The conversation between human and AI assistant.
Why were the Italian city-states important to the Crusades?
That makes sense. Was there any particular Crusade that the Italian city-states were most heavily involved in?
The Fourth Crusade was the one in which the Italian city-states played the most prominent role. Venice in particular provided a significant amount of support to the Crusaders, including ships, troops, and financial resources. In return, the Crusaders helped Venice gain control of several key trading ports in the Eastern Mediterranean.