The Crusades

The First Successful Application of the Financialist Kill Chain

A Venetian and Catholic Power Play for Wealth and Dominance

The Crusades, spanning from the late 11th to the 13th centuries, are traditionally framed as religious wars aimed at reclaiming the Holy Land from Muslim control. However, they were primarily an economic and political scheme orchestrated by Venetian bankers and the Roman Catholic Church. Far from being driven by piety, these entities exploited Europe's martial forces to generate vast wealth and strategically undermine the Eastern Orthodox Church—the original Christian institution. Making possible the rise of the Ottomans and the eventual loss and eastern security of Byzantium and all of the lands and economic benefits of what would become Turkey and beyond. This analysis will explore the period before, during, and after the Crusades to demonstrate how the first major application of the Financialist Kill Chain, financial gain and the subjugation of Orthodoxy were the true objectives, with religion serving merely as a pretext.

Historical Context: Power and Rivalry

In the centuries leading up to the Crusades, the Venetian Republic had established itself as a formidable economic power in the Mediterranean. By the 11th century, Venice controlled critical trade routes and boasted a powerful navy, positioning it to profit from any large-scale military or commercial endeavor. Simultaneously, the Roman Catholic Church founded in 1054, was expanding its temporal authority, with the Pope emerging as a key political figure in Western Europe.

The Eastern Orthodox Church, centered in Constantinople, represented both a theological and economic rival. The Great Schism of 1054 formalized the split between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, fueled by disputes over the Filioque clause and papal authority. This division provided the Catholic Church with a motive to weaken its eastern counterpart, while Venice eyed the lucrative trade networks of the Byzantine Empire. Together, these forces set the stage for a campaign, the Financialist Kill Chain, that would masquerade as a holy war but would pursue far more financial mercenary goals.

During the Crusades: Profit and Aggression

The First Crusade, launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II, was presented as a mission to aid the Byzantine Empire against the Seljuk Turks and reclaim Jerusalem. The very great holy purpose necessary to attract the martial capacities of all of Europe to a war. Beneath this veneer, Venetian bankers saw a golden opportunity. They financed the Crusaders’ expeditions, supplying ships and provisions at steep prices. In return, Venice negotiated exclusive trade rights with the Crusader states, securing monopolies that funneled wealth back to the Republic. This pattern of profiteering persisted across subsequent Crusades, with Venice leveraging its maritime dominance to control the flow of goods like spices and silk.

The Roman Catholic Church, meanwhile, used the Crusades to extend its reach into Orthodox territories. The establishment of Latin patriarchates in the Holy Land was an early step, but the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) marked the pinnacle of this assault. The Step #6 (Extraction & Exploitation) & #7 (Abandonment & Collapse) of the Financialist Kill Chain. Ostensibly aimed at Egypt, the campaign was intentionally redirected—under heavy Venetian influence—to sack Constantinople in 1204. This devastating attack saw Crusaders plunder the city, desecrate Orthodox churches, and install a Latin patriarch, all with the implicit sanction of the Catholic Church. The sack was a deliberate strike to discredit and diminish the Orthodox Church, stripping it of wealth and authority while enriching Venetian and Catholic coffers.

Aftermath: Enrichment and Orthodox Decline

The Crusades left the Venetian bankers and the Roman Catholic Church vastly enriched and more powerful. Venice emerged as the Mediterranean’s economic hegemon, its coffers swollen with profits from trade monopolies and Byzantine plunder. The Catholic Church solidified its dominance over Christendom, having gained territories and resources that bolstered its political and spiritual authority. The Orthodox Church, by contrast, was left reeling. The loss of Constantinople’s wealth and prestige in 1204 weakened its position, deepening the schism and reinforcing Catholic narratives of Orthodox inferiority.

The economic gains were staggering: Venetian merchants trafficked in looted relics and controlled key ports, while the Church imposed tithes and seized lands in conquered regions. The Orthodox Church’s decline was not merely financial but existential, as its credibility suffered under the weight of Catholic aggression. This outcome was no accident but the culmination of a calculated strategy to profit and dominate. The inevitable result of the use of the martial might of others to execute the steps of the Financialist Kill Chain.

While the motivations of the martial men of the Crusades and the Princes and Kings who backed them, at great expense to the Venetian banks, were motivated by the desire to push back against Islam’s aggressions. The Crusades were not merely a noble quest for the Holy Land but a sophisticated power play by Venetian bankers and the Roman Catholic Church. Using Europe’s princes and kings and their martial forces, unwittingly, Venice amassed wealth through war and trade, while the Church enriched itself and systematically attacked the Orthodox Church to assert its supremacy. The historical record—most starkly in the sack of Constantinople—reveals a campaign driven by greed and ambition, with religion as a convenient mask. The legacy of this venture is a fractured Christian world, shaped not by faith but by the pursuit of money and power. A world for more than a thousand years following the very same Financialist Kill Chain model, bound up in centuries of religious warfare with and against the Roman Catholic Church.