The military history of the Middle East between 1100 and 1500 is rich and at times paradoxical. The regions along the Mediterranean coast focused on Jerusalem became the battleground of Latin Christians, Greek Christians, Arab Muslims, and Turkish Muslims. The two groups most native to the area, the Arabs and Greeks, ended up the losers: Arab influence continued to recede before the military superiority of the Turks within the Islamic world, while the Byzantine Empire had disappeared territorially by 1500. The expulsion of the Latin presence in the Middle East, however, made little difference to a western European trajectory of development that had been stimulated by contact with the east but was not dependent on it. The eventual winners for control of the area, the Ottomans, like the Latin Christians, benefited from the cultural cross-currents of the larger region. But they were latecomers for whom the Holy Lands in which so much blood had been shed were of peripheral concern at best. Indeed, after so much conflict, the Holy Lands would fall into military insignificance until the twentieth century.
The outcomes point to the role of contingency in military history, for the eventual result was not predetermined. Byzantium’s decline followed an almost accidental disaster at Myriocephalum; the Greek Empire could well have continued as an increasingly major player in the region, foreclosing any opportunity for the rise of the Ottomans. And Turkish ascendancy came despite the tendency to political fragmentation that Turkish polities suffered from and despite Tamerlane’s nearly extinguishing the rising Ottoman power at Angora. Neither result was predictable.
The outcomes also point, however, to the creative and destructive potential of cross-cultural contact, of war connected to commerce and ideology. The remaining chapters of Part 3 will trace these influences elsewhere in the world.
Amitai-Preiss, Reuven. Mongols and Mamluks. See Chapter 13. Bachrach, David. Religion and the Conduct of War c. 300—c. 1215. Woodbridge: Boydell, 2003. An analysis of the multifaceted roles religion played in the conduct of warfare in western Christendom.
Bartusis, Mark C. The Late Byzantine Army, Arms and Society, 1204-1453. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992. An excellent study of the evolution of military manpower, landholding and social structure in the declining days of Byzantine power.
France, John. Victory in the East: A Military History of the First Crusade. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. A fine analysis of the First Crusade as a military enterprise, including strong chapters on leadership, numbers of combatants, logistics, and the clash of tactical styles.
Hillenbrand, Carol. The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives. London: Routledge, 2000. A valuable survey of contemporary Muslim attitudes toward the Crusades.
Holt, P. M. The Age of the Crusades. The Near East from the Eleventh Century to 1517. London: Routledge, 1986. A solid overview of the entire Near East, of which the Crusader States were only a part.
Housley, Norman. Religious Warfare in Europe 1400-1536. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. An examination of the various forms religious warfare assumed and the cultural effects of religious motivation in war.
Irwin, Robert. The Middle East in the Middle Ages: The Early Mamluk Sultanate, 1250-1382. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1986. A valuable survey of Mamluk institutions and the dynamics of crusade-era politics from the Egyptian perspective.
Kafesoglu, Ibrahim. A History of the Seljuks. Ed., trans., and intro. by Gary Leiser. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1988. A classic Turkish account of the rise of the Seljuks, the major force in the area at the time of the First Crusade; an instructive non-European perspective.
Koprulu, M. Faud. The Origins of the Ottoman Empire. Ed. and trans. Gary Leiser. Albany: SUNY Press, 1992. Carefully traces the early history of the Ottomans, a field fraught with legendary overtones and historiographical controversy.
Lyons, Malcolm, and D.E.P. Jackson. Saladin: The Politics of the Holy War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. A reassessment of the great Muslim leader’s career using hitherto neglected Arab sources.
Magdalino, Paul. The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 1143-1180. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. A detailed analysis of the world of the most powerful twelfth-century Byzantine ruler, including his military campaigns and diplomacy.
Marshall, Christopher. Warfare in the Latin East, 1192-1291. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. A worthy companion to Smail (see below); looks at patterns of warfare— battles, raids, and sieges—in conjunction with military organization.
Riley-Smith, Jonathan. The Crusades: A Short History. London: Routledge, 1987. A concise introduction to the entire crusading movement, including religious motivations and governance of the holy land, in all its variety.
Rogers, Randall. Latin Siege Warfare in the Twelfth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. A focused examination of siege techniques in the Mediterranean world, with assessment of intercultural influences.
Smail, R. C. Crusading Warfare, 1097-1193. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. A seminal work of medieval military history, relating campaigning patterns to political and manpower structures and to logistics; a classic.