Hernan Cortes Conquer The Aztecs

How was Hernan Cortes able to conquer the Aztec empire? The fall of the Aztec Empire was led by an expedition by Hernan Cortes, a Spanish conquistador, in 1521. Cortes’ time was the era of Exploration. He became engrossed with the tales of Christopher Columbus and decided to join the exploration. Which led him to travel to the Americas and triumph of the Aztec empire. Such as a prophecy, weaponry, translators, disease and allies.

The Aztec and Spanish were both some of the strongest nations in the place they inhabited. The Spanish went to war to collect territory for their homeland in Spain. The Aztec went to war to please their gods and collect prisoners to sacrifice. The Spanish war strategies were for taking over the land they desired without war, but if it came to it they would fight. The weapons that both nations used were very dangerous, but were well suited for what they nation needed them for. The Aztec weapons were mostly for capturing prisoners. The Spanish weapons were used mostly for killing and were very durable. The Aztec and Spanish both had different reasons for going to war and the types of tactics they use

The author argues that the Spanish were completely at fault for the total destruction of the Aztec Empire. In Broken spears, the author explains how many factors other than Spanish power contributed to the downfall of the Aztecs. Not only did the Spanish have many advantages over the Aztecs, but also they also exploited them and took advantage of the cultural difference. The main key aspects to the Spanish victory, is that the Spanish were viewed as gods at first because of their appearance, the Aztecs welcomed the Spanish with gifts and festivities, which showed the Spanish had total control of people. The Aztecs also held a ritual ceremony for the arrival of the “god” that included a human

The Aztecs have two remarkable qualities about their culture; human sacrifice and agriculture. While both of these qualities holds an importance in their history, historians should emphasize human sacrifice more. The Aztecs human sacrifice is more notable than the Aztecs agricultural ability, because they left land unoccupied for later sacrifices, it resulted in many’s death, and even the finest were sacrificed.

Maybe too much credit is given to Cortés as one of the greatest Spanish conquerors who developed effective strategy to defeat the Aztecs. Restall see this as somewhat of a myth accounting for the failure of historians to look at history before the 1519 (Restall, 19). Restall says “However, too often, without any direct evidence, the actions of Conquistadors after the 1519– 21 invasion of Mexico are taken as deliberately imitating Cortés, while pre-1519 patterns are ignored.” Whatever the case for whom should be given the credit for the strategy used to defeat the Aztecs; one must admit Cortés was able the win the trust of the people and use the Aztecs’ fear of him to control their empire. Cortés harbored fear of his own. Elliott says, “Cortés felt some uneasiness, when he reflected that it was in the power of the Indians, at any time, to cut off his communications with the surrounding country, and hold him a prisoner in the capital.” The Omens of the Aztecs betrayed them and caused them to see the arriving settlers as gods. They were not prepared to defend themselves against the advanced weapons of the Spanish. Much like the Aztecs, the Mayans faced hard times at the hands of the Spanish conquerors, but their defeat came much easier to the Spanish.

In regards appearance, the Spanish were essentially covered from head to toe in iron armor. Even the weapons they carried were covered in iron. The Aztecs were unaccustomed to the iron-clad individuals. In regards to weaponry, the Spanish were, even more, intimidating in the fact that they had cannons. The Aztecs describe the cannon to Motecuhzoma, "a thing like a ball of stone comes out of its entrails: it comes shooting sparks and raining fire...smoke that comes out of it has a pestilent odor. The odor penetrates even the brain and causes great discomfort" ( 30). For me personally, the only reason I can think of for Cortes to fire off a cannon was to show dominance over the Indians. For people who had never even heard of a cannon before, it is understandable that the Native Americans were fearful of Cortes and his men. Along with the iron-clad armor and weapons the

The author argues that the Spanish were completely at fault for the total destruction of the Aztec Empire. In Broken spears, the author explains how many factors other than Spanish power contributed to the downfall of the Aztecs. Not only did the Spanish have many advantages over the Aztecs, but also they also exploited them and took advantage of the cultural difference. The main key aspects to the Spanish victory, is that the Spanish were viewed as gods at first because of their appearance, the Aztecs welcomed the Spanish with gifts and festivities, which showed the Spanish had total control of people. The Aztecs also held a ritual ceremony for the arrival of the "god" that included a human sacrifice, which was seen by the Spanish as a

The Spanish were successful in their conquest of the Aztec Empire for numerous reasons. They were intimidating in appearance and in their weaponry. They had animals that the Aztecs had never seen before. They also formed alliances with rival tribes, like the Tlaxcaltecas tribe. Finally, one of the key reasons that the Spaniards were able to successfully conquer the Aztecs was due to the fact that Motecuhzoma himself, believed that Cortes and his men were gods.

The Aztecs may have been strong militarily when it was just them against the other Native American tribes, but they were no match against the might of the Spanish army. Europe as a whole was more technologically advanced than the Native Americans. As stated by Aztec History, “The tactics of the Spanish army certainly played a role...Cortes used clever tactics which brought about the fall of the Aztec Empire.” The quote is mainly saying that the Spanish army used warfare in a different way than the Aztecs. The Aztecs just weren’t used to the foreign way of

Cortes showed up to the Aztec’s land planning on conquering it to be part of Spain. He did not want to negotiate with the Aztecs, he just wanted their land, with or without them. The Aztecs thought that he was a God and gave him extreme amounts of gold when he first arrived, but that did not satisfy Cortes. Cortes held a meeting with the leader of the Aztecs, Montezuma, and captured him, causing the Aztecs to fight the Spanish to get their leader back. Once the Spanish started to make a move to defeat the Aztecs, they realized that they were all dead or extremely ill. This was because the Aztecs were not immune to the Spanish diseases that came into their land, spreading over their people. Cortes eventually got the Aztec land, making it a part of Spain.

Even though Aztecs were strong and ferocious warriors, they didn't have the strong, powerful weapons the Spanish had such as guns. These two powerful empires also had very different ways of attacking. The Aztecs told their opponents when and where they were going to fight, whereas the the Spanish planned surprise attacks on their enemies. A main difference was that the Aztecs captured their enemies instead of killing because they needed people for sacrifice, however the Spanish killed their

One common reason people associate with Spain being able to conquer the Aztecs is simply the fact that they were more technologically advanced. While this is one reason that Spain was able to conquer the Aztecs it is not the sole reason. There were conquistadors before Cortes that had access to the same technology and yet failed to conquer the Aztec Empire. Hugh thomas wrote “Like Hernandez de Corboda, he had arquebusiers. Like Grijalva, he had artillery.” (Hugh Thomas,

When the Spaniards came to conquer the Aztecs in central Mexico, it was not their first encounter with civilization living in the American Continent. They meet before other indigenous groups with lees degree of development. We have to remember that the Aztecs Empire was on its majestic years. "Tenochtitlan", was the capital of the empire with economic, religious power like no other, the conquerors were impressed by the city’s cleanliness and organization. Bernals was perhaps most impressed by its system of public latrines, the city and its people were immaculately clean, the paths and squares swept regularly; as he described on The True History of the Conquest of New Spain. Bernal is our best source of information about the Spanish an Aztec

     A second major theme, which played a very important role in this event, was the incredible advantage given to the Spanish due to their technology. The Aztecs were an advanced civilization with a large infrastructure, an organized system of government and many artistic and cultural achievements. However, they severely lacked many important advantages that were common in Europe at that time. The Aztecs had no iron tools or weapons,

The expedition led by Hernan Cortes started in 1519, but its success was based on aspects dating back years or centuries. Diseases like smallpox devastated the native population, but the Spaniards had built up immunities. The people that the Mexica conquered were treated harshly, and the Spaniards were the most powerful competitors they could support. Their massive technological advantage allowed Cortes to capitalize on the discontent population. Without superior armor, weapons, and tactics, the expedition would have failed long before the smallpox outbreak.