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Victors and Vanquished The history of the Western hemisphere is full of war and conquest. One of the most significant and defining of those conquests is the downfall of the Mexico/Aztec Empire. While there are many other events to choose from, this one stands out since it was one over one of the largest empires in Central America. It is also important to look at because of the immense cultural impact it had. The story of this takeover reads like a movie script, a small band of Spaniards single handedly takes down the most powerful empire in Central America.
It was an epic battle, which unfortunately led to the destruction of a magnificent culture. As in any major historical event there are many underlying themes and storylines that come together to make the event happen. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec is no different. Three major themes are seen in this struggle. One of them is the incredible advantage that the Spaniards technology gave them over the Aztecs. A second major theme is the greed that fueled the conquests in the New World.
The last major theme was the effect of the political divisions and rivalries within Montezuma's Central American Kingdom. As this historical event progressed each one of these themes began to intertwine until they became an almost unstoppable force. One of the principle themes in the Aztec downfall was the immense greed of the Europeans. The principle goal of every major faction in Europe was to gain power and wealth it didn't matter from what source. Everyone from popes and kings to the lowly soldier envisioned rivers of gold and fame. Ever since they had boats Europeans have been looking for lucrative trade routes and other ways to turn a profit.
The ruling monarchs of these countries contributed a great deal to this. They saw vast profits from these ventures through taxes and the customary " Royal Fifth" which was a fifth of all profits would go straight to the King and / or Queen. Also royalty or other nobility within the country personally funded a large majority of explorations. Trading and exploration companies just helped push the trend further and made the exploitation of newly discovered lands big business. While greed was defiantly a starting point for Cortez's expedition, it was his greed while in Central Mexico that changed the tide of history. Cortez's first encounters with the natives in Central Mexico gave him crucial information about a large wealthy nation that was further inland.
While still on the coast representatives from this nation canoed out to Cortez, which officially started relations between Spain and the Aztecs. Among many things given to the Spaniards during the first few days of contact with the Aztecs was a large chest of gold figures along many other expensive things. This gesture of good will by the Aztecs would eventually lead to their downfall. The moment Cortez started receiving all these wonderful items his mind was most likely made up that he would do whatever it took to plunder every valuable item of the Aztec kingdom.
As Cortez gradually moved deeper into Aztec territory he steadily received more gifts from the Aztecs and from other city-states that surrounded Tenochtitlan. Each time Montezuma requested for Cortez and the Spaniards to return back to the coast and conduct meetings and trade from there. However, with each gift received just gave Cortez additional incentive to move towards Tenochtitlan. By the time the Spaniards were in Tenochtitlan the Aztecs saw their true colors and it was too late.
A second major theme, which played a very important role in this event, was the incredible advantage given to the Spanish due to their technology. The Aztecs were an advanced civilization with a large infrastructure, an organized system of government and many artistic and cultural achievements. However, they severely lacked many important advantages that were common in Europe at that time. The Aztecs had no iron tools or weapons, which had been widely used by their European counterparts for hundreds of years. They also lacked domesticated animals such as horses and pack animals. Another crucial material that the Aztecs lacked was gunpowder.
Wars in Central America were fought with relatively primitive yet effective weaponry. Stone/Obsidian swords and spears along with bows, javelins and slings were the common weapons of choice. Although the tribes in Central America were quite militaristic, wars were fought in a different manner than in Europe. Indian battles concentrated on individual combats with an emphasis on being able to injure your opponent enough to capture him. Wars in Europe concentrated more on unit combat with the use of gunpowder weapons such as muskets and cannon. Hand to hand combat came secondary.
When cavalry was complemented these gunpowder units European armies became efficient killing machines. In the battles with the natives in Central America the Spanish use of these advances gave them a head and shoulders advantage over their enemies. The first intense fighting against native forces occurred near the beginning of Cortez's expedition. The Spaniards were attempting to land near a village but they were met with a very large number of hostile Indian warriors.
After making declarations of peace and being fired upon with arrows, Cortez ordered the Spanish to attack. What followed was an intense battle. While many Spanish were wounded only one was killed. The Spanish on the other hand slaughtered a large amount of warriors using cannon and a strategic flank charge with their cavalry. This battle set the tone for what would be a constant decimation of Indian forces at the hands of the Spanish. As Cortez moved farther inland he met with further resistance.
Each time he dispatched with them in short order causing many native casualties. While the Spanish did suffer some losses they were quite minor compared to the damage they inflicted. Unfortunately for the Aztecs this trend would continue. Another important trend within the storyline of the Spanish conquest was the political divisions within the Aztec kingdom.
Like many empires before there time the Aztecs had problems unifying the lands they conquered. Uprisings and wars were fairly commonplace, but the strength of Aztecs always prevailed. The arrival of the Spanish, however, gave a catalyst for some of these conquered city-states to rise up and help defeat the Mexico. Near the beginning of his expedition Cortez made friends out of many coastal tribes. Those tribes particularly the Cempoalans (A major coastal city-state) happened to be resistive to the Aztecs and quickly supported the Spaniards. As Cortez moved farther inland he quickly pacified the Tlaxcalans, which were another major tribe that didn't like being ruled by the Aztecs.
They also changed allegiances to support the Spanish. With two major allies Cortez had considerable more power then just his contingent of Spanish soldiers. When war began with the Aztecs the majority of his troops consisted of natives. Besides facing his own subjects in battle Montezuma also contended with problems from other rebellious city-states. In a desperate attempt to gain allies against his attackers, Montezuma went to their allies the Tarascans for help and was turned down.
The Aztecs inability to gain any support or allies from their surrounding city-states was the final breaking point of their empire. The downfall of the Aztec Empire was a major building block of the Spanish colonial empire in the Americas. Spain's empire would stretch all the way into North America from the Southwest United States all the way up the Pacific Coast. The unfortunate side effect of this was the elimination of many nations of indigenous people. The three major themes shown in this conquest really give deeper look into the anatomy of this important historical event. Without context on the extent of native assistance given to Cortez in his fight with the Aztecs, a reader would be grossly uniformed.
The Spanish conquest was closer to a civil war than an actual conquest. Until reading detailed personal accounts of the fighting it is difficult to judge the deadly effectiveness of the Spaniards technological superiority. Without it is difficult to imagine 500 conquistadors holding thousands of native warriors at bay. Once the greed of Cortez and greed in general of the Europeans one understands that if it wasn't Cortez if would have just been a different man at a different time. Unfortunately fame and prosperity seem to always win over cares about fellow human beings
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Research essay sample on Aztec Empire Spanish Conquest
