Doomed from the Start. A new, stronger pope, Innocent III, was elected at the death of Celestine in 1198, and he immediately called for the Fourth Crusade. This effort seemed doomed from the start. Although again a large army assembled, it never seemed to matter what their goals were, for they were destined not even to reach the Holy Land. Trying to arrange passage by sea from the Venetians, they were first compelled by them to attack a Hungarian city, Zara, which despite being Christian, threatened the Adriatic trading monopolies of Venice. Then they proceeded to Constantinople, where in 1202 they were forced to besiege that Byzantine city because it had recently signed a trading pact with the Genoese, rivals to the Venetians. Under the guise of asking for money and supplies to proceed to the Holy Land, the Crusaders became...