Why was the second crusade a failure in terms of Military, religion, and Leadership

Question

Why was the second crusade a failure in terms of Military, religion, and Leadership

Answer 1

hello

The Second Crusade was called in response to the fall of the County

of Edessa in 1144

The Pope,Eugenius III, called for a second crusade that was answered by two kings

Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany

Conrad arrived first in the Holy Land, but rather stupidly decided to split his army into two divisions, and proceed seperately (poor military judgement as a leader should never split an army in the face of unknown odds)

One division of these was destroyed by the Seljuk Turks on October 25, 1147 at the battle of Dorylaeum. The other division was similarly massacred early in 1148.

The French finally arrived, found the remains of the Germans and proceeded into the Holy Lands, but the French suffered a heavy defeat in 1148 that forced the whole army to be evacuated by sea to Syria

Once the crusaders arrived in Jerusalem , rather than than attempting to recapture Edessa, they stupidly decided to attack Damascus, which was neutral .... and after a short 1 week siege with no chance of success they gave up and went home. All this did was encourage Damascus to throw in their lot with the Turks, and become enemies of the Crusaders

So poor leadership result in three lost battles, a wasted siege

I dont see any religeous failures though ?

Answer 2

The Second Crusade, though begun under the most favorable auspices, had an unhappy ending. Of the great host that set out from Europe, only a few thousands escaped annihilation in Asia Minor at the hands of the Turks. Louis and Conrad, with the remnants of their armies, made a joint attack on Damascus, but had to raise the siege after a few days. This closed the crusade. As a chronicler of the expedition remarked, "having practically accomplished nothing, the inglorious ones returned home." The strength of both the French and the German division of the expedition was wasted in Asia Minor, and the crusade accomplished nothing.