Which city did the Fifth Crusade capture in 1219?

The Fifth Crusade captured Damietta in Egypt in 1219. The strategically important port stood near the mouth of the Nile, and crusader leaders believed controlling it would provide leverage to recover Jerusalem.

The siege began in 1218, when crusader forces attacked Damietta’s defenses, including a heavily fortified tower guarding the river. After prolonged fighting, disease, famine, flooding, and political disputes weakened the defenders. The city was finally entered on 5 November 1219, after the crusaders found that much of its garrison had withdrawn and its population had been devastated.

Damietta was held for roughly two years. Sultan al-Kamil offered terms that included major concessions, but the crusaders rejected them, partly because Cardinal Pelagius, the papal legate and de facto leader, believed further advances could win even more. In 1221, the crusader army marched toward Cairo but became trapped by flooded terrain and Ayyubid forces.

The campaign ended in failure: the crusaders surrendered Damietta and evacuated Egypt in September 1221. Damietta is also associated with the Seventh Crusade, when Louis IX captured it again in 1249, making it an easy city to confuse across crusading campaigns.