Where do you even start to attack a city like this? Because there's not going to be a lot of places to put your army.

No, exactly.

I think what's really fascinating is the Fifth Crusade gives us an insight into some lost military technologies from the Middle Ages that may not be familiar to all readers.

So what I found so fascinating is they have flat-bottomed landing craft that are specifically designed and developed for attacking the Nile Delta.

And these are just like the Higgins boats that are used on D-Day ships.

in 1944, but just 700 years earlier.

So they're flat-bottomed, they've got a landing ramp at the front that can be dropped down, they're rowed by a series of oars, long oars out the side, and you can row these quickly to shore and you can disgorge fully-mounted knights forever.

that

Is that an accurate assessment to your mind? Have I understood it correctly?

Totally.

I think the Nile is, I love how you think of it as a character in the story.

I think it is a character in the story, and I think it is the biggest one.

It really dictates the whole campaign from its beginning in Egypt to its end, and actually influences the way that the whole campaign is conducted.

So a lot of the warfare that's going on is amphibious siege warfare.

So the city that they're besieging at the start, Damietta, is located obviously on the coastline of the And it really controls access to the Nile.

So what do we know about him as a man and a ruler? What were his kind of noteworthy traits?

Yeah.

Indeed.

One of the things that's most exciting about this is that it really is a crucible for new military technologies on both sides.

So on the Egyptian side, they make a lot of use of Greek fire.

As you say, it's like medieval napalm.

So the recipe for Greek fire famously has been lost.

But we know that it's a naphtha-based chemical weapon that's very, very similar to modern napalm.

And as you describe it, it's snatching defeat from the jaws of victory because it turns what could have been a great achievement into a disaster.

How do we get there to that moment?

Yeah, so I love that moment, which is how I open the book, so I just thought it was really a great way to position the reader in this world and to show what is going on and, and to really put them in Egypt to make them feel like they're on the Crusade on the River Nile.

So they decide to invade Egypt, and they have these special landing craft ready to invade the Nile Delta.

So they operate just like on D-Day.

You've got knights fully mounted in armor on their horses on these landing craft, which are rowed quickly to shore.

The ramps drop down at the front of the ship, the knights clatter out, and they're only opposed by some Bedouin cavalry.

And a Frisian crusader is recorded as doing an amazing martial deed, so they're at a great distance, and he drops to one knee, swivels, and launches a javelin from great distance and manages to fell one of the Bedouin cavalry, which terrifies the others, and they ride off from the beach.

And does that happen?

So with this in mind, how does the initial invasion of Egypt play out versus what they imagine it's going to be like?

Yeah, the opening phase of the crusade doesn't go anything like what they've planned or hoped for.

So basically there's a short detour where some of the English and German crusaders stop off in Portugal and besiege a fortress there.

It's sort of like a quick package holiday, a few days in the sun.

And some of them then return home and consider their vows fulfilled, but the rest continue on to the Holy Land.

They do some raiding in the Holy Land and then around John of Brienne's territories and what's left of the kingdom of Jerusalem.

And then they decide then we're going to sail south.

So how is that city captured?

You know, they're stood there kind of going, "Okay, now what?" Right? So what sorts of defensive tech are we looking at, offensive tech and strategies? Like, what's kind of on each side of this as they're like, "All right, this is our next goal"? It's not gonna be easy, is it?

Not at all.

Damietta is an incredibly well-defended city, and it reflects its size.

This is a major city in the region.

It's got a population of about 20,000, we think, which is very large for a medieval city, and it's very, very well defended.

So it's got three rings of really large walls.

If you imagine a modern three-tiered wedding cake, I think we get roughly the right idea.

Like, why do they care?

You know, they're stood there kind of going, "Okay, now what?" Right? So what sorts of defensive tech are we looking at, offensive tech and strategies? Like, what's kind of on each side of this as they're like, "All right, this is our next goal"? It's not gonna be easy, is it?

Not at all.

Damietta is an incredibly well-defended city, and it reflects its size.

This is a major city in the region.

It's got a population of about 20,000, we think, which is very large for a medieval city, and it's very, very well defended.

So it's got three rings of really large walls.

If you imagine a modern three-tiered wedding cake, I think we get roughly the right idea.

Like, why do they care?

You know, they're stood there kind of going, "Okay, now what?" Right? So what sorts of defensive tech are we looking at, offensive tech and strategies? Like, what's kind of on each side of this as they're like, "All right, this is our next goal"? It's not gonna be easy, is it?

Not at all.

Damietta is an incredibly well-defended city, and it reflects its size.

This is a major city in the region.

It's got a population of about 20,000, we think, which is very large for a medieval city, and it's very, very well defended.

So it's got three rings of really large walls.

If you imagine a modern three-tiered wedding cake, I think we'll get roughly the right idea.

Like, why do they care?

of

really impressive walls, big towers.

It's a really, really hard city to crack.

But they've also got this extra defense, which is the chain tower.

So Damietta abuts the River Nile, and then in the middle of the Nile, you have a chain tower, so this big stone tower.

It holds 300 hardened Egyptian warriors.

Now, between this tower and the city, across the River Nile, or just below the water, hangs a massive iron chain, and that controls access upriver to Cairo and the rest of Egypt.

What happens? They do, yeah.