00:00In 1187, the walls of Jerusalem witnessed one of history's most decisive moments.
00:06Saladin, the Kurdish sultan who had united the fractured Muslim world,
00:10stood poised to reclaim the holy city that had been in crusader hands for nearly nine decades.
00:16The siege began on September 20th.
00:19Unlike the brutal crusader conquest of 1099, Saladin employed calculated strategy over savage force.
00:25He positioned his army strategically, cutting off supply routes while offering terms of surrender.
00:32The city's defenders, vastly outnumbered and demoralized after their catastrophic defeat at Hatton,
00:38faced an impossible situation.
00:41On October 2nd, Jerusalem surrendered.
00:44Saladin's triumph was marked not by massacre, but by mercy.
00:48He allowed Christians safe passage and protected their holy sites,
00:52demonstrating the chivalry that would make him legendary even among his enemies.
00:57This singular moment effectively ended the crusading dream of permanent Christian dominion in the Levant,
01:03reshaping the medieval world forever.
