The Crusades, An Arab Perspective

The series provides a new perspective on the history of the Crusades for a global, English-speaking audience, that has largely read about or studied the famous struggle from a primarily Christian and Western point of view.

The series starts with the Catholic church council in Clermont in France in 1095, under Pope Urban II, and continues to the fall of Acre, the last Crusader foothold in the east, in 1291, covering two centuries of bloody battles, massacres, and conquering and reconquering of territories, including Jerusalem.

[1][2] Following is the complete list of episodes: Tughril Bey becomes the first ethnic Turk to take effective control of the Abbasid Caliphate.

In 1164, Nur al-Din Zengi, the Muslim leader of Aleppo and Damascus, and Amalric, King of Jerusalem both set their sights on Egypt.

When Nur al-Din dies in the Levant, his teenage son As-Salih Ismail becomes the ruling prince of Damascus, Aleppo, and Mosul.

Raynald set out to take over Mecca and exhume Muhammad's body in the Hijaz; eventually, he was captured and killed years later at the Battle of Hattin (1187).

Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor didn't want to listen to the Pope's plea to go on a Crusade in Egypt and re-take Jerusalem.

In April 1289, Qalawun, the new Muslim Turish Sultan based in Egypt, set out to conquer the County of Tripoli from the Crusaders.