Saladin's Siege of Acre 1189-1191 the Turning Point

In 1189, two years after Hattin, the Third Crusade arrived at Acre. What followed was a two-year siege that became the defining military ordeal of Saladin's career. This episode unpacks the grueling campaign: the concentric siege works, the naval blockade by the Crusader fleet, the arrival of King Richard and King Philip, and the internal strains within Saladin's Ayyubid coalition. We explore the logistical nightmare of supplying an army on the coastal plain, the role of the Genoese and Pisan fleets, and the critical defection of Conrad of Montferrat. Drawing on the accounts of Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad and Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani, we examine how Saladin's decentralized command structure both enabled resilience and created vulnerabilities. The surrender of Acre in July 1191 shattered the momentum Saladin had built since Hattin and set the stage for the battles that followed. This is the story of the siege that changed the course of the Crusades. #Saladin #Acre #ThirdCrusade #SiegeOfAcre #RichardLionheart #PhilipAugustus #ConradOfMontferrat #Ayyubid #BahaAdDin #ImadAdDin #Hattin #Crusader #NavalWarfare #MiddleEast #MedievalHistory #SiegeWarfare #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo