This is part of the
Medieval European History Metanode.
This was The Crusade That Never Happened.
Pope Innocent III called for another Crusade to free the
Holy Land in 1198. He decided on
Venice as the point of departure, a very poor choice indeed. The Venetians diverted the Crusaders from their mission. In 1202, Venetian
merchants convinced the Crusaders to attack the
Christian city of Zara. They laid
seige and eventually captured the city. In 1204, they convinced Crusaders to attack
Constantinople. In August, they captured and looted the ancient city, which never quite recovered. None of the Crusaders ever came close to making it to the Holy Land.