Villains and Virgins History Podcast
Third Crusade: The Brutal 2 Year Siege of Acre
March 23, 20261h 52m · 17,830 words
Show notes
The siege of Acre, from 1189-1191 was one of the most brutal battles of the Third Crusade. The armies of the King of Jerusalem surrounded the city of Acre, but were themselves under attack from the armies of Saladin. Into this mess, the armies of the Third Crusade, led by King Richard the Lionheart of England and Philip Augustus of France, joined the fight. The brutal siege lasted for two years, inflicting damage, disease, and death on both sides.
Highlighted moments
Imagine the horror as your tunnel is suddenly invaded from some side point and filled with enemy soldiers. The torch gets knocked out and there's this desperate struggle in the pitch black where you can hardly see your hand in front of your face and you suddenly find yourself fighting for your life against other men who are just as desperately trying to kill you.
“Richard had all 2,700 men of the garrison of Acre marched out in front of the city walls in full view of Saladin and his army, and he killed every last one of them.”
“It's only if you have the lens that the Crusade was some sort of strictly religious war, where all the Muslims were fighting on one side, and all the Christians were fighting on the other, that you might have that expectation. But that is a gross distortion of the facts.”
“It was thrown from a machine. It came forward as large as a barrel, with a tail of fire issuing from it as big as a great sword, making a noise in its passage like thunder, and seeming like a great dragon flying through the air.”
Transcript
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