Page 52 - All About History - Issue 12-14

FALL OF THE AZTECS

WHY SOME NATIVES SIDED WITH CORTES

Despite the breadth of the Aztec
Empire, there existed an uneasy Key
state of low-level attrition Q Aztec Empire Invaders arrive
warfare throughout Mexico. Q 1519 route On 18 February 1519, Cortés seat sail
These so-called Flower Wars Q 1521 route from Cuba with 11 ships and over Gulf of
500 men. He arrived at Cozumel
were low-level but ongoing Mexico on the Yucatán coast and then the Mexico
skirmishes designed to weaken fleet sailed around the coast to
opponents by making Potonchan before they made their
way towards Tenochtitlan.
them commit ever-higher
percentages of human
resources to battles. Because
Aztec religion was based on
sourcing sufficient captives for
human sacrifices, it suited the Tenochtitlan O Tlaxcala
Aztecs to keep their enemies O Cholula
alive rather than slaughtering
them on the battlefield.
This led to hatred on the parts of
other tribes – most notably
the Tlaxcala, the Aztecs’
blood enemies. Cortés
played on the resentment Fall of the Aztecs
and envy of other native After being driven out of
tribes to turn them against Mexico O Pacific Tenochtitlan in 1520, the
Moctezuma, but had Ocean invaders regrouped nearby at
Tlaxcala. They then launched a
another tactic available to series of attacks that, along with
him – the brutal slaughter disease among the Aztecs, led
of any native who to the fall of the great city.
disobeyed his wishes.

Spanish also destroyed the Aztec idols, put a stop “ The Spaniards were driven from the
they raided the city’s riches. The devoutly Catholic
Despite their unexpected pliability, Cortés faced capital by the furious Aztecs, Cortés
to human sacrifices but the natives did not rebel.

problems from an unexpected place, just as he barely escaping with his life”
had Tenochtitlan in his grasp. An arresting party
arrived on the coast from Cuba with orders to
kill or capture him, so in May 1520, Cortés Sensing the mood of the crowd, Cortés had from the city. The affair was later referred to by the
headed east to meet the party from Moctezuma brought out to placate his people, Spaniards as ‘La Noche Triste’ – ‘The Sad Night.’
Cuba, leaving 140 Spaniards and some only for them to reject their tlatoani as a Although they fled the city, the conquistadors
Tlaxcalans under the command of a traitor. What happened next has remained a left behind something much deadlier than their
deputy, Pedro de Alvarado, to hold source of debate for centuries. cannons, fighting dogs or allied natives. In 1520,
Tenochtitlan. Cortés set out against Spanish records suggest that the Aztecs an epidemic of smallpox struck Tenochtitlan with
Pánfilo de Narváez with fewer troops stoned Moctezuma to death; more recent ferocity, leaving large numbers of its population
than his rival but launched a surprise interpretations suggest that Moctezuma was dead and those remaining too weak or hungry
night attack. After his victory, he murdered when he was no longer of use to fend for themselves. By the time Cortés and
convinced many of the defeated to the Spaniards. Some reports indicate the conquistadors returned to Tenochtitlan with
soldiers to join up with him, using the that Moctezuma was mourned by the furious vengeance, razing the city to the ground
vast amounts of gold and promises of Spanish conquistadors, while another to the point that the location of the iconic Great
more as a powerful bargaining tool. claims that Cortés killed the Aztec ruler Temple was lost for centuries, the Aztec Empire
Arriving back at Tenochtitlan, by stabbing him in the back, or even by was crumbling to the ground, there to remain
Cortés found a scene of utter pouring molten gold down his throat. for several centuries until excavations in Mexico
chaos. Supposedly mistaking What is known is that Moctezuma’s City started to reveal fragments of the once-great
Aztec preparations for a spiritual death coincided with a violent uprising civilisation. Over only the first decade following the
festival for something more within Tenochtitlan. The Spaniards arrival of the conquistadors, around 80 per cent of
sinister – and mindful of the were driven from the capital by the the population of central Mexico died, wiped out by
hundreds of thousands of Aztecs furious Aztecs, Cortés barely escaping devastating communicable diseases brought to the
surrounding them – Alvarado and with his life. In their desperation to continent by Hernán Cortés’ invasion force and the
the remaining conquistadors had flee, many conquistadors jumped into other Spaniards arriving there.
massacred the priesthood and canals, where they drowned, weighted Cortés and his allies retreated to Tlaxcala, where
nobility in Tenochtitlan. Cortés was down by the weight of looted gold in their they were bolstered by unexpected supplies,
forced to fight his way back into the clothes or pulled down by Aztec and started to build alliances among the towns
city but, by July 1520, he and his The Aztecs were a very warriors. The Aztecs had vanquished that surround the lake on which Tenochtitlan
advanced civilisation
men were surrounded in the palace. the conquistadors and banished them lay. Over the next months, Cortés blockaded
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