Christians in Algeria, Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and most particularly
in the Sudan.
Nor does one hear from the critics anything about the positive aspects of
the Crusades. The renewed communication with the East brought about a
greater exchange of trade and culture; there was renewed contact with
beleaguered Christians such as the Maronites in Lebanon; the West
benefited from contact with Moslem mathematicians and philosophers
versed in Aristotelian thought; the rise and flourishing of the religious
military orders of the Knights Hospitallers and the Knights Templars
brought about a renewal of lofty ideals and noble fighting spirit; and, most
importantly, the Crusades delayed the desired Islamic invasion of Eastern
Europe for nearly 200 years.
Despite the defeat of the Crusades, the authentic crusading spirit was to live
on for another four centuries. Continued Islamic expansionism necessitated
further Christian efforts at self-defense, particularly after the conquest of
Constantinople by Mohammed II in 1453. The great battles and the heroes
who fought them on behalf of Christendom were as follows:
Belgrade (1456): John Hunyadi and St. John Capistrano against the
Turkish Sultan Mohammed II; 10,000 Christian troops against
150,000 Moslem; a flotilla of two hundred ships led by John
Hunyadi and St. John Capistrano sailed down the Danube River
and broke the Turkish blockade; after a five hour battle the
relieving Christians entered the besieged city; the Christian
defenders then destroyed the counter-attacking Janissaries with a
burning wall of sulphur, pitch and gunpowder; after losing their
main battery of siege cannons to a Christian onslaught the Turks
retreated; Hungary was saved for another sixty years.
Albania (1443-1467): George Castriota (Scanderberg)––destroyed
sixteen successive Turkish invasions led by Sultans Murad II and
Mohammed II; the Turks invaded with armies of 40,000 in 1443,
160,000 in 1450 and two of 200,000 in 1466 and 1467. While
Scanderberg lived the Turks could never capture Albania.
Malta (1565): the Knights of St. John Hospitallers against the
Turkish Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent; 65,000 Turks invaded
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