@the_actor_man it is most likely that after the events of halo 3 with the main prophets gone and their "religion" showed for the what it really is the covenant was put into disarray, and the brutes who were originally found and given technology by the prophets had nobody to turn to, and the elites were able to take over again. while this may not be official reason. based on the lore and no official reason announced it is the most likely.

@H_Van_Zan while i dont condone the crusades it is a common misconception that the christians were the ones that started the crusades. it was actually the muslims. during the early 8th century the muslims were rapidly expanding capturing spain, much of north africa, and had sieged the capital of the eastern roman empire. along with this there harassment of christians on their pilgrimage to jerusalem is what set the ball in motion for the crusades. http://history-world.org/crusades.htm as for mass effect 3 it does have its flaws (mainly day 1 DLC) i personally dont think any of these flaws detracted from the game so much that it ruined the game for me. i think this article only showed how picky hardcore gamers can be.