What impact did the crusades have on history in general and the history of religion, in other words it's history and reputation.

Which Crusades in particular? There were many different Crusades for many different reasons.

I think that the Crusades are largely misunderstood nowadays.  The circumstances of the Crusades appear to parallel in some ways the current situation with Muslim vs. Christian relations in the world today.

I think they are misunderstood because they are viewed in a vacuum.  That is, people now look at it simply as a practice in religious intolerance by Christians against Muslims.  Nevermind the political and continental security issues which Europeans of the day faced, and nevermind the fact that the Christians were driven out of the Holy Land eventually by the Muslims. 

Man, I had to wait 6 months for that answer. 😀

Yeah I really hope I didn't disappoint!  😉  Actually, it's a good topic we ought to explore, perhaps in another thread, as it has similarities to what's going on in the world today.

Yeah we still have 4 months to go.  ;)Ok already, I'll try to work on something!

The crowd is geting restless. 😆

Does four or five active posters make a crowd these days?  Just kidding.  I like talking about the Crusades, but I want to see how the topic plays out before I jump in.  I have my own views of course, but I enjoy reading how others feel about them. 😆

…and 3 more months have passed.

In the modern mind, the Crusades are poorly and erroneously defined. Virtually everything thought about them is wrong. The Crusades were not a war; they were a series of wars. They were not fought between the ?Saracens? and the Franks, they were fought between Turk and Syrian and Egyptian and Byzantine and Mongol and at least three ?crusader? kingdoms, most of whom allied with and against each other at various times. The alliances only rarely followed along religious lines. The Crusades were also not national wars in any sense at all. They were medieval wars in which the feudal overlords of cities, castles, or provinces made war against each other with greed as the motivator and loot as the object. The Crusades were not religious wars. Lands were conquered not for Christ or Allah, but for warlords. The followers of a religion were as likely to be killed by their co-religionists as by their infidel opponents.¹

¹Nafziger, George F. Islam at War: A History. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2003. Praeger Security International Online. 5 Jul 2007.