On this day 828 years ago...

The 3rd Crusade, also known as the King's Crusade, began with the Siege of Acre under Guy of Lusignan. The nearly dozen crusades were all waged for the same goal- to release the Holy Lands. Saladin, a Kurdish warrior, successfully unified Muslim factions across the Near East, obliterated King Guy's army, and claimed the Holy Land his own. But King Guy would decide less than a month later to reclaim the territory, and on August 28th of the year 1189, began a war that would last three years. The siege began with an unsuccessful assault on the city. Saladin's troops readily defeated the onslaught, but they were unaware reinforcement was coming from Europe. Joining the assault, Christian knights from Holland, Denmark, Italy, Sicily, and Champagne nearly doubling the Crusader's size. On October 4, Saladin again approached the city and began the Battle of Acre. In a day of bloody fighting, the strategic situation changed little as he was unable to dislodge the Crusaders from in front of the city. He would eventually lose control of the city as the battle waged on for years to come.