Product Description

THE CRUSADES: CRESCENT & THE CROSS presents the epic battle between two Middle Age superpowers: the Christian Crusaders and the Muslims. Fought over two centuries, the conflict decided the fate of the Holy Land of the Middle East. Only a tiny strip of land, just a few hundred miles long, it contained the ultimate prize, the city of Jerusalem. The documentary is driven by the key personalities of the First, Second and Third Crusades, the popes, kings, sultans and knights who, in the name of God, ruthlessly fought for land and power. Experience the murder, treachery, and bloodshed of this legendary chapter of history throuth the eyes of key historical figures such as Richard the Lionheart and Saladin, King Louis VII and Nur al-Din. With breath-taking CGI-enhanced visuals, heart-pounding reenactments, and stunning footage from rarely-seen locations THE CRUSADES: CRESCENT & THE CROSS brings the first three Crusades alive for a new generation in conflict. DVD Features: Timeline; Behind-the-Scenes Featurette "History in the Making: The Crusades"; Bonus Documentary "The Knights Templar"; 16:9 Widescreen Format; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7143 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-12-26
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 180 minutes

Amazon.com
The Christian invaders were regarded as infidels. The Arabs were scorned as lawless pagans. The Westerners saw their quest as literally a sanctified crusade, while the Muslims launched their own holy war, called a jihad, in retaliation. Sound familiar? It should, because although the events depicted in the History Channel's The Crusades - Crescent & The Cross took place nearly a thousand years ago, they are but a distant mirror to what's going on in the Middle East right now. This two-part, three-hour program, released here on two discs (the second includes over an hour of bonus material), impressively details all three Crusades, starting in the late 11th Century, when Pope Urban II dispatched a huge force to reclaim Jerusalem, which had been under Muslim control for some 400 years. For the knights and others who made the journey, it was a noble spiritual quest, not to mention an escape from Europe's petty wars and famines; in the end, the fact that many of them were greedy butchers who murdered Muslims, Jews, and even other Christians indiscriminately (sometimes even eating the flesh of the vanquished) detracted not at all from their conviction that they were acting in the name of God. Of course, so were the Muslims, who, after the bloody first crusade succeeded in seizing the holy city, mounted a massive counterattack under leaders like Nur al-din and his son Saladin, who managed to take back Jerusalem (from whence Mohammed was said to have ascended to heaven) and hold on to it through the failed second and third crusades, the latter led by England's Richard the Lionheart.

All of this is presented by way of techniques that will be recognizable to History Channel buffs. They include modern-day historians, who re-trace the routes of the crusaders and examine the ancient sites where the action took place, as well as actors who portray characters of the time (chroniclers, knights, and others); numerous re-enactments, aided by excellent cinematography and skillful use of CGI (whereby a few dozen extras could be made to look like many thousands), vividly illustrate the battles and other events that took place during this roughly 200-year period. Add to that a bonus documentary about the Knights Templar (the soldier-monks in charge of protecting the Kingdom of Jerusalem) and a decent "making of" documentary, and you have an absorbing, enlightening look at events that prove one thing above all: the more things change, the more they stay the same. --Sam Graham

Customer Reviews

The History Channel Presents The Crusades - Crescent & The Cross
A good production. The cinematics and special effects improved the documentary immensely. I wish that there was a little more depth as to how the muslims rose to power in the middle east before the crusades. It would help to clarify the christian views of why going to war was considered necessary. Also a bit more balance of the christian point of view vs. the muslim point of view would have been nice.

Can You Handle the Truth?
Find out about the Crusades and another reason there's this resentment between the Muslim world against the Westerners.

The Crusades
The Crusades is an excellent depiction of the first three crusades. The eleventh and twelfth centuries were extremely brutal periods where brutality often overcame rationalism and reason. The religious fervor which Christian and Muslim alike displayed towards one another is astounding at times, but one side, the Muslims, seem to have held onto the sense of history that Christians have forgotten. The fact that nearly a thousand years after the events began Muslims still talk about crusaders and their wars is testimony that history is alive and well in certain cultures, but nearly dead in others.

That this series only investigates the first three Crusades makes sense when one realizes the other Crusades either failed to get momentum at all, or fizzled before any strategic objectives were realized. This series shows brutality on both sides (Christains are said to have killed nearly everyone, Muslim, Jew and Christian) when the entered Jerusalem at the end of the First Crusade. Christains allegedly ate the victims of one Turkish fortress as a way of intimidation. Muslims brutally killed captured Crusaders when they gained momentum after the Battle of Hattin. In war no side is really "innocent" but one side wins a battle then claims the right to write the history putting its forces in the better light.

This is a two disc set, but the real story is contained on disc one. Disc two is the obligatory "how the film was made" and the necessary interviews of people involved. In other words this could have been half the price and only one disc, but the viewer still would have learned all of the important information presented.