Europe: The First Crusade - Peter the Hermit - Extra History - #2

Support us on Patreon! http://bit.ly/EHPatreon Watch the First Crusade series! http://bit.ly/1DxBoWh Subscribe for new episodes every Saturday! http://bit.ly/SubToEC Follow us on Facebook! http://bit.ly/ECFBPage Follow us on Twitter! http://bit.ly/ECTweet Follow us on Twitch! http://bit.y/ECTwitch ____________ Emicho of Leiningen and Walters sans Avoir certainly made a mark, but the largest group in the People's Crusade was led by Peter the Hermit. To gain passage through Hungary, they swore an oath not to destroy anything, but the lack of real leadership for their group became clear when they very quickly started a market brawl, stormed the local citadel, then fled to Belgrade and immediately repeated their aggression by turning on the Byzantine troops sent to keep them in line. At the city of Niŝ, the Byzantine troops pinned them down and slaughtered a quarter of the entire crusading "army." The remainder fled to Constantinople and secured passage into Turkey, but the group fractured from within and became two separate factions, with Peter leading one and a man named Reinald leading the other. Both factions competed for bragging rights, committing horrible atrocities to outdo each other. One group actually managed to siege a castle, but it had no water supply, so they were easily starved out by the Turks. The Turks, however, spread a rumor that this group had actually gone on to capture the capitol city, and the remaining crusaders set out to join what they thought would be a loot extravaganza. Instead, they ran into a Turkish ambush that left only 3,000 of their 20,000 soldiers alive. Now led by Geoffrey Burel, they retreated to Constantinople. ____________ Get the intro music here! http://bit.ly/1EQA5N7 *Music by Demetori: http://bit.ly/1AaJG4H Get the outro music here! http://bit.ly/1NbpIcd __________ Extra History - Byzantine Empire: Justinian and Theodora From Swineherd to Emperor: http://bit.ly/1LYJKFX Extra Credits - Four New Approaches to War Games Returning to WWII: http://bit.ly/1NukEiR