east of Antioch kept launching repeated attacks on the Crusader rear defences, supply chain and communications. As a result the Crusaders food supply began to slowly diminish and they could not spare the troops to attack the fort directly, instead they were forced to dispatch large forces to guard the supply routes weakening their siege at Antioch.However this tactic did not work, as fierce local resistance in the outlying areas began to rise up to the Crusaders presence forcing even more troops engaged in the siege to re-deploy and guard the armies flanks. As the surrounding areas became stripped of food the Crusaders situation became desperate. In December the army council made the decision to launch a major foraging expedition sending 5,000 cavalry under the command of Robert of Flanders south along the coastline in search of supplies.

After a long a dreary campaign by the crusaders to take Antioch, the city finally fell in the hands of the Crusaders. And the surrounding countryside was part of a tempoary advance against the muslims by the Crusaders for the remaining of the campaign. The City of Antioch was taken by the Crusaders as they had an advantage, attcking quickly meant that the Muslims, who were just as disorganised as the Crusaders when it came to leaders agreeing, could not fight back very well. The city of Antioch was one of the first major cities over run by the Crusaders, and once the Crusaders had taken over the city, it was a base for them to re-group before the next step taken by the Crusaders, which was take the city of Jerusalem. The Crusaders were succesful, and in 1099, the city was under complete Christian control. Once the Crusaders were satisfied with their conquests of several other towns, they set up four Kindoms in the area and ended the first Crusade.

The Siege of Antioch was a very trypical medieval battle. Compared to Roman battle tactics, the tactics used in medieval warfare were much more simplistic and generally avoided complication. As in the Siege of Antioch there was not a large amout of complicated tactics evident. One reason for this was not because the leaders were incompetent or amature, but rather it was very common for the Crusading soldiers to not be full time soldiers who had had training in techniques and tactics used in wartime, but rather they were ofter either reserves or simply villagers who were entirely new to everything in warfare. So if complicated tactics were used then it would have taken a long time to get the messgae across, also it would have taken a long time for many for many of the soldiers to understand what to do.


 * Refrences:** Jones Lindsey, //Encyclopedia of Religion Second Edition (Book 3)//, //Thompson Gale, 2005, pg 2074-2078.//

//Overy Richard, Complete History of the World,// HarperCollinsPublishing, 2005,

//The Crusades,// http://history-world.org/crusades.htm, 15/9/2012, World History Centre

//Timeline First Crusade,// http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/timeline-first-crusade.htm, 16/9/12,