Today, dear friends, is the anniversary of the Reconquista in Spain. You've perhaps been taught that the Crusades were acts of vicious white colonial oppression against peaceful, civilized, algebraic Muslims. Not so fast, punters.
Within a century of the prophetic warlord's arrival in the sands of what's now Saudi Arabia, his fanatic followers had swept through the Persian and Eastern Roman empires, carrying all before them. In fairness, Rome and Persia had recently exhausted themselves in a vicious, bloody and expensive war, neither were fit to fight the savage whirlwind that swept upon them from the desert.
Neither was Visigothic Spain, which fell to the Saracen war horde in the early 8th century AD. Imagine that, Spain itself under Moslem control, your churches turned to mosques, your women raped and enslaved and you, what's left of you, forced to pay Jizya, the unbelievers tax, to your new Mohammedan overlords.
The Crusades were launched to defend Christendom from this very real threat, and in Spain they succeeded. From a small stronghold in the Asturias, and over seven centuries, Christian warriors fought back against the followers of the false prophet until the Moslems were utterly defeated. On January 2, 1492, the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, took control of the Emirate of Granada, the final remaining Moslem sovereignty in Iberia.
Spain, Vivat Hispania!, followed up her success by conquering Mexico and all things south of the border. if only they had turned their attention to North Africa as well, then life would be very different. Gold, surely, got in the way.
This in mind, do you think the first Reconquista will be echoed by a second?
Deus Vult,
LSP
