Key Facts
- Siege duration
- 5 weeks (7 June – 15 July 1099)
- Date city fell
- 15 July 1099
- Years out of Christian control
- ~462 years (since 637 AD)
- First ruler of Jerusalem
- Godfrey of Bouillon
- Crusade that concluded
- First Crusade (launched 1095)
Strategic Narrative Overview
The Crusader army arrived before Jerusalem and began the siege on 7 June 1099. Over five weeks, the besieging forces constructed siege engines and towers to overcome the city's fortifications. On 15 July 1099 the walls were breached and Crusader troops poured into the city, seizing the Temple Mount, Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Dome of the Rock, repurposing the Islamic holy sites as Christian shrines.
01 / The Origins
Pope Urban II called the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont in 1095, mobilising Western European Christian forces to recover Jerusalem and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre from Islamic control. The city had been under Muslim authority since the Arab conquest of the Levant in 637, held first by the Seljuk Turks and then the Egyptian Fatimid Caliphate. Restrictions on Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land provided a central grievance driving the campaign.
03 / The Outcome
Following the city's fall on 15 July 1099, Crusader soldiers massacred thousands of Muslim and Jewish inhabitants. Godfrey of Bouillon was elected the first ruler of Jerusalem, establishing Christian governance over the city. The successful siege marked the conclusion of the First Crusade and laid the foundation for the Crusader state known as the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Godfrey of Bouillon.
Side B
1 belligerent
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.