How did Cortes subdue the once-great empire?
The Conquistador’s desire to explore new worlds, gain political power and win fame and fortune motivated their actions and had a great impact on the New World. Licensed by the Spanish Crown, they endured extreme challenges to search for “The Indies” and its coveted spices. But primarily, it was greed that motivated the Spaniards in the conquests of the New World, and it was greed that turned what would have been a good situation into a bad one.
Montezuma was a very spiritual and superstitious leader and so when the Spaniards arrived in 1519, the Aztecs thought it was destiny as they had prophesized the arrival of one of their Gods from the East. But Cortes had other ideas. After being treated like a king during his arrival into Tenochtitlan and he and his men being housed in a palatial estate, Cortes stated to Montezuma that they had “a disease of the heart that could only be cured by gold.” Cortes then decided to take Montezuma hostage, telling the Aztecs an elaborate lie.
Cortes was acting out of so much greed that his governor back in Hispanola eventually realized that he wasn’t following orders and sent an army to arrest Cortes. Cortes squashed that army and ensured his free reign on the continent.
While Cortes was away and believing that the Aztecs were going to try to free Montezuma, the Spaniards attacked the Aztecs while they were celebrating a religious festival. This proves the Spaniards’ lack of understanding of the Aztec culture. After this unprovoked attack, the Aztecs fought back and forced the Spanish to retreat. Cortes had returned and he and his men retreated all the way to the Great Pyramid where they set fire to the Aztec idols.
After Cortes and his men escaped from Tenochtitlan, he and his Tlaxcalan allies prepared for war with the Aztecs. In late December 1520, Cortes led a huge army back to Tenochtitlan where he encountered a ready Aztec force that was, unfortunately, beginning to be decimated by illness, specifically smallpox, that was brought over by the Europeans. Cortes attacked with 16,000 men from three directions at once with 13 new ships. It took him three months to reach the city center and the fighting was so fierce that Lake Texcoco actually turned red from the blood. On the last day of fighting, 15,000 Aztecs died. The day that the siege of Tenochtitlan was over on the Aztec calendar was the first day of the Great Feast of the Dead, a month of traditional lamentation and remembrance.
Both the Spaniards and the Aztecs were used to using warfare as a means of obtaining natural resources. The Spaniards had been sailing the world trying to find the Northwest passage or other easier means of reaching India and the land of spices. The Aztecs had to use force to secure the kind of natural resources they would need to sustain their citizens and that lead to the formation of the triple alliance with the two other primary cultures of the Mexico valley.
The Spaniards and Aztecs were led to conflict primarily because of Cortes’ greed and his men’s misunderstanding of the Aztec culture. The primary motivation of Cortes and his men in “exploring” the new world was to seek out gold and power for themselves. The Aztecs accepted the arrival of the Conquistadors as a part of their very superstitious religion and what was supposed to happen on that day in that year. The primary reason the Aztecs continued to fight is that they were provoked by the Spaniards and furthermore, insulted by the Spaniards. Unfortunately, this led to the destruction of a beautiful ancient culture.
