Originally posted by Jimbo
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Also the 4th crusade an obstensibly "holy" war against schismatic greeks for $ led to centuries of Turkish domination of the balkans as well as the end of christian asia minor. Given the competency of the Lacaris then Michael Paelogi and the destruction of the seljuk state by the mongols and the shared emnity of the Mameluks held by the empire and the mongols might of seen a recovery of at least the asia minor if not the syrian coast. All conjecture but not outrageous. I think the greatest weapon the islamic expansion had was christian persecution of sects deemed heretical. Christian violence of christians made the speed of it possible. Way off on a tangent but I think a lot of people don't understand how much the arab then turkish expansions were set up by christian intolerance.
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