Some critics of Islam frequently claim that it is uniquely violent while Christianity has spread only through peaceful means and missionary work. Historical records, however, document numerous instances of Christian violence, including wars, massacres, and forced conversions by the sword against both non-Christians and other Christians. This article examines the major well-documented cases of such violence throughout history. Major historical episodes of Christian-led violence against non-Christians and other Christians (often labeled heretics), including forced conversions by the sword, are well-documented. These mixed religious, political, and economic motives after Christianity gained state power. Early doctrine often rejected coercion, but practice differed. Focus is on key cases; numbers are estimates from chronicles. Against non-Christians Saxon Wars (Charlemagne, 772–804)**: Campaigns forced conversion of pagan Saxons. Massacre of Verden (782) beheaded ~4,500 captives. Laws imposed death for refusing baptism or pagan practices; mass baptisms followed conquest. Northern (Baltic) Crusades (12th–15th c.)**: Papally backed campaigns by German/Danish forces and orders (Teutonic Knights) against pagan Slavs, Balts, and Finns. Goal: convert or eliminate. Involved massacres, forced baptisms, and land devastation; largely ended independent pagan societies. Rhineland massacres (First Crusade, 1096)**: Crusader bands killed thousands of Jews in Mainz, Worms, and elsewhere; survivors faced convert-or-die choices. Spanish Reconquista aftermath (late 14th–17th c.)**: 1391 pogroms forced many Jews to convert. 1492 Alhambra Decree: convert or leave. Muslims in Granada faced forced conversion (1499–1502) under Cisneros; later Morisco baptisms, bans, revolts, and expulsions. Inquisition targeted crypto-Jews/Muslims. Christians against other Christians Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229)**: Against Cathars in southern France. Béziers massacre (1209) killed ~15,000–20,000 (Cathars and Catholics); legate reportedly said “Kill them all; God will know his own.” Followed by burnings and sieges that destroyed organized Catharism. Waldensian persecutions**: Multiple campaigns, including 1488 crusade and 1655 Piedmont massacre (thousands killed by Catholic forces). Reformation Wars of Religion (16th–17th c.)**: St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (1572) killed thousands of Huguenots in France. Mutual violence in Netherlands, England (e.g., Mary I’s burnings), and against Anabaptists. Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) caused 4.5–8 million deaths amid Catholic-Protestant fighting. Additional cases include the Fourth Crusade’s 1204 sack of Constantinople (Western vs. Eastern Christians). These appear in contemporary records and modern histories. Forced conversion was never universal Christian policy; many missionaries preferred persuasion, and later societies abandoned legal coercion of belief. Similar patterns occurred in other religions and empires of the era.