The stated goal of the crusades was reclaiming Jerusalem from Muslim armies and spreading the "true faith" of Christianity. In addition to the religious goals, the crusades provided significant opportunities for political gain. In the middle ages, land was power and a war meant the opportunity to gain land. Noblemen from across western Europe flocked to the Middle East in an effort to gain the glory that would lead to greater power abroad that would translate back to their homelands. The Europeans saw anyone who was not of the Christian faith as a pagan or a heretic who was living in sin, they had little to no regard for the inhabitants of the cities they were fighting for.

While the crusades were a constant back and forth between European and Islamic forces, the crusaders were unable to ever permanently drive Islamic armies out of Jerusalem and other Holy Lands. 

Islam emerged in Arabia in the early seventh century and practically exploded onto the world stage. Within a century of the death of the Prophet Muhammad, Islamic territory stretched from Spain, all the way across North Africa and the Middle East, to as far east as modern-day Pakistan.

The First Crusade was waged from 1096-1099 and ended with the brutally violent conquest of Jerusalem by the Crusaders. The Crusaders established a series of small Crusader States on the Mediterranean coast of the Middle East, which they would rule with varying degrees of control for the next two centuries.

Most of the so-called Crusader States (sometimes also called Latin States) were created in the aftermath of the First Crusade. They were generally small, militarized kingdoms located on the Mediterranean coast of the Middle East. They gradually declined or were conquered by the forces of Islam, however, and the last Crusader State was abandoned by the Europeans towards the end of the Thirteenth Century.

Joan of Arc was poor peasant girl who lived in France in the fifteenth century. She was instrumental in aiding French victory over the English in the Hundred Years’ War.

Janissaries were a highly trained elite fighting force of the Ottoman Empire. All the soldiers were Slaves of the state. Christian families were required to give one son to Islam, while they were held against their will they received extensive education, and the most elite were trained to become Janissaries.

The Landsknecht were famous for using arquebuses, pikes, and broadswords. Pikes were usually used to stop enemy cavalry, broadswords were used to repel enemy pikes, and arquebuses were used to gain advantage over enemies (especially the Swiss) who did not use firearms.

The Sarissa, small shields, and daggers were hallmarks of Alexander the Great's ancient invasion of Perisa, not the medieval Landsknecht.

The Landsknecht were not known to use axes, and muskets hadn't been invented yet.

Punt guns were used in the 19th century to hunt waterfowl, not by the medieval Landsknecht in combat.

Landsknecht never used Japanese katanas.

With the ending of the bloody Thirty Years War, in which one third of Europe's population died, the Peace of Westphalia was signed which established the concept of sovereignty or the authority of a state to govern itself or another state. Additionally, this concept remains the foundation of contemporary international politics and provides the backbone for state interaction.

As the sixteenth century drew to a close, the nature of religious conflict in Western Europe experienced a dramatic shift. The Treaty of Augsburg (1555) was successful in resolving the disputes between the Catholic Church and Lutheranism. Specifically, it was the Treaty’s provision which allowed the leader of each regional/national territory to independently decide the dominant religion of their domain that enforced this new peace. While the Treaty had officially made Lutheranism a protected religion, it offered no such security to Calvinism. Naturally, Calvinists found this unfair and intolerable and so the focus of religious conflict shifted, as Calvinists arrayed themselves in fierce, vocal (and sometimes physical) opposition to the Catholic Church. This struggle, Calvinists against Catholics, was especially strong in Scotland, France, the Netherlands, and England.