The families of Andros Odyssey are entangled in the insanity and the destructive forces of the Crusades. The Crusades started with Islam, which expanded through war by making people believe through force. This brought the Crusades, a series of holy wars. They were a means of defending against the expansion of Islam. The Crusades were led by equally self-righteous, intolerant and ruthless people. The proto-imperialism of the Crusaders introduced Western aggression to the Middle East, leaving it in ruins and at the same time, devastating Byzantium, which happened to be in the way. In desperation, the Byzantines had to fight both, Christians and Moslems. Byzantium, with its stiff resistance against the idea of the Crusades, soon became an enemy to the West. As a result, the failed Crusades left Byzantium exhausted and vulnerable to new attacks from the East. In spite of the danger to the West, help against the Turks came too little and too late, resulting in the total destruction of Byzantium and the fall of Constantinople. From the ruins of all these relentless attacks on the Byzantine families, new families evolve and old families are transformed because of name changes under the Turkish occupation.