The Crusades took place in the late 1000s and continued into the early 1200s. The Crusades were Pope Urban II's call for Christians to defend the Holy Land. The Byzantine emperor Alexios Komnenos needed help to stop the Muslim invasion. He asked the Pope and Western European rulers to stop the Muslim advance. Pope Urban encouraged Christians by formulating the need to recover the Holy Land. These crusades had profound effects both on the European nations that participated and little on the Islamic world. Under the Pope's leadership, the Catholic identity was consolidated. The hope of mending the schism between East and West was interrupted by the conflict between the Latin crusaders and the Orthodox Christians. This conflict weakened the Byzantine Empire but temporarily protected it from Muslim invasion. Many of the nobles who took part in the Crusades never returned, and many others squandered their fortunes to repay the expenses of their adventures. At the same time, the cities also gained many political advantages at the expense of the crusader barons and princes. The money available during the Crusades was in the pockets of the middle class, and in exchange for the money lent to their lords, they received documents granting special and valuable privileges. Another political effect of the Crusades was that, because the Turks were stopped, the fall of Constantinople was postponed for three centuries or more. This gave Germany's early Christian civilization time to gain the strength needed to repel the returning tide of Muslims when it reached Europe in the 15th century. Politically, the European monarchies strengthened. Since many nobles did not return from the Crusades or lost as......middle of paper......Exploration. Compared to the Islamic world, there appears to be little documentation of the economic effects of the Crusades. It can be deduced that trade strengthened as it did in Western Europe. While the Pope would not condone trade with Muslims, it probably occurred. With all the Crusaders' embellishment of the Muslims, the desire to be more like them would have been satisfied through trade and access to the same goods as these more advanced peoples. In Western Europe, the Crusades set in motion an economic revolution that culminated in the Renaissance. In conclusion, the Crusades had enormous consequences for both the Muslim world and Western Europe. The political structures, economies and culture of the Western world were radically changed. It appears that the Islamic world has not experienced progress as dramatic as that of Western Europe.