Fighting for Jerusalem

*Includes pictures

*Includes contemporary accounts

*Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading

When Israel captured East Jerusalem during the Six Day War in 1967, it established Jewish control over the city for the first time in nearly 2,000 years, and in many ways it brought a story full circle, as Jerusalem has witnessed some of history's most important battles over the past 3,000 years.

Over 2,500 years before the Six Day War, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II oversaw the expansion of the Neo-Babylonian Empire during the 7th and 6th centuries BCE, which placed him in conflict with Egypt and the ancient kingdom of Judah. His ruthless conquest of Judah resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the entire kingdom, and it ultimately earned him notoriety in the Old Testament, where he is mentioned in the books of Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. The Assyrians also exiled the Jews

The Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE is arguably the most important event in Jewish history. First, it was the central battle in the First Jewish-Roman war. Second, the failure of the siege on the Jewish side resulted in the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem, a disaster that would eventually prove both permanent and catastrophic, since it was never rebuilt. Third, it permanently altered the diaspora of Judaism in the Ancient World. Fourth, because it was indecisive in breaking the power of the Jewish revolt permanently, it was also inconclusive and led to further, inevitable revolts that broke Judean identity completely.

Of the many campaigns during the Middle Ages, few are as remarkable or seemingly impossible to win at the start as the First Crusade (1095-99), and the true crowning achievement of that crusade, which resulted in two centuries of Western European Christian states in the Middle East and the permanent firing of the European imagination, was the conquest of Jerusalem on July 15, 1099 after three weeks of siege. That victorious siege came four years after the call for a crusade first went out, and had the Crusaders not taken Jerusalem, the First Crusade would not likely have been followed by any more and the campaign might have been no more than an historical footnote of what could have been. As it turned out, the siege of Jerusalem and the crusade as a whole says much about the first major clash of Western and Eastern military tactics after the fall of the Roman Empire, as well as the power of faith and even fanaticism to motivate people beyond ordinary human endurance. For better and worse, the siege and fall of Jerusalem to the Crusaders has become a fundamental piece in the current view of the West in that part of the world. Indeed, to this day, the First Crusade remains a polarizing event, even among modern historians. For some, the Crusaders were heroes and saints, and for others they were devils who disrupted the peaceful local sects of Muslims, Jews, and Christians, establishing an alien colony that heralded modern European imperialism. In fact, the First Crusade is a good example of why it is unwise to choose sides in history, because neither side was correct and the situation was highly complex.

In the wake of the Crusades, Jerusalem's status would change fairly frequently until the establishment of the Ottoman Empire, but that would make the region a flashpoint during World War I. When the Ottoman Empire dissolved following the Great War, Jerusalem became one of the 20th century's most important political issues, and it would witness more fighting in 1948 and 1967.

Fighting for Jerusalem: The History of the Most Important Battles and Sieges for Control of the World's Holiest City chronicles the most influential conflicts for control of the city. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the fighting for Jerusalem like never before, in no time at all.