We may picture crusaders as pious, noble warriors, crosses on their chests, risking their lives to win back the Holy Land for Christianity. The Fourth Crusade shatters such myths. The Crusaders who embarked on this ambitious quest in the first years of the thirteenth century did have as their aim the conquest of the Holy Land. But poor planning left them stuck in Italy, unable to pay for the Venetian fleet they had contracted to deliver them to their destination. The blind, elderly Venetian duke, or doge, Enrico Dandolo, saw an opportunity. He persuaded the Crusaders to raise their arms against Zara, in modern Croatia, which the Venetians coveted as a maritime base. Then he got them to conquer Constantinople. After several days of ruthless pillaging, the Byzantine capital fell to the armies of fellow Christians. For its support of the enterprise, Venice received rich rewards, including part of Constantinople. Dandolo had used the crusading ideal to enlarge the Venetian empire and to promote Venetian prosperity.

1. The Crusaders' intended route was very different from the route they ended up taking to Zara and Constantinople. View maps of these routes and read a narrative about Dandolo's role at
   http://www.boglewood.com/murano/crusade.html
2. Primary sources on the Fourth Crusade are found at
   http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/4cde.html
3. Study a map of the Crusaders' route at
   http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/History/4crusademap.html
4. If there is any doubt that Italians still consider Dandolo a hero, it may be dispelled by viewing pictures of two modern warships that bear his name, one an attack submarine, the other an aircraft carrier. See pictures and descriptions at
   http://www.subnetitalia.it/skkdecototi.htm
   http://www.hazegray.org/navhist/carriers/italy.htm