History Channel - The Crusades: Crescent and the Cross (2005)

One of the most intriguing periods in global history, The Crusades had a profound impact on the course of human civilisation with a lasting legacy that is still felt today. THE CRUSADES: CRESCENT & THE CROSS, an Emmy award-winning visual narrative presents the epic battle between two Middle Age superpowers: the Christian Crusaders and the Muslims. Fought over two centuries, the conflict decided the fate of the Holy Land of the Middle East. Only a tiny strip of land, just a few hundred miles long, it contained the ultimate prize, the city of Jerusalem.
For thousands of years, the holy lands of the Middle East have been the focus of intense political conflict. These lands have been the sites wars of epic proportion between three of the great religions of the world – Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. The deepest crevasse in these territories was created in wars between Christians and Muslims that began with extreme sacrifice in the name of Christ and Mohammed. At stake for the followers of both religions was the sacred land of Jerusalem, and control over the broader region surrounding it.
The documentary is driven by the key personalities of the First, Second and Third Crusades, the popes, kings, sultans and knights who, in the name of God, ruthlessly fought for land and power. Experience the murder, treachery, and bloodshed of this legendary chapter of history through the eyes of key historical figures such as Richard the Lionheart and Saladin, King Louis VII and Nur al-Din.
With expert opinions, interviewees from all different faiths, translated scripts, maps of cities, trips to ancient battlefields and castles, and extensive reenactments, the world's most infamous conflict of religious zeal, fanaticism, and violence comes to life.

Produced & Directed by Mark Lewis; A Lion Television Production for The History Channel

Part 1: The First Crusade
The shadow of war between Christian and Muslim hangs over us today, but it is a war that began nearly a thousand years ago.
By the close of the 11th century, Jerusalem had been in Muslim hands for over 400 years. In 1095 Pope Urban II launched an unprecedented military campaign to seize it back–a "Crusade" to purge the Holy Land of "the infidel".
Over 60,000 Christian warriors would journey 3000 miles and for almost three years to reclaim the Holy City in the name of God. We will follow the two great waves of crusader armies- - that of the nobility led by Count Raymond IV of Toulouse with becoming ruler of Jerusalem Duke Godfrey of Bouillon and his brother and right hand man Baldwin of Boulogne, and that of the commoners exhorted into mobilisation by Peter the Hermit and Walter the Penniless–en route to Constantinopole and from there across the Anatolian plains to Jerusalem.
But their adversaries, the Turkish warlords of the Middle East would resist them every step of the way. In a series of epic battles and bloody massacres, tens of thousands would die as the crusaders inched ever closer towards Jerusalem.

Part 2: The Second and Third Crusades
In 1099 the Crusaders took Jerusalem in the bloodiest of battles, wrenching it back from the Muslims for the first time in 400 years.
But, over the decades that followed, the Islamic world dreamed of fighting back. In 1144 the Muslims seized the city of Edessa from the Christians. The news reverberated back to Europe, and the Pope called for a Second Crusade.
But this Crusade was a disaster. It failed to expand the Christian empire, and strengthened the resolve of the Muslims. Under their great leader, Saladin, the Muslim swept through the Christian Kingdom taking town after town. In 2 October 1187 he took Jerusalem.
This shocked the west into responding. Saladin's defeat of the Franks at Hattin and his subsequent conquest of Jerusalem prompted Latin Europe to launch the Third Crusade. Across the West, tens of thousands took the cross for this expedition, among them Richard the Lionheart, king of England. A coalition led by him defeated Saladin and marched on Jerusalem to take the city back from the Saracens. All of the eyes of the Christian world were upon him, the task is immense, and his adversary Saladin is himself a great leader who controls a huge army vastly outnumbering the Crusaders. This epic struggle between these two great warrior leaders would shape the future of the world forever.