Several centuries after their end, the Crusades are remembered as wars fought and lost in the name of God. The efforts and means used and maintained to continue fighting a battle for more than a hundred years are nevertheless memorable. Even if we say that these wars were fought in the name of God, it's just not that simple to define. The causes of the Crusades cannot be attributed to an isolated event but rather to several factors that worked together to create a climate of religious fervor to fight for the name of God. Power, piety, zeal, determination are words we can use to define some of the reasons why men started a war with another race, about whom little was known. The Crusades tell as much about the nature of man as they do about the nature of politics and religion. Religious reasons led to social and economic ramifications that forever changed the political landscape. We think of the Crusades as religious wars, but a closer look reveals that they were fought for a variety of reasons as Europe's political, social, and economic order faced a positive turnaround at the turn of the century. Expansion was widespread and as a result the economy was improving considerably after the turmoil it had experienced in 900. Although all of this sounded good and was good to some extent, things were still shaky. The strength and power of the unknown paved the way for the Crusades. Land, expansion, adventure, zeal, soldiers, and powerful papal leadership were the essential ingredients of the Crusades, which became a “popular social movement” (Noble 416). No one could have imagined what the Crusades meant from start to finish. Peter Charanis notes that the motivators that prompt... middle of article... don't have to go back very far in history. The reasons seem to become secondary as the fighting continues. Works Cited Charanis, Peter. “Aims of the Medieval Crusades and how they were perceived by Byzantium. » History of the Church. 21. 2. (1952) JSTOR Resource Database. Information retrieved March 5, 2009. Craig, Albert et al. The heritage of the world. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. (2000)Mansbridge, John Marjorie Rowling, Life in Medieval Times. New York: Perigre. (1973) Maurios, André. The miracle of England. New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers. (1937) 95Noble, Thomas et al. Western civilization: the experience continues. Flight. II. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. (1994) Palmer, Alan. The kings and queens of England. London: Octopus Books Limited. (1976) 9Smith, Henry. The history of the world of historians. New York: Hooper and Jackson, Ltd... (1909)