The ancient crusades against the infidels should be considered from that supernatural point of view, which is precisely how the ancients viewed them. They represented the greatest effort of Christianity to prevent the brute force of the Muslims from destroying the civilisation of the Gospel. The soul of this powerful, long-lasting resistance, which was finally victorious at Battle of Lepanto and Vienna, was the Roman Papacy, which for over five centuries, sparing no sacrifice or expense, united the Catholic forces of every nation under the banner of the Cross and, directing them against the Crescent, spared Europe a great number of internal wars, ensuring its triumph over Western Asia and Islam.