This Day in History and its Relevance to Today On this date in 1189, Holy Roman Emperor Fredrick Barbarosa and 100,000 troops departed Regensburg, Germany on the Third Crusade to liberate Jerusalem from the perceived "evildoers" and "suiciders" of his time. It was the mightiest force assembled in Europe since Roman Times. Fredrick, it turned out, through lack of planning, found out he wasn't much of a swimmer and his mission collapsed. Is it really that hard to think up an analogy here?