When the conquistadors were battling the Aztecs, weapons that were thousands of years apart were pitted against each other. The Spaniards had the best European steel available, as well as an early form of musket, while the Aztecs fought with weapons made from wood, rock, and copper.(Hassig, 1992) The machuahuitl, a razor sharp sword, the tematlatl, a sling, and the tlacochtli, an obsidian pointed spear, were all simplistic, but the Aztecs could cause remarkable damage with these weapons. Conquistadors were equipped with steel swords and lances, and horses made the cavalry remarkably effective in combat. While it seems that this was a one sided fight, the conquistadors continuously struggled against these opponents. During his conquest of Central America, Hernán Cortés had difficultly subduing the local populations. Conquistadors were matched up against a culture that was in a continuous state of war, and had extremely deadly warriors.(Hassig, 1992) Steel armor and weapons, as well as guns, were not as decisive as history shows. The Aztecs were able to hold their own in battle, and were far from the primitive tribe that conquistador’s merely steamrolled over.
Spain emerged with a central identify in 1469. Until this point, Spain was involved in a civil war. Fighting ceased with the marriage of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand.(Bowen, 2007) Within a few decades, Columbus made his historic journey with Spain’s backing, and arrived at what is now Central America. With a recently unified identity, and the practically untapped resources of the land, Spain quickly started colonizing the continent.(Bowen, 2007)
Over the course of colonization, several conquistador groups traveled to the Americas. Many conquist...
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...adors were more sophisticated, and had developed from an entirely different type of combat known to the Aztecs. The Aztecs basically lived on their military training, which was far more extensive than most military training in Spain. While Aztec combat focused on capturing prisoners, European military techniques were made to kill and destroy and opponent. The Aztecs were a culture which placed so much importance on their military; they started wars simply because of a need to sacrifice victims. This culture was also in a near continuous state of war with their neighboring people. Much like the Spartans of Europe, every single male received military training.(Katz, 1958) This requirement helped make the Aztec army highly effective in battle. Aztec culture helped create a fighting force that was among the best in the Americas at the time.(Cortes-Rincon, 2013)
1) The Aztecs, like most societies, had a type of class structure. There were two main classes. The first was the class of the nobles or the pilli. The second class were the commoners or the macehaulli. There were also many subsets to these groups that held different responsibilities in societal life. Nobility was thought to be mostly hereditary. The nobles were educated from a young age to be leaders in Aztec society. However, the commoners had a variety of occupational choices. They were the farmers, merchants, and could even be athletes. Art, social events, and religion were all a huge part of Aztec culture. The Aztecs had a game known as Ullamaliztli and the athletes that played in these games were a kind of celebrity in Aztec culture. One interesting thing about their culture was the mandatory education. Once the women and the men were properly educated it would be time to marry. Marriages in Aztec culture were arranged and were also very closely intertwined with religion. There are many fascinating things about the Aztec culture, but perhaps the most important to them was their religion.
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
Slide 2 transition into slide 3- Once Cortes and his small army defeated Montezuma’s powerful Mexican Aztec warriors, which outnumbered the Spaniards 10-1. The riches in form of Gold started to flood into Spain.
The Aztec’s and Incas seemed like a very well devoted tribe to one another. Even though they only lived a few thousand miles away from each other and didn’t know about each other they were well known. The artifacts left behind shows that they were very advanced, and the food they ate they knew how to take care of their bodies. The Aztec and Inca’s also knew how to prepare for war also. These two tribes are some of the best warriors known to man.
...aniards, Mexicans, and Americans. The Aztec unlike the Kiowa warned their enemy before attacking them. When they decided to attack a city, an ambassador was sent to offer protection in turn for gold or a precious stone. The Aztec gave them about 20 days to make a decision. If the city refused, the Aztec sent more ambassadors and told the city leaders about the destruction of their city if they refused. If the city still refused, the Aztec would start a war against the city and destroy it. In these wars the Aztec took prisoners for sacrifice and precious stones or gold.
The Aztec Empire was the most powerful Mesoamerican kingdom of all time. They dominated the valley of Mexico in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Aztecs were an advanced and successful civilization that built beautiful, sophisticated cities, temples, and pyramids. They also created a culture full of creativity with mythological and religious traditions. Aztecs lead a structured and evocative life that let their society to become a very superior civilization. The Aztec’s communication skills were very well developed for their time; through religious beliefs, government involvement, and family life they lived a full and productive life. Until in 1519 when the Spanish conquistadors arrived in Mexico, and defeated the Aztecs.
According to Mexicolore.com, the Aztecs standard strategy was that it would usually start off with a barrage of arrows and slings while both sides advance. While running, the front row soldier would use their atlatl to do some damage before they meet. Once close enough, the barrage would stop, to avoid friendly fire, and the battle would begin. Those in the front row would fight for a while and rotate out of battle to rest their arms. During the battle, the Aztec would also capture some prisoners. But the Spanish had a different strategy. Their tactic was to walk in rows of men with muskets. When the first row shoots, they will drop back to reload, while the second row fires a second round of shots, and fall back to reload, followed by another row, and so on. The most preferred battlefield is a flat terrain or open ground, so there will be no obstacles in the way, when shooting. Another tactic was called the Conquistador’s Formula. According to the notes, this is when the Spanish would act peacefully in a new region, and figure out which area was the most powerful. They would then invite the leader of the most powerful group to a meeting and exchange gifts. They would then kidnap the leader and threaten to kill him, unless the followers obeyed their orders. The Spanish will then take over the land and use the people as slaves. One similarity is that their tactics both involve
“Thunder on their ships” can be used to describe Herman Cortes when he landed at what is now Veracruz, Mexico in 1519 A.D. The light skinned and bearded Spaniard led his men into territory occupied by the Aztec civilization. Little did Cortes know, but that happened to be the same year in the Aztec culture when a white and bearded deity was expected to arrive. Montezuma, the Aztec’s ruler, greeted Cortes with honors fit for a God and opened up his empire for Spanish invasion. Cortes and his followers, equipped with the most up to date technology of the time, successfully caused the demise of the Aztec civilization. However, the most contemporary weaponry and technology did not solely destroy the Aztecs. Smallpox, a deadly disease introduced to the Americas by Spanish soldiers, infected the non-immune natives who died rapidly after exposure (Ehrlich, 253). This epidemic swept through the Aztec population, decreasing numbers from twenty-five million to six million (Ponting, 230). The European invasion of the Aztec civilization is just one of many examples of how European expansion affected the world. For centuries, Europeans were the leaders of expansion and exploration to many areas of the world. However, expansion of other, less researched civilizations, such as the Aztecs, occurred on a much smaller scale. The differences between the movement of the Aztec people and the Europeans as well as their effects on the environment are directly correlated to cultural and technological factors of both...
The religion and culture of the Aztecs played a role in the way the way they thought and fought. They worshiped the war-god Huitzilopochtli. He was identified with the sun and was called "the Giver of life" and "the Preserver of Life" (xxxix). The religion carried some ridiculous rituals such as human sacrifice along with using magicians and wizards to cast spells. In war conditions, human sacrifice played a big role because the Aztecs would not fight to kill,...
When the Spaniards arrived on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico in 1519, they encountered the advanced society of the Aztecs. With Tenochititlan at its capital, the Aztec empire was vast. The Aztecs had substantial wealth from trading and extensive payments of tribute from conquered peoples. Bernal Diaz in his The Conquest of New Spain comments, "We were dazzled at the richness of the country that we passed through" (282). The Spaniards encountered a powerful, advanced people in the New World, making Cortes and his crew of approximately 600 seemingly ensured of defeat. The Aztec religion lends much to Spanish success in conquest.
The Rise and fall of the Aztec Empire is possibly the most important area of study in the modern world. Of all of the nomadic tribes who migrated into Mexico, the Aztecs were one of the last. At first driven away by established tribes, the Aztecs slowly began to develop an empire of immense wealth and power by the late fifteenth century. Due in large part to the accomplishments of their ruler Itzcoatl, the empire expanded to include millions of people from a number of different tribes, including the Cempoala, who would later aid the Spanish in defeating the Aztecs. Because of the "melting pot" within the empire, the Aztecs had a very diverse culture. However, this immense Aztec Empire would soon be brought to its knees by the doings of one man and his army.
Beginning in 1492, Spain had been the first European nation to sail westward across the Atlantic Ocean and colonize the Amerindian nations of the Western Hemisphere. The empire that came from this exploration extended from Virginia on the
...The last two reasons that the Aztecs were defeated had to do with the disease that the Spaniards brought with them from Europe mainly small pox and the Aztec warfare rituals. The Aztecs had never been exposed to this disease and therefore their immune systems could not beat it and it eventually claimed the lives of thousands of Indians not only the Aztecs. The Aztecs had many rituals that they performed and most of them had to do with human sacrifice and this was something unspeakable and unholy in the eyes of the Spaniards which only fueled their cause in killing them and stopping such barbaric acts. Also the Aztecs would perform rituals before declaring war which the Spaniards used to their advantage and caught them off guard with their immediate attack of Tenochtitlan. These were the most important factors that led to the eventual fall of the Aztec empire.
The author argues that the Spanish were completely at fault for the total destruction of the Aztec Empire. In Broken spears, the author explains how many factors other than Spanish power contributed to the downfall of the Aztecs. Not only did the Spanish have many advantages over the Aztecs, but also they also exploited them and took advantage of the cultural difference. The main key aspects to the Spanish victory, is that the Spanish were viewed as gods at first because of their appearance, the Aztecs welcomed the Spanish with gifts and festivities, which showed the Spanish had total control of people. The Aztecs also held a ritual ceremony for the arrival of the “god” that included a human sacrifice, which was seen by the Spanish as a disgusting act, this trigged Spanish hatred for the Aztecs. When the Spanish saw the resources that the Aztecs had, they quickly started taking advantage of the Aztecs weaknesses. The Spanish had more power; they were better equipped than the Aztecs and more advanced. The Aztecs’ leader Montecuhzoma was a weak leader, he was more of a coward, more concerned with his well being and safety than the safety of his people and kingdom so he quickly surrendered under pressure. The Spanish used surrounding enemy tribes to take over the Aztec lands, then began to massacre men, women and children. When the Aztec became angry and started to fight back, they were quickly wrecked by the diseases the Spanish ...
Victors and Vanquished by Stuart Schwartz attempts to explore differing perspectives of the conquest of Mexico as the historical narratives are from both the outlook of the Spanish conquistadors as well as the Nahua peoples. In these primary sources, there was a fundamental focus on the encounters between the Spaniards and the Mexica. The first source is an excerpt from The True History of the Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz del Castillo, a Spanish conquistador, who participated as a foot solider in the conquest of Mexico with Hernán Cortés. Although Díaz del Castillo was a witness of the conquest, he wrote his account of what he had witnessed decades after the Spanish victory, in 1521. In his account, Díaz del Castillo concentrated on the ways in which the Spanish viewed the Nahua peoples. The second source is taken from the Florentine Codex and is one which was collected twenty