Question

. How did the Crusades affect the Byzantine Empire?

Answer 1

The Crusades were meant to assist the Byzantine Empire in the threats from Turks and to recapture the Holy Land from Muslim Turks. By the time of the fourth crusades, the crusaders mainly just had hopes of getting rich from plunder etc, and when they never reached the Holy Land, they did reach Constantinople (capital of the Byzantine Empire) and diverted to destroying the city and buildings, set fires and divided the Eastern and Western branches of Christianity even more than it had been in the Great Schism. This collapsed the Western Roman Empire. The attack from the Turks weakened the Byzantine Empire politically and economically. Western Empire ceased to exist, and eventually Ottomans caused the fall of Constantinople.