Why Are The Americans Necessarily Successful Against The Aztecs

In general, the historical explanations of how and why the Spaniards were so militarily successful against the Aztec, Inca and Maya find their base in the racist belief that European culture was superior to the indigenous cultures. For example, Prescott uses a “big man history” to explain the fall of the Aztecs, placing particular emphasis on the interactions of Cortés and Moctezuma, and how each individual helped determine the fate of his people. Cortés is portrayed as a cunning leader who outsmarted the irrational and religious Moctezuma. His narrative paints the Aztecs as superstitious, and almost unintelligent, and displays the clearly racist view that European culture was superior to that of the Aztecs. The principle factors that are generally

Guns and steel refer to the superior weapons of the Spaniards, which somehow allowed them to kill massive numbers of natives and escape almost untouched. Germs refers to the manner in which disease brought from Europe rampaged through the Aztec, Inca and Maya civilizations, weakening them to the point where they could not put up a substantial fight. Finally, technological superiority refers to the Spaniards’ use of boats, siege technology, and domestic animals, such as horses, which allowed them to conquer the indigenous populations. It could also refer to the literacy of the Spaniards that Diamond claims gave them a decided advantage against the Inca.

Clendinnen provides one of the principle critiques of technology as a cause of the Spanish military success. Clendinnen claims that war is a cultural construct, one in which different societies establish different rules for warfare that are legitimized by the community. Thus, the idea that technology was the downfall of the various indigenous groups