Conquest of The Aztecs The Spanish Conquistadors were able to conquer the Aztecs because they had superior weapons, strategies, and alliances. If the Aztecs were powerful Indians, why did they not attack instead of giving the conquistadors gifts? What made them not attack? How did they permit the conquistadors conquer them? Was it a legend or were the Indians just scared? When the Spanish conquistadors arrived to Tenochtitlan, they knew they had a lot of advantage when it came to weapons. They brought many types of guns and armor. Instead, the Aztecs made their own guns but they weren't as good as the weapons the conquistadors brought with them. Also, the conquistadors brought with them many horses. When the Indians saw the horses, they thought they were dragons and they were really scared. When Cortes ordered his men to bring the cannons, the Aztecs had never seen this. They were terrified when they saw this. The Aztecs tried to make peace with them, and gave them gold, which made the conquistadors only want more of this. They wanted victory. …show more content…
When they got to Tenochtitlan, they tricked and captured the Aztec ruler, Moctezuma. They had him captured for a long time and he would try to save himself by offering more gold. Cortes said that he needed someone to translate for him and then, Doña Marina offered herself as the translator. This was another strategy because the Spanish conquistadors could get any information about the city. Another strategy that the conquistadors had was taking advantages of their beliefs. When they flirts arrived at Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs thought the conquistadors were gods. The conquistadors obviously took advantage of this opportunity. This is when the Aztecs didn't attack. They thought Hernando Cortes was a legend fulfilled. They couldn't attack a
Oleg Kubay Professor Ortega History 23 22 September 2014 Warfare: Aztec & Spanish The fall of the Aztec empire was one of the major events that lead to the Spanish colonization of America. There were many factors contributing to the fall of the Aztec Empire like sacrificing their own people, which significantly lowered them in ranks making them a weaker colony. Also being the first people to sacrifice other people in the name of religion made them a threat to the Spaniards and Tlaxcala and many others. The Aztec and Spanish Warfare lead to the fall o f
1. Christopher Columbus and monarchs, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were interested in the wealth that his expedition would secure. “Columbus was promised a large share of any economic benefits that might accrue from is voyage and extensive authority over any lands he might discover. The monarchs also stood to benefit.” Their anticipation was for the potential of discovery of riches such as “pearls, precious stones, gold silver, [and] spices”, as well as any other wealth that could be “bought, bartered, discovered, acquired or obtained.”
How disease impacted the fall of the Aztec empire- One of the most remarkable events in the Spanish conquest at South America was how the Spanish conquistadors defeated one of the largest civilizations in Tenochtitlan. How did this small Spanish force of conquistadores manage to conquer such a huge and powerful empire as the Aztecs?. Althought the Aztecs had been involved in many battles before coming face to face with the Spanish conquistadors none were like this one. there are a numerous number of causes to their defeat.
The Aztecs feared this foreign man because their prophesy that depicted a half man and half horse god would come back to the land to judge the people. Cortes easily conquered Tenochtitlan because he used the people's fear to make them weak, and once the Aztecs knew the god was a hoax, it was already too late. Fear creates opportunity to those who create it to siege those who are not ill prepared for their attacks. This is why the black legend is always the best way to show history because it does not sprinkle pixie dust on what actually happened during those times. Even the spread of the foreign diseases was another factor that killed off most of the natives in the
The Aztecs had a very tight way of running things. If one did not follow the rules they would be punished very severely by death. Their system was based upon sacrifices for their beloved gods, and it ran that way for many generations, until the Spanish came. Hernan Cortes, was the Spanish expedition leader, eased his way into Tenochtitlan’s throne to become emperor. He faked being a sacred god called Quetzalcoatl, so the Aztecs would be on their knees praising him and doing whatever he wished.
He did not do this alone, furthermore he was aided by various other indigenous tribes who sought to take down the Aztec empire. The Aztec empire, while much more populated than Cortes’s army, did not have modern weaponry as the Spaniards did. Similarly, Francisco Pizarro destroyed and overtook the Inca empire in 1533. At first, Pizarro enlisted the help of the Incas in search for gold, however the minute they deliver what he wanted he “strangled him [the Inca ruler] and decapitated his body” (BZS, 505). Previously, the Spaniards and the Portuguese had signed the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494.
Before the war actions were taken to prevent the king of the Aztecs Montezuma tries to stop the Spanish forces mainly lead by Hernán Cortés from attacking by using a method of appeasement (Castillo and Carrasco 145). Using appeasement did not work out, and in fact contributed to the reason why the war began and the reason why Montezuma, the leader of the Aztec, was killed by his people. The Spanish upon seeing the wealth given to them allowed them to know that the Aztec civilization contains vast riches for them (Beezley 21). This reason further developed
It was not a military conquest, but an invasion and genocide. The interest was gold, silver and any other resources they could strip from the Indians and to enslave them as well. They were more like a hoard of locust killing and contaminating everything in their path. Who really were the uncivilized savages? According to Vigil in his book “From Indians to Chicanos”, “In the Early 1500’s the indigenous population was reduced by eighty percent from disease the Spaniards brought with them and those that survived were expected to keep up the work quotas” (Vigil.)
The conquest of Mexico and Peru are very similar. Spanish explorers roamed the land, claiming territory for their country. While claiming this land, the conquistadors met up with natives. They did this to trade and create alliances to be able to put up a fight against an empire. In Hernando Cortez’s case, the empire they took down were the Aztecs.
The author gives insight on how many ways the Spaniards used their power to assist in the downfall of the Aztecs. The reason why the Spaniards became victorious, was because the Spaniards were looked upon as if they were gods because of their outer appearance. The Aztecs broke bread and welcomed the Spaniards with gifts and parties. The Aztecs triggered their relationship with the Spaniards by holding a ritual for the arrival of the god which included a human sacrifice. The Spaniards didn’t agree with the rituals and began to despise the Aztecs.
When Cortes and his men first arrived on the island of Cozumel in 1519, they were unaware that a complex and advanced civilization was just beyond the shores of Mexico. Although, as stated, the Aztecs were a rather advanced civilization, when compared to the Spaniards that invaded their city, they were lacking in technology. Cortes used this to his advantage, stunning the natives with displays of cavalry and horses, as he
These differences were also smaller details under the larger ideas of barbarianism, new cultures, and the even bigger idea of inhumanity. The Spanish saw the Native Americans as slaves because they showed to be hard laborers and gave into the Spanish power. The Native Americans had a natural knack for manual tasks, so much that most Spaniards compared them to insects because both insects and Native Americans could do certain tasks that normal humans, such as high class Spaniards, could not. The Spaniards would never do such work as they believed that work was meant for slaves. When the Spanish took over the Aztec capital city, Sepúlveda remarks of how the Native Americans were “oppressed and fearful at the beginning.”
The Aztecs’ religion is what got them into the most trouble. They sacrificed humans for their Gods, which was wrong in the Spaniards’ eyes (and mine too). They also were very superstitious .The Aztecs may have won the battle against the Spaniards if they too had advanced weaponry and battle tactics. The Aztecs and the Spaniards were vastly different people, however they had similarities.
As he had many options to choose from but he ended up choosing the wrong one many times. To sum up, could the Aztecs have won against the Spaniards? The Aztecs were peoples who
Using war equipment that the Aztec had never seen before and different battle techniques, Cortes and his men were able to quickly and effectively conquer Tenochtitlan. During battle against the Aztecs, animals from Spain that served in many battles called horses (about twelve), as well as swords and crossbows (a much more advanced version of the Aztec war club and spear-thrower) were labelled as advanced technology as they were quicker, deadlier, and consequently more efficient. These many advantages against the Aztecs and their traditional weapons; and therefore the Spaniards won many battles alongside their allies, and succeeded greatly by using guns that were far more powerful than the Aztecs' weapons. Unfair as it is, this gave the Spanish explorer a supremacy in conquering one of the most elaborate European cities at the time. “The Aztecs were unable to rebel against the Spaniards because most of them were sick or dead from smallpox.