Posted on 01/06/2021 3:19:07 PM PST by ConservativeInPA
Cortés lead an expeditionary force of about 3,200 to 3,500 conquistadors to present day Mexico. They were not a very organized force, but they were experienced in war. Historians often view conquistadors as paid mercenaries.
The conquistadors faced an alliance of well over 400,000. They came, they saw, and they kicked the Aztecs butts. This had nothing to do with the armor or weaponry of the conquistadors. It had everything to do with capitulation.
Remember this when in a group of hundreds of thousands protesting.
For homework, compare and contrast Montezuma and Shaka kaSenzangakhona and how they handled colonial invaders when both had superior numbers of forces and neither were well armed in comparison to their invaders.
And every tribe the Aztecs brutalized joined them.
I just finished the history of England from the Tudors to the Stuarts, ending with The Union of England and Scotland during Queen Anne’s reign leading to the Hanoverian Secession.
Today, I actually feel like a Jacobite knowing that one of our Stuarts was robbed of the crown due to political finagling by big statists.
Best documentary on Cortez I have found:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_deHV1Kqgck
It’s an unbelievable story for anyone who doesn’t know it
I am reminded of the bombing of the Reichstag.
Correcto Mundo. Now answer answer the questions: Why? and What happened to those tribes?
Guns and horses.
You get a D-. It is good you know that they had guns and horses that saved you from an F. However, guns and horses use by 3,500 +/- conquistadors do not match a force of 400,000.
That is what is often missed.
Because the Aztecs had them for dinner.
The same thing that happened to the White Mountain Apache scouts.
Cortez had attack dogs he used in battle as well. This freaked out the Aztecs
Plus a hat tip to smallpox and measles.
Yes, it does. Along with war tactics and strategies from the old world. Easily. (Mic drop).
Cortes landed with 300 men. The Spanish who joined later were mainly members of an expedition sent out by the Governor of Cuba to ARREST Cortes, who had instigated a war the Spanish did not want. Costes turned these men 180 degrees, and they joined him. But mainly, Cortes was able to assemble a coalition of most of the non-Aztec peoples of the region, who saw a chance to overthrow the hated Aztecs. The Spanish comprised a very small fraction of the allied force.
Bull crap. Give me 20 men against a horse and a solider with a single fire weapon. Arm my side with spears. We will win.
This boils down to a lack of resolve and people being afraid. That is the lesson learned.
THE AZTECS THOUGHT THEY WERE GODS RETURNED.
THAT SORTA DEMORALIZED ‘EM A BIT.
Not a good analogy. Same cultures. These guys were completely different.
One of the best books ever written, about anything, is The Hummingbird and the Hawk. It chronicles the Aztecs, Cortez, and all that transpired. When Cortez landed, Montezuma II was in charge. There was an Aztec General, Tlacaelel, who actually served both Montezuma I, and Montezuma II. Tlacaelel honed the Aztec forces. There were several cultures that hated the Aztecs, and were only too glad to join with Cortez. In particular, the Tlaxcalans despised the Aztecs for constantly making war upon them. The Aztecs never completely conquered the Tlaxcalans. The Aztecs just attacked them every year as practice and training. Besides The Hummingbird and the Hawk, The Discovery And Conquest of Mexico by Bernal Diaz del Castillo is fantastic also.
Excellent summary.
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