This Fourth Crusade would be a daring amphibious assault, in which a huge fleet of warships would strike at Alexandria, on the west of Egypt’s Nile delta. There they would disgorge an army that could fight its way up into Palestine and liberate Jerusalem from the south, rather than the north. It was a bold, even visionary plan. However, it required around two hundred war galleys and a fleet of transporter ships with full crews, as well as an army of around thirty thousand men to do the fighting. This logistical obstacle would prove the Fourth Crusade’s undoing.
