摘要：The Crusades are among the most significant events of the European and world history. Crusades made the indelible impression on the contemporaries and the generations to come, which is evidenced by the fact that such concepts as "crusade", "knight-crusader", etc. entered into many European languages. However, it is notable that in the XIX – early XXI centuries these concepts lose their original meaning. Whenever the phrase "crusade" occurs in the literature of modern and contemporary period of time, it sounds in various political, historical and cultural context. The article examines some interpretations of the term applied to a number of events in the XIX – early XXI century through the example of several authors’ texts (the war in the Caucasus in the XIX c., the Spanish Civil War, World War II, the political events in the Middle East in the late XX – early XXI century). The author concludes that the term "crusade" in the scientific, literary and political vocabulary of the last two centuries is a kind of coding for the action aimed at the protection of (real or imaginary) values.
