Compare And Contrast The Spanish Conquest Of The Aztecs

Spanish Conquest of the Aztecs It was the year of 1521 when Hernán Cortés’ forces had defeated the Aztecs and gained control in the siege of Tenochtitlán. This success was not due to luck, but instead it was due to a few of the cultural traits that Victor Davis Hanson had mentioned in “Carnage and Culture.” A few of the traits in particular that are evident are the “landed infantry” trait, the “technology” trait, and the “decisive battle” trait. These traits are displayed through his strategy planning during the battle as well as the use of superior weapons and allowed Cortés to gain an advantage over the Aztecs, ultimately allowing him to be victorious despite being surrounded in the previous battles by the Aztecs. Victor Davis Hanson’s thesis about why

Cortés’ army had used technology that was much more advanced than what the Aztecs had been using. The weapons that the Aztecs had been using included the mācuahuitl, a wooden club with sharpened obsidian blades along the edges. This weapon may have had sharp blades, but a disadvantage of it was that the blade’s edges would eventually be worn down through repetitive use, causing the club to lower it’s efficiency in battle since the Aztecs would need to swing more times than usual with the dull edges at their opponents. Meanwhile, Cortés and his men had a far better and efficient weapon named the Castilian Sword. This sword was lighter than the mācuahuitl and was able to stay sharp for longer periods of time, allowing the Spanish to attack the Aztecs more efficiently and quickly and cut them down with fewer swings.
Furthermore, if the Spanish infantry began to feel exhaustion from continuously using their swords in the battle, they were able to step back and use the arquebus, another weapon the
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Aztecs did not have. The arquebus was an earlier form of the musket, which could be used against large groups of opponents since it was accurate. Another reason why it was such a