if you try to imagine the Crusades as a harsh but necessary exorcise in self defense, I think when you look at it hard you will find very little actual evidence to support that. The arabs, persians and egyptians were not any kind of direct threat to Europe.
Nope, they were no threat at all. Here is an abreviated list of their peacful activities...
632 AD- Islamic jihadists conquer Yemen
632AD- Invasion of Abyssynia ( Ethiopia) . Islamic jihadist forces repelled.
633 AD- repeated Islamic military campaigns subdue the desert tribes of Arabia(Saudi Arabia)
635 AD- Islamic armies attack and conquer Damascus(Syria)
637 AD- Persians(Iranians)defeated at battle of Qadisiyya by Islamic forces
637 AD-fall of Iraq
638 AD- Jerusalem falls
639 AD- Syria falls to Islamic forces
640 AD- Egypt falls into Islamic hands, Coptic Church destroyed
688 AD- Fall of Carthage,
688 AD Islamic followers build the Dome of the Rock on the former site of the Temple of Solomon, the holiest site in Judaism and Christianity.
702 AD- Berbers in Africa captured and converted
705-708 AD- Occupation of North Africa
711-713 AD- Capture of Spain and Portugal by Arab expansionists
715-717 AD- Afghanistan,central Asia, and the northern limit of the Caspian Sea and much of Northern India captured by Arab forces.
718 AD- Islamic forces attack France
725 AD- Islamic armies institute a siege of Toulouse, raid Burgundy and Rhone.
732 AD- Bordeaux comes under siege, and Islamic armies advance to Poitiers, where they are soundly defeated by Charles Martel.
750 AD to circa 11th Century- Period of Islamic stagnation. The restart of the Islamic conquest triggers the crusades.
11th Century AD- Islamic forces penetrate Africa south of the Sahara
12-14 AD- Islamic occupation of northern India
14-16th Centuries AD- Islamic forces conquer Indonesia
15th Century AD- Constantinople falls.
1683 AD- Battle of Vienna, Austria. Decisive loss for Islam
1804- Islamic Forces conquer Nigeria
1815 AD- Naval victories ended tribute payments by the U.S. to the Islamic Barbary pirates, although some European nations continued annual payments until the 1830s.
20th Century- Britain conquers and partitions the majority of the Middle East in the wake of WWI. 1948- Islamic self rule is re-initiated in former British colonies, as well as the founding of the Nation of Israel
1979-Present- Modern Islamic revival, and the beginnings of the War on Terror. Soviet invasion of Afghanistan begins the Islamic Muhjadeen uprising. Ayatollah Khomeini overthrows the Shah of Iran, institutes Islamic law in Iran
1982-84 AD- Attacks on US forces In Beirut, Israeli Invasion of Lebanon to stop Islamic attacks 1980's- Hostage kidnappings in Lebanon
1990's - large scale terrorist attacks against American and Israeli targets by Islamic terrorists, Persian Gulf war
2000-USS Cole attacks
2001- World trade Center attacks
2001- Afghan War
2003- Iraqi War
Of course, it is a lot easier if you just look at the 100 years of peace leading up to the first Crusade...
c. 0950AD- Catholicism becomes prevalent and dominant religion throughout Europe.
0950AD- According to traditional historiography, Europe enters Dark Ages.
0953AD- Emperor Otto I sends representatives to Cordova to ask Caliph Abd al-Rahman III to call off some Muslim raiders who had set themselves up in Alpine passes and are attacking merchant caravans going in and out of Italy.
0961AD- Death of Abd al-Rahman III, generally regarded as the greatest of the Umayyad caliphs in Andalusia. Under his rule, Cordova became one of the most powerful centers of Islamic learning and power. He is succeeded by Abdallah, a caliph who would kill many of his rivals (even family members) and has captured Christians decapitated if they refuse to convert to Islam.
0961AD- Under the command of general Nicephorus Phokas, the Byzantines recapture Crete from Muslim rebels who had earlier fled Cordova.
0965AD- Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus Phokas reconquers Cyprus from the Muslims.
0965AD- Grenoble is recaptured from the Muslims.
0969AD- The Fatimid dynasty (Shi'ite) takes Egypt from the Ikshidids and assumes the title of caliphate in Egypt until 1171 AD.
0969AD- Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus II Phocas reconquers Antioch (modern Antakya, capital of the province Hatay) from the Arabs.
0972AD- The Fatimids of Egypt conquer north Africa.
0972AD- The Muslims in the Sisteron district of France surrender to Christian forces and their leader asks to be baptized.
0981AD- Eric the Red is exiled from Iceland and settles in a new land he called Greenland in order to attract settlers.
0981AD- Ramiro III, king of Leon, is defeated by Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir (Almanzor) at Rueda and is forced to begin paying tribute to the Caliph of Cordova.
0985AD- Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir sacks Barcelona
0994AD- The monastery of Monte Cassino is destroyed a second time by Arabs.
0995AD- Japanese literary and artistic golden age begins under Emperor Fujiwara Michinaga (ruled 0995 - 1028).
July 03, 0997AD- Under the leadership of Almanzor, Muslim forces march out of the city of Cordova and head north to capture Christian lands.
August 11, 0997AD- Muslim forces under Almanzor arrive at the city of Compostela. The city had been evacuated and Almanzor burns it to the ground.
0998AD- Venice conquers the Adriatic port of Zara. The Venetians would eventually lose the city to the Hungarians and, in 1202, they offer a deal to soldiers of the Fourth Crusade: capture the city again for them in exchange for passage to Egypt.
c. 1000AD- Chinese perfect the production and use of gunpowder.
1000AD- The Seljuk (Saljuq) Turkish Empire is founded by an Oghuz Turkish bey (chieftain) named Seljuk. Originally from the steppe country around the Caspian Sea, the Seljuks are the ancestors of the Western Turks, present-day inhabitants of Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan.
August 08, 1002AD- Death of Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir, ruler of Al-Andalus, on the way back from raiding the Rioja region.
1004AD- Arab raiders sack the Italian city of Pisa.
1007AD- Birth of Isaac I Comnenus, Byzantine emperor. Founder of the dynasty of the Comneni, Isaac's government reforms may have helped the Byzantine Empire last longer.
1009AD- The Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem is destroyed by Muslim armies.
1009AD- Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, founder of the Druze sect and sixth Fatimid Caliph in Egypt, orders the Holy Sepulcher and all Christian buildings in Jerusalem be destroyed. In Europe a rumor develops that a "Prince of Babylon" had ordered the destruction of the Holy Sepulcher at the instigation of the Jews. Attacks on Jewish communities in cities like Rouen, Orelans, and Mainz ensue and this rumor helps lay the basis for massacres of Jewish communities by Crusaders marching to the Holy Land.
1009AD- Sulaimann, grandson of Abd al-Rahman III, returns over 200 captured fortresses to the Castilians in return for massive shipments of food for his army.
1012AD- Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, founder of the Druze sect and sixth Fatimid Caliph in Egypt, orders the destruction of all Christian and Jewish houses of worship in his lands.
1012AD- Berber forces capture Cordova and order that half the population be executed.
1013AD- Jews are expelled from the Umayyad Caliphate of Cordova, then ruled by Sulaimann.
1015AD- Arab Muslim forces conquer Sardinia.
1016AD- The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is partially destroyed by earthquakes.
1020AD- Merchants from Amalfi and Salerno are granted permission by the Egyptian Caliph to build a hospice in Jerusalem. Out of this would eventually grow The Order of Knights of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (also known as: Knights of Malta, Knights of Rhodes, and most commonly as Knights Hospitaller).
1021AD- Caliph al-Hakim proclaimed himself to be divine and founded the Druze sect.
1022AD- Several Cathar heretics are discovered in Toulouse and put to death.
1023AD- Muslims expel the Berber rulers from Cordova and install Abd er-Rahman V as caliph.
1025AD- The power of the Byzantine Empire begins to decline.
1026AD- Richard II of Normandy leads a group of several hundred armed men on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the belief that the Day of Judgment had arrived. Turkish control of the region hampers their goals, however.
1027AD- The Frankish protectorate over Christian interests in Jerusalem is replaced by a Byzantine protectorate. Byzantine leaders begin the reconstruction of the Holy Sepulcher.
1029AD- Alp Arslan, "The Lion Hero," is born. Arslan is the son of Togrul Beg, conqueror of Baghdad who made himself ruler of the Caliphate, and great-grandson of Seljuk, founder of the Seljuk Turkish empire.
1031AD- The Moorish Caliphate of Cordoba falls.
1031AD- The emir of Aleppo has the Krak des Chevaliers contructed.
1033AD- Castile is retaken from the Arabs.
1035AD- The Byzantines make a landing in Sicily, but don't try to recapture the island from the Muslims.
1038AD- The Seljuk Turks become established in Persia.
1042AD- The rise of the Seljuk Turks begins.
1045 - 1099AD- Life of Ruy Diaz de Vivar, known as El Cid (Arabic for "lord"), national hero of Spain. El Cid would become famous for his efforts to drive the Moors out of Spain.
May 18, 1048AD- Persian poet Umar Khayyam is born. His poem The Rubaiyat became popular in the West because of its use by Victorian Edward Fitzgerald.
1050 - 1200AD- The first agricultural revolution of Medieval Europe begins in 1050 AD with a shift to the northern lands for cultivation, a period of improved climate from 700 AD to 1200 AD in western Europe, and the widespread use and perfection of new farming devices. Technological innovations include the use of the heavy plow, the three-field system of crop rotation, the use of mills for processing cloth, brewing beer, crushing pulp for paper manufacture, and the widespread use of iron and horses. With an increase in agricultural advancements, Western towns and trade grow exponentially and Western Europe returns to a money economy.
1050AD- Duke Bohemond I (Bohemond Of Taranto, French Boh mond De Tarente), prince of Otranto (1089–1111) is born. One of the leaders of the First Crusade, Bohemond would be largely responsible for the capture of Antioch and he secures the title Prince of Antioch (1098 - 1101, 1103 - 04).
1050AD- Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachos restores the complex of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.
1054AD- A famine in Egypt forces al Mustansir, 8th Fatimid caliph, to seek food and other commercial assistance from Italy and the Byzantine Empire.
July 16, 1054AD- Great Schism: The Western Christian Church, in an effort to further enhance its power, had tried to impose Latin rites on Greek churches in southern Italy in 1052; as a consequence, Latin churches in Constantinople were closed. In the end, this leads to the excommunication of Michael Cerularius, patriarch of Constantinople (who in turn excommunicates Pope Leo IX). Although generally regarded as a minor event at the time, today it is treated as the final event that sealed the Great Schism between Eastern and Western Christianity.
1055AD- Seljuk Turks capture Baghdad.
1056AD- The Almoravid (al-Murabitun) Dynasty begins its rise to power. Taking the name "those who line up in defense of the faith," this is a group of fanatical Berber Muslims who would rule North Africa and Spain until 1147.
1061AD- Roger Guiscard lands at Sicily with a large Norman force and captures the city of Masara. The Norman reconquest of Sicily would require another 30 years.
1063AD- Alp Arslan succeeds his father, Togrul Beg, as ruler of the Baghdad Caliphate and the Seljuk Turks.
1064AD- The Seljuk Turks conquer Christian Armenia.
September 29, 1066 William the Conqueror invades England and claims the English throne at the Battle of Hastings. Because William is both the King of England and the Duke of Normandy, The Norman Conquest fuses French and English cultures. The language of England evolves into Middle English with an English syntax and grammar and a heavily French vocabulary.
1067AD- Romanus IV Diogenes becomes the Byzantine Emperor.
1068 Alp Arslan invades the Byzantine Empire and is repulsed by Romanus IV Diogenes over the course of three campaigns. Not until 1070, though, would the Turks be driven back across the Euphrates river.
1070AD- Seljuk Turks capture Jerusalem from the Fatimids. Seljuk rule is not quite as tolerant as that of the Fatimids and Christian pilgrims begin returning to Europe with tales of persecution and oppression.
1070AD- Brother Gerard, a leader of the Benedictine monks and nuns who run the hospices in Jerusalem. beings to organize The Order of Knights of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (also known as: Knights of Malta, Knights of Rhodes, and most commonly as Knights Hospitaller) as a more military force for the active protection of Christian pilgrims.
1071AD- Normans conquer the last Byzantine holdings in Italy.
1071 - 1085AD- Seljuk Turks conquer most of Syria and Palestine.
August 19, 1071AD- Battle of Manzikert: Alp Arslan leads an army of Seljuk Turks against the Byzantine Empire near Lake Van. Numbering perhaps as many as 100,000 men, the Turks take the fortresses of Akhlat and Manzikert before Byzantine Emperor Romanus IV Diogenes can respond. Although Diogenes is able to recapture Akhlat, the siege of Manzikert fails when a Turkish relief force arrives and Andronicus Ducas, an enemy of Romanus Diogenes, refuses to obey orders to fight. Diogenes himself is captured and released, but he would be murdered after his return to Constantinople. Partly because of the defeat at Manzikert and partly due to the civil wars following the murder of Digoenes, Asia Minor would be left open to Turkish invasion.
1072AD- Tancred of Hauteville is born. A grandson of Robert Guiscard and nephew of Bohemund of Taranto, Tancred would become a leader of the First Crusade and eventually regent of the Principality of Antioch.
December 15, 1072AD- Malik Shah I, son of Alp Arslan, succeeds his father as Seljuk Sultan.
1073AD- Seljuk Turks conquer Ankara.
July 1074AD- El Cid marries Jimena, niece of Alfonso IV of Castile and daughter of the Count of Oviedo.
1076AD- First recorded execution in England by the ax: the Earl of Huntingdon.
1078AD- Seljuk Turks capture Nicaea. It would change hands three more times, finally coming under control of the Turks again in 1086.
1079AD- Battle of Cabra: El Cid led his troops to a rout of Emir Abd Allah of Granada.
1080AD- Order of the Hospital of St. John is founded in Italy. This special order of knights was dedicated to guarding a pilgrim hospital, or hostel, in Jerusalem.
1080AD- An Armenian state is founded in Cilicia, a district on the southeastern coast of Asia Minor (Turkey), north of Cyprus, by refugees feeling the Seljuk invasion of their Armenian homeland. A Christian kingdom located in the midst of hostile Muslim states and lacking good relations with the Byzantine Empire, "Armenia Minor" would provide important assistance to Crusaders from Europe.
1081 - 1118AD- Alexius I Comnenus is Byzantine emperor.
1081AD- El Cid, now a mercenary because he had been exiled by Alfonso IV of Castile, enters the service of the Moorish king of the northeast Spanish city of Zaragosa, al-Mu'tamin, and would remain there for his successor, al-Mu'tamin II.
1082AD- Ibn Tumart, founder of the Amohad Dynasty, is born in the Atlas mountains.
1084AD- Seljuk Turks conquer Antioch, a strategically important city.
October 25, 1085AD- The Moors are expelled from Toledo, Spain, by Alfonso VI.
October 23, 1086AD- Battle of Zallaca (Sagrajas): Spanish forces under Alfonso VI of Castile are defeated by the Moors and their allies, the Almorivids (Berbers from Morocco and Algeria, led by Yusef I ibn Tashufin), thus preserving Muslim rule in al-Andalus. The slaughter of Spaniards was great and Yusef refused to abide by his agreement to leave Andalusia in the hands of the Moors. His intention was actually to make Andalusia an African colony ruled by the Almorivids in Morocco.
1087AD- After his crushing defeat at Zallaqa, Alfonso VI swallows his pride and recalls El Cid from exile.
September 13, 1087AD- Birth of John II Comnenus, Byzantine emperor.
1088AD- Patzinak Turks begin forming settlements between the Danube and the Balkans.
March 12, 1088AD- Urban II is elected pope. An active supporter of the Gregorian reforms, Urban would become responsible for launching the First Crusade.
1089AD- Byzantine forces conquer the island of Crete.
1090AD- Yusuf Ibn Tashfin, King of the Almoravids, captures Granada.
1091AD- The Normans recapture Sicily from the Muslims.
1091AD- Cordova (Qurtuba) is captured by the Almoravids.
1092AD- After the death of Seljuk Sultan (al-sultan , "the power") Malik Shah I, the capital of the Seljuks is moved from Iconjium to Smyrna and the empire itself dissolves into several smaller states.
May 1094AD- El Cid captures Valencia from the Moors, carving out his own kingdom along the Mediterranean that is only nominally subservient to Alfonso VI of Castile. Valencia would be both Christian and Muslim, with adherents of both religions serving in his army.
August 1094AD- The Almoravids from Morocco land near Cuarte and lay siege to Valencia with 50,000 men. El Cid, however, breaks the siege and forces the Amoravids to flee - the first Christian victory against the hard-fighting Africans.
November 18, 1095AD- Pope Urban II opens the Council of Clermont where ambassadors from the Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus, asking help against the Muslims, were warmly received.
Nope, I didn't see any evidence of Islamic military expansionism there. Nope, none at all.
"A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand." Lucius Annaeus Seneca 4BC-65AD.
