Parallels Separated by a Millennium

Interesting parallels between the First Crusade (1096-1099 AD) and World War I, as well as the Afghan and Iraqi wars of the 21st century …

“It was not until the upper-class sons of Europe were slaughtered in the trenches during World War I that Europe suffered the loss of a generation of leaders equal to that which took place during the First Crusade.  Those who marched east were among the best and the brightest of their time.  When they died, the responsibilities for managing many estates and dealing with many important concerns fell upon widows and minor sons, and on those who failed to serve, just as it did in England, France, and Germany in the 1920s … Indeed, when Europe began to sour on crusading, it appears that it was not the families who had given the most who had lost heart; rather, it was families who had never sent a crusader who opposed continuing to pay the taxes required to sustain the crusader kingdoms.”

– God’s Battalions (2009), by Rodney Stark, page 139.