The city of Constantinople had always marked the Christian (slightly) Western border against the harsh Islamic (Middle) East. However in 1202 western armies gathered for the 4th crusade. They were unable to raise enough funds to reach the Holy land, and took a detour to Venice. IN Venice the crusaders decided to work for money. The Venice politicians hired the crusaders to go to Constantinople and place the desired Venezian candidate up in Byzantium. The crusaders completed the task; yet the Byzantines killed the Prince shortly. The crusades were very upset, confused, and battle hungry. In this confusion they sacked Constantinople for the fist time and set up their own Latin Kingdom. The city which had consistently fought against Muslims now fell to its own Christian brothers.
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