Cross PollinationWhen there is a conflict as long and sporadic as the Crusades there is much more transferred than blood. There are ideas, customs, and practices that get shared and sometimes adopted. These have a much more lasting impact on both sides than the names and numbers of soldiers that were killed. An individual soldier might die and never be remembered, but an idea can flourish and spread. War might not be good for certain businesses but it has always been a factory and melting pot of ideas. Granted most of the ideas that come out during war are bent towards destruction, but some of them have less violent goals or they can be repurposed for civilian ends. Plastic and nuclear power come to mind as war time inventions that have worked well for civilians. Those were from WW2 but war has always been the birthplace of ideas. Something about the stress and pressure of war time seems to encourage a higher than normal outpouring of ideas and creativeness.
Abduction of Europe
Europe Simulator
English: Medieval miniature painting of the Siege ...Also the restrictions in effect on certain areas are temporarily forgotten, such as the case with the Nazi medical experiments. These medical experiments were brutal and extremely cruel, but they did help medicine, especially in the areas of amputation and the grafting of body parts. The Crusades were no different in this respect; ideas and customs flourished and were spread along with trade between the two sides.
The Crusades were a bit of an odd duck in the history of warfare. They didnÃÂt follow the usual pattern of unequal sides. The European Crusaders and the Muslim Turks were fairly equally matched. They were both civilized, city dwelling peoples with roughly equal technological weapons and tactics. Both sides had a strong form of government and politics. In many ways they were not...