The Crusades · 1097-1154

The Crusades seen from the Muslim side

In 1097 armies from western Europe marched into a divided Middle East. Students look at the First Crusade through the eyes of the people of Syria, and see how rulers like Zengi and Nur al-Din slowly united them.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
13–16
On the map
3 steps, AD 1097 to AD 1154
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

In 1097 armies from western Europe marched into a divided Middle East. Students look at the First Crusade through the eyes of the people of Syria, and see how rulers like Zengi and Nur al-Din slowly united them.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain why the Muslim states of Syria and Egypt failed to stop the First Crusade.
  • Describe how Muslim writers saw the crusaders, using the term "Franks".
  • Explain how Zengi and Nur al-Din united Muslim Syria between 1144 and 1154.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1097

A divided world

Open the map in 1097. Find the Seljuk Empire and the Fatimid Caliphate. Where do they meet? Why might two Muslim rivals not unite against newcomers?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1099

The crusaders arrive

Turn on Historical Events. Follow the sieges and battles of the First Crusade from Nicaea to Antioch to Jerusalem, 1097-1099. How long did the march take?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1154

Aleppo and Damascus

Move to 1154 and turn on the Cities layer. Find Damascus, then look about 300 km north for Aleppo. Nur al-Din ruled Aleppo and took Damascus this year. Why was holding both the key to Syria?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Muslim writers called the crusaders "the Franks". Why might they have seen them at first as just another foreign army?
  2. In 1097 the rulers of Aleppo, Damascus and Cairo were rivals. How did those divisions help the First Crusade?
  3. The Syrian nobleman Usama ibn Munqidh wrote about Franks he found rude and Franks he found friendly. Why are such personal memoirs valuable?
  4. After the fall of Edessa in 1144, Zengi and Nur al-Din were praised as defenders of Islam. How can a war become a cause that unites people?
  5. The Crusades are remembered very differently in Europe and in the Middle East. Why?
4

Game round

10 min

Play one round of Rule History as Saladin, who began his career serving Nur al-Din. Discuss: what had Zengi and Nur al-Din already achieved before Saladin that made his later victories possible?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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