Connections between St. Augustine and the Crusades

St. Augustine presented the Just War theory and believed that war was a sin but at the same time there was no way to avoid it completely. He believed that since war was inevitable, that they should make the best out of it when it happens, which is to achieve peace at the end. He has seven principles of his Just War theory: 

1. Last resort-war is initiated after all non-violence propositions have been used.

2. Initiated by the government or higher power-war is only just if an authoritative figure approves that it is justified 

3. Chance of success-war can only be fought if there is a chance at success 

4. Right intentions-the only objective of war is to solve a problem or for self defense

5. Re-establish peace-war should improve peace that existed before the war or would exist if the war hadn't occurred

6. Proportionality-during war one should use the minimum a mount of force to obtain the objective/violence used in war must be proportional to the injury suffered 

7. Don't attack civilians-civilians are never the target of war and all measures to avoid killing them should be used 

By following these theories he believed that war could bring peace while harming as little people as possible. However his theory was not always obeyed even though they made a lot of sense. The Crusades follow some of these laws and disregard some as well.

For example their justification of the war was to take the Holy Land from the Muslims because they believed that it did not rightfully belong to them. And the pope approved of this which meant it was 'initiated by the government of a higher power.' There was also a high chance of success for them because they believed that God was on their side and he would wipe out the non-believers. The Crusaders also argued that the Muslims attacked them first because they took away their Holy Land, so it was the right thing to do to take it back. So technically they were just defending themselves and their country. They also argue that they were trying to re-establish peace, however they do not say who they were re-establishing it for. In fact it seems that they caused thousands of deaths in their violent attempt for 'peace.' They also did not use proportionality, they killed everything in their sight and did not care for any civilians that were muslims. They were relentless in their 'attempt for peace'.