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Place must be 18 or over. In the year 1204, Constantinople, the largest and most splendid city in Europe by far, was sacked, not by Muslims, but by fellow Christians,

and not only sacked, but gutted by fire and indiscriminate violence.

The once mighty Byzantine Empire was torn apart and was never able to recover its former glory.

The main beneficiaries were the Venetians, who had provided the ships for and participated in the expedition, now known as the Fourth Crusade.

Afterwards, Venice became the hub of a powerful maritime republic, replacing Byzantium as the principal naval power of the eastern Mediterranean.

The Byzantines of the time were convinced that the sack of their city had been planned beforehand by the rapacious Westerners.

But looking back at the whole story of the Crusade,

it was in many ways rather the unfortunate outcome of a chain of events which happened by chance.

We enter a period from which much better contemporary sources have survived, and also from different perspectives, enabling us to make judgments on such questions.

Perhaps the Venetians did purposefully drive events to the destruction of their main local rival.

Ask yourself the old Latin expression, Cui Bono, or Who Benefits, when questioning the motives behind a crime?

I'll let you judge for yourself.

Welcome to a history of Europe.

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