Product Description

To many people the Crusades were the First Crusade. This first 'armed pilgrimage' to the Holy Land was, of course, the only Crusade that really succeeded. It resulted in the establishment of four so-called Crusader States in the Middle East and its repercussions can still be felt today. But in addition to its historical significance, this book explores how the First Crusade saw several armies march right across Europe at a time when such a thing was virtually unheard of. It also struck the Islamic World at a moment when the latter was chronically divided and thus won a series of miraculous military victories, which would have been impossible a generation earlier and were never repeated afterwards.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28351 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

About the Author
David Nicolle was born in 1944, the son of the illustrator Pat Nicolle. He worked in the BBC Arabic service before going 'back to school', gaining an MA from the School of Oriental and African Studies and a PhD from Edinburgh University. He later taught world and Islamic art and architectural history at Yarmuk University, Jordan. His numerous previous books for Osprey include Men-at-Arms 337: 'French Armies of the Hundred Years War' and Campaign 71: 'Crecy 1346'. Christa Hook is one of Osprey's most popular illustrators, a reputation justly deserved given the perfect blend of attention to detail and narrative realisation that penetrates her work. Her work for Osprey to date includes Warrior 18: 'Knight of Outremer 1187-1344 AD', and Campaign 78: 'Constantinople 1453'.

Customer Reviews

Honest book, very bad illustrations
Being very familliar with the many previous books by David Nicolle I was a little bit apprehensive beginning to read this one, because of his well known anti-Christian and pro-Muslim bias present in many of his older works. Well, all in all I was favorably surprised, because there is a clear effort of objectivity from his part on this still hotly debated topic. This is a very honest overview of the First Crusade, although, by necessity, quite short (Osprey Campaigns series are alway only 96 pages long). Certainly one can be a little surprised by the frequency with which author names the Crusaders army "a horde", and qualifies their commitment as "fanatism" and "hysterical religious intoxication". But I expected much worse.
Maps are very well done - this is a strong point in all David Nicolle books.
The really BAD point are the colour plates, the trademark of Osprey series - in this book they are simply horrible. Very vague, gray, without details usually present in most of the Osprey titles, with the faces of people almost fading. All in all these plates by Christa Hook belong more in a modern art museum than in a military history book.
Nevertheless it is still a honest book.

Usual Dr. Nicolle mid eastern theme heavy, ugly color plates
Good Osprey book, for once without too much recycling from their other Crusade theme books in it. Plenty of new pics.
Dr. Nicolle's enormous mid-eastern knowledge outweights the subject to one side as usual, but is of immense interest to anybody wanting an intimate view point from the other side of the crusades.
Christa Hook's color plates are just an unclear mass of color without subject and certainly not one of the "most popular" Osprey illustrators as claimed on the inside cover. Book too expensive for this kind of work without detail and clear concept.