What were the Crusades and why was Jerusalem so important?

The Crusades. What is it? Many people might answer :"In the Crusades, Christians were trying to win back control of their holy city Jerusalem." But that is NOT the entire story. Jerusalem, yes was a holy city for Christians but not all Crusaders went to Jerusalem and Jerusalem wasn't only a holy city for Christians. Jerusalem was a holy city for MUSLIMS too.

As you can see in the picture below the third Crusade took place in many parts of the world. Not all Crusaders went to fight in Jerusalem. Christians also fought against other Christians too. 

The Crusades were a series of wars- mostly religious wars but not all Crusaders fought for religious reasons. The Crusaders happened between 1095-1492.

Jerusalem was very important for Christians because that was were Jesus was crucified and rose again from the dead. 

In the picture to the left hand side the brown dot in the middle of the picture is Jerusalem which shows how important it is as it is in the centre of the world.

Jerusalem was also very important to Muslims because that was where the prophet Muhammed (the prophet of Islam) ascended to heaven.