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The Second Crusade, waged from 1147 - 1149, was preached by St. Bernard of Clairvaux after the fall in 1144 of Edessa to the Turks. 

It was led by Holy Roman Emperor Conrad III, whose army set out first, and by King Louis VII of France. Both armies passed through the Balkans and pillaged the territory of the Byzantine emperor, Manuel I, who provided them with transportation to Asia Minor in order to be rid of them. 

The German contingent, already decimated by the Turks, merged in 1148 with the French, who had fared only slightly better, at Acre (Akko). A joint attack on Damascus failed because of jealousy and, possibly, treachery among the Latin princes of the Holy Land. 

Emperor Conrad returned home in 1148 and was followed in 1149 by King Louis.

 The Second Crusade thus ended in dismal failure.

Pope Eugenius III