Fifth Crusade

The Popes continued to promote troop missions to the Holy Land even after the notorious Fourth Crusade failure. Pope Innocent's successor Honorius III was successful in convincing Leopold VI, Duke of Austria, and Andrew II, King of Hungary, to serve as the one of the most famous Crusades into the Holy Land expedition's commanders. However, they chose to launch the campaign in Egypt.

The major goal of this crusade was to reinstate Christian control over Jerusalem and a few Egyptian sacred towns. When the Crusaders took control of the port city of Damietta in 1219, they were promised all the holy cities in exchange for leaving Egypt.

Due to their victory, the crusaders decided against leaving, which turned out to be a blunder. They were compelled to retreat without taking either Egypt or the holy cities when the invasion to Cairo was unsuccessful. The Fifth Crusade generally failed because of a lack of funding.

Time: 1217 - 1221