Destruction Of The Aztecs

The Aztecs thought that the sun was weakening and needed sacrifices, and especially those of human blood, to be able to follow its course and not destroy the world. Human sacrifices were made on a large scale. The sacrifices were carried out on top of huge pyramids, to be closer to the sun, so that the blood spilled down the steps. The book: The Broken Spears, shows us how the king had no mercy for his people. Motechuzoma said to a messenger “You may rest now.” “The man that brought this news had no ears, for they had been cut off, and no toes, for they had been cut off too” (16). This book displays how ruthless was this

Hernan Cortes was an explorer and soldier from Spain. He always felt that he could make his future in the Americas. He wanted to explore the new world and take advantage of the new opportunities that he can earn, while he was exploring. Cortes wanted to be something else in life besides an explorer or soldier. He wanted to be a big conquer of the Americas. He believes in virtu and fortuna. He was a very brave and intelligent man. Did he make his dream became true and conquest the Americas?

If war were to break out between them, the Spanish held the upper hand because of all their gear and weaponry. Another advantage that the spanish held was the amount of enemies the Aztecs had due to their human sacrifice ritual, which gave them more allies to take down the Aztecs with. Even if a battle did not occur between the Spanish and the Aztecs when the Spanish and Aztec peoples collided a disease would spread among the Aztecs, causing them to die because it was a disease they had never been exposed

The Aztecs were a very religious group who were disciplined and independent. They were powerful warriors that conquered and raided neighbouring cities. The Aztec were educated and formed defense alliances, but this could not help the Aztec’s society as they were all killed off by the Spanish. This conflict and defeat of the Aztecs was unavoidable. It was unavoidable because of the Spanish’s obsession with gold, god, glory. Gold might have been the biggest cause of the Aztec empire's collapse. At the time of the conquest gold meant power and wealth. This meant the Spanish knew in order to get more gold they needed to expand. Secondly god, god was another big reason why, the Aztec empire had collapsed. The Spaniards and Islam were also in conflict,

Conquistador is basically a record of the last days of the Aztec civilization, as the two groups, the Aztecs and the Spaniards, clash, and the Spaniards ultimately come out on top. 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

Their downfall began with the Spanish conquest. “When the Spaniards arrived in Tenochtitlan, the capital city of the great Aztec Empire, they were deeply impressed by the beauty, cleanliness and order of the city… it is said to have been one of the largest metropolises in the world.” (Tenochtitlan) The leader of this conquest was Hernán Cortés, and their goal was to take down the great Aztec empire. Cortés allied with the Aztec’s enemies and eventually turned on them as well. Cortés sent a letter explaining the Aztecs civilization, their merchants, way of life, and gave King Charles V updates on their attack. “In regard to the domestic appointments of Moctezuma, and the wonderful grandeur and state that he maintains, there is so much to be told, that I assure your Highness I know not where to begin my relation.” (Cortes Letter) Upon their arrival Montezuma (The Aztec leader) greeted them with gifts and gold, but unfortunately Cortés took this as a strategy to weaken the empire and took him hostage. The Spanish were outnumbered but did receive reinforcements over time. The Spanish had to retreat but one of the most lethal weapons was disease that had already been passed on to the Aztecs. Smallpox with no treatment or prevention swept through the Aztec population. This killed their army leaders and left them weak to attack. Cortés took this as an advantage and in his final attack along with Aztec enemies he

The sword had was made out of steel and was sharp. The sword itself was a meter long. The spanish even had a Halberd, a harberd is was more than 2 meters long and had a curved blade attached to it. The strongest weapon that the spanish had was a crossbow. A crossbow could shoot an arrow that can pierce through the strongest armour. On the other hand the Aztecs had no horses which was a disadvantage for them. The aztecs had a war club instead of a sword. It was so heavy that the fighter had to use both hands to carry it. The downside it was they could not carry a shield with them like the spanish did to protect themselves . The Aztecs had a spear instead of a halberd. First the aztec had to get close to enemy and then throw the spear at unprotected areas like eyes and throat but the only disadvantage was that it was made out wood. And the best weapon that the Aztec was a Atlatl it was also called a spear thrower. This weapon allowed the Aztecs to throw the spear great distances but it was not effective against the spanish because they had Crossbows and

The Aztec leader Montecuhzoma was a poor leader, he wasn’t concerned about the wellbeing of his people. In Broken Spears, readers will see that the Spaniards use nearby tribes to take over the Aztecs land, the Spaniards killed men, women and children. When the Aztecs hear about what the Spaniards have done they become furious and plan to retaliate but are quickly stopped by the diseases brought by the Spaniards. The Aztecs are exposed to small pox and measles but the Spaniards were unaffected by the diseases because they are well known in Europe and they are exposed to diseases

The Aztecs, like most ancient civilizations, were practicing a polytheistic religion. The most well-known of those civilizations possibly being Ancient Greece. The similarities don’t end there; when most people think of the Aztecs and their religion, they think of their inimical ritual of sacrifice. Thousands of years before, in North Africa, the Carthaginians were sacrificing many of their people, even infants. Most researchers believe it was to appease their gods and even to control the population, which are also reasons Aztec experts believe to be true for the Mesoamerican civilization. (Doc. 7, Doc. 6) Not too far away from the Aztecs in time nor location were the Incas.

In The Broken Spear the spaniards were perceived as barbaric by the Aztecs and vise versa. When the spaniards attacked during the fiesta of Toxcatl they performed a lot of bloodshed and barbaric actions.

Cuitlahuac Soon died from Chickenpox. Then Cuauhtémoc took throne, how is Cuitlahuac’s nephew. The Spaniards brought Chickenpox, Measles, Mumps, and a few other dieses from Europe. It is estimated that almost 80 percent of the Aztec population was killed by dieses, this is because the Aztecs having no immunity to these dieses what so ever.

Horses are quite an overwhelming animal, with great strength and, if trained, can ‘pack a punch’ when fighting the natives. With this ability to flank they were able to catch the leader of the Aztecs- Montezuma, “ Cortes actually told Montezuma that he had discovered the treasure, and Montezuma asked only that the spaniards not disturb or take any gorgeous and revered featherwork, which rightfully belonged not to him but to his gods. The gold he said, they could keep” (Conquistadors, Buddy levy, 2008).But there was no greater advantage that the Spanish had over the Native Americans than immunity to diseases (most important, as diseases moved faster that armies could spread). Even though the conquistadors had all of these advantages, they were still were only just beating the Aztecs towards the end of the conquest, so they sought the help of others. This included the neighbouring tribes of the Aztecs like the Toltecs, the Mixtecs, Zapotecs, as well as others that joined with approximately one thousand

The Aztec empire was highly developed and had many large cities, larger and beautiful than any Spanish person had seen. This made the Spanish want the Aztec empire, so Hernan Cortez a Spanish conquistador led his allies to the capital city of Tenochtitlan where he hoped to humble the Aztecs. This resulted in the death of the Aztec’s leader, after this event the Spanish conquistadors fought several bloody battles before they finally defeated the Aztecs. They were also greatly assisted in this by smallpox, a disease that killed 3.5 million Aztecs in just a year. From Mexico, the Spanish expanded their control to the south and destroyed the Maya. The Spanish then began to demolish the religion and culture of the conquered people step by step, even burning their holy

In contrast, the Spanish were able to conquer the Aztecs and Incas much quicker. Some of this was due to help they received from other groups of Natives and the situations that were present in these societies when the Spanish arrived. Most of this was due to the debilitating effects European diseases had on Native Americans.

In Cortez’s venture to seize Mexico from the Aztec powers he was given he allied with other indigenous tribes, such as the Tlaxcalan's. It can be seen that perhaps the ally was more of mutual want for the destruction of the Aztecs as a mutual enemy rather then the want to benefit one another but the result shows us that this ally between the indigenous and the Spanish Hernan Cortez resulted in both the siege of Mexico and downfall of the Aztecs which may not have happened without this alignment.