History Channel - The Crusades: Crescent and the Cross (2009)

The Crusades: Crescent & The Cross 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. Experience the murder, treachery, and bloodshed of the first, second, and third Crusades through the eyes of key historical figures such as Richard the Lionheart and Saladin, King Louis VII, and Nur al-Din. With breathtaking CGI-enhanced visuals, heart-pounding re-enactments, and stunning footage from rarely seen locations, this documentary brings the legendary chapter of history alive, and offers fresh insight for a new generation in conflict. Sound familiar? It should, because although the events depicted in the History Channel's The Crusades - Crescent & The Cross took place nearly a thousand years ago, they are but a distant mirror to what's going on in the Middle East right now.

Part 1: Disc One the First Crusade Part 1
We will follow the two great waves of crusader armies - that of the nobility led by Count Raymond IV of Toulouse, 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. With CGI-enhanced visuals we will reconstruct key battles to learn how the crusaders would manage to conquer one city after another without supply lines.


Part 2: Disc One the First Crusade Part 2
Upon conquering Jerusalem, the crusader-settlers were faced with an entirely new dilemma: their survival in a hostile territory far from home. This programme will tell the untold story of the crusades–one that charts the complexity of Muslim-Christian relations. In the wake of conquest, the crusader-settlers embark on lavish building projects in their new territory, not only refurbishing the Christian holy sites such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but also constructing a fantastic chain of fortresses along the Mediterranean perimeter of the kingdom to protect it from invasion.


Part 3: Disc Two the Second and Third Crusades
An enigma even in his own time, Saladin became a hero in the West long before his rediscovery in the Muslim world in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His famous truce with Richard the Lionheart is the most iconic moment in the entire history of the crusades. But why did Saladin negotiate a truce when he won nearly every battle? This programme will tease out the hidden history of Saladin, Richard and the Third Crusade. Saladin unexpectedly rises to power upon the death of Nur Al-Din. Under him 'jihad', or Islamic counter-crusade, becomes a coherent rallying concept for the Muslim world. Unifying Syria and Egypt, he defeats the crusaders at Hattin to reconquer Jerusalem in 1187.


Part 4: Disc Three the Fourth Crusade
At the death of Saladin the Crusader kingdom has been reduced to a narrow strip of land and a handful of ports. A fourth crusade never reaches the Holy Land, setting its sights instead on Constantinopole. One crusade after naother is launched to shore up the faltering crusader territories. But finally the crusader settlers are evicted by the Mamluks in 1291. Through the eyes of Mongols, Mamluks and the beleaguered Crusaders we will witness the collapse of an empire of faith.