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)
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,...
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.
Spain, as one of the most powerful nations in the old world, had a great influence on many events in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Spanish also had an influence on many other empires/nations' fate. One of the empires that suffered a grave fate at the hands of the Spanish was the Aztec empire. The Aztec empire was not the oldest Mesoamerican empire and it was formed from an agreement between three city-states. The Aztec's class system had the emperor on top, then the priests, and everyone else below them. The priests were responsible for keeping the gods happy. The sacrifice of goods and people was a commonplace in the Aztec culture, and it was often the goods/people of other nations that were taken for sacrifices. As one can imagine,
Comparing the Native Americans to the Spanish, you can already know that the Natives weren’t as advanced technology wise. While looking at how the Spanish were able to evolve steel into a musket and the Natives barely evolving steel into a sword, you can already tell the difference. As stated in “Guns, Germs, and Steel”, Natives struggled to advance because of the
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.
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
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
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.
Without expansion they could no longer give human sacrifices in the same amount in which they use too. Upon the arrival of the Spanish the Aztec government was falling apart, and "Moctezuma II programs of internal military consolidation and administrative and social stabilization had failed" (Conrad & Demmest). When the Aztec’s first met the Spanish they were amazed by them. The Spanish used the Aztec’s own legends to take advantage of them and gain the upper hand. Other disadvantages that the Aztecs had was the need to take prisoner to sacrifice, they were not untied with other tribes (Spanish were able to unite with other tribes to help fight the Aztecs), had primitive weapons, and couldn’t stay on the battle field for long, because they ran out of supplies quickly (Age of Reconnaissance 167).
...s in its Golden Age. Isabella and Ferdinand formed the Kingdom of Spain. Spain was not completely unified by the time they died, but it was well on its way to becoming Europe.
The Aztec army was made up of many warriors. These warriors were well organized and had an even more organized command structure. The common
In 1519 Hernando Cortes` led over 500 men into Aztec territory in search of gold, what he found were the magnificent golden statues of the Aztec deities. The Aztecs believed him to be the representative for some white skinned god, and hence feared and respected him. It was not until they saw him melting their statues and shipping the blocks of gold to Spain that they acted. They attacked Hernanado and his men, and succeeded in driving them off. However, Cortes returned later with the support of local Indian tribes that hated the Aztecs for centuries of cruel treatment to defeat the mighty Aztecs and take the empire. This ended the Aztec civilization forever.
August 13th, 1521 marked the end of a diabolical, yet genius group of leaders. They were referred to as the Aztecs. They were an extremely advanced ancient civilization. The Aztec’s were overthrown by the Spanish, yet we still haven’t forgotten the Aztecs. But since their culture was so complex it’s hard to know what is the most necessary thing to study when it comes to them, especially when their were so many things that defined their culture. The Aztecs were highly religious and believed in human sacrifice. They also had a complex method of farming called chinampas. This grew an extremely large amount of food per year by using canals. This was extremely successful because of how complex it was. When asked if historians should emphasize agriculture
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