MXCVIII. The first siege of the Crusades began with the siege of Antioch which was endured from October 21st 1097 to June 2nd of 1098. Anticipating the attack, Yaghi Siyan, the governor of the predominantly Muslim city, began hoarding supplies and pleading for outside help to no avail. The relief forces of Antioch, from the Seljuks to Mesopotamia, fell to the numbers of the Crusaders and the forces from the Byzantine empire. As Antioch suffered, the Crusaders were hit by an astronomical amount of casualties due to famine, illness and an ill-prepared holy war that soon imploded to cause a recurrent and illogical exercise of futility between religious groups. This marked the beginning of evangelical cleansing to enforce their will on a separate belief system.