“so probably it would have in fact been better for the Indians had the Aztecs stayed in power from that standpoint”
Bullcrap. Pure revisionist bullcrap. Europeans had diseases that indians had never been exposed to. So whenever the contact was made, the diseases were going to follow.
You misunderstand me.
My comment was not about the savage, bloodthirsty culture of the Aztecs ... it was meant from purely a numerical standpoint. The European diseases brought about a “New World” equivalent of the “Black Death” epidemic of Mideaval Europe ... magnified severalfold and compressed in time ... that is the real tragedy of the conquest of the Americas ... not the replacement of local culture by European ...
... that was just the natural order of things in human history. I was commenting on the terrible human cost the European diseases caused ..
BTW, Cortez would NOT have been able to conquer the Aztecs given his small numbers, but for the fact that at the critical moment during the conquest a Small Pox epidemic broke out in Tenochtitlan, wiping out thousands in the Aztec capital city, and in doing so shaking the faith of the survivors in Aztec culture, making Cortez’ final push a success ...
... Cortez was also aided (in fact, 90% of his Army was manned by) by thousands of Indian allies from cities that the Aztecs had ruled and terrorized ... sadly, being allies of the Spanish did nothing to protect those people from the same diseases ...
And visa versa, yet the european microbe warriors proved to be way tougher than the local champs. For that matter Mexico had well developed civilizations for over a 1000 years before Cortes. Why did none of them develop ships to reach Europe first? They had a fair and equal shot! And Cortes could never have defeated the Aztecs, even with his microbes, had not the Aztecs so thoroughly p*ssed off the numerous surrounding natives. He had all the eager local help he wanted. The only shame is the bugs got the good locals too.
And it shouldn't be forgotten why Spain had men like Cortes and Pizarro aplenty back then. They were the final result of hundreds of years of military hardening, fighting what they'd thought were the worst enemies imaginable, the muslim invaders of Spain. Then they met the Aztecs and an even lower level of human hell. It was *another* mission from God to destroy them.