Crusades (Battle of Belusium)

The Crusades were a series of religiously-sanctioned wars called by the Bishop of Rome, Peter VII in the late 12th century, and enacted by the Roman Republic. The stated motivation was to take the Christian Holy Land, which consisted of Jerusalem, and the lands surroudning, from control of the polytheistic Egyptian Empire, and to convert the Egyptians. The Roman Senate agreed under heavy pressure from both the Churh and some of the more pious military officers, with the hope of establishing an additional foothold against the Muslims and Egyptians. People were told by the clergy that they could be redeemed by God if they enlisted in the legion, and participated in the Crusade, which lead to a surge in recruits.

Modern opinions on the Crusades are generally negative. It was believed amongst legionares that Egyptians, being pagan, were inherently inferior, and thus not worthy of mercy. This opinion alos extended to Muslims, and to lesser extent Jews, leading to the deaths of thousands. They are now held up as an example of overuse of Church power, and letting religious need trump political needs.

Background
Egypt had held control of Jerusalem and the region for almost a thousand years now, after taking control of it from the Persians. Much of that time it had been ruled indrectly through a native King, until the Palestinian War, wherein the last king and his family were killed by Muslim invaders. After retaking it, then pharaoh Seti XIV, instead named himself the king of Jerusalem. The pharaohs were very tolerant, and allowed pilgrims of all religions to come to Jerusalem, though they themselves remained followers of the native Egyptian religion, Kemetism, and prohibited the building of Kemetist statues or temples. To that end, Jerusalem held absolutely no religious importance to the empire, who instead viewed it as one of the empire's primary footholds in Asia, and as among the first defenses against northern invaders.

According to existing records, the Christian upper hiearchy took offense at non-Christians, and polytheists at that, controlling the Holy Land. Kemetism was thought of as a "great other" to Christianity, with the two having many opposing viewponts, including views on idols, the nature of the divine, and ethics. There exist several texts and letters that indicate that many high ranking Christian officials held Egypt in contempt also because it had sheltered groups that were viewed as dissidents by the church, such as the people who fled Greece during the Megáli̱ Apódrasi̱. Christianity, while practiced in Egypt, failed to take off there like it did in other places (possibly because there was more content amongst the lower classes then there were Rome), despite the best efforts of missionaries.

Political Situation
At the time prior to the first Crusade, Rome had been recovering from a recent conflict with the Mongols, who had invaded from the East, and almost reached Germania, before being stopped. While the Romans had defeated the Mongols, it was at great cost, thinning the Roman treasurey, and causing the country to lose several legions. The Senate was not interested in going to another war so suddenly, especially with an enemy that was on the defensive, and very well fortified.

Unlike the religious officials, the Senate viewed the Arabs as the greater threat, and the Egyptians as negligible, since it was apparent they were more interested in expanding South. There even exist some documents that suggest that the Senate was in the process of debating about a potential defense treaty against the Arabs with the Egyptian Empire. Some Senators expressed nervousness about Egyptian expanse of power in general, but failed to raise the issue enough for it to gain much attention.

Military Orders
Of the seventeen total legions that were sent on the Crusades, several