 For nearly two centuries, generations of knights from England and western Europe marched to do battle with the Saracen hordes who occupied the Holy Land. Bitter and bloody, these great battles are known to history as the Crusades. Perhaps most famous of all was Richard the Lionheart s struggle with the Emperor Saladin on the burning sands of Palestine in 1190. The Crusades: The Holy Wars features reconstruction footage and computer effects to tell the dramatic story of the great conflict between Christianity and Islam.