The Victory of Spanish over the Aztecs

The victory of Cortes over the Aztec was the result of certain military advantages the conquistadors enjoyed, as well as specific problems that weakened the Aztec people and made the empire more vulnerable. It is almost impossible to believe that a small amount of Spanish soldiers were able to conquer the mighty Aztec empire in this historic battle. As soon as Cortes and his army arrived to Mexico in 1519, where the Aztec used to live.

They were kindly received by the emperor Montezuma, and their main goal of coming to Tenochtitlan was the gold. According to Sahagun, (2009), ‘’ when the Spanish had given the gold, they seemed to smile, to rejoice and to be very happy. Like monkeys they griped the gold’’, (p. 112). Despite their small number, the Spanish has defeated the Aztec, because of many advantages, such as the military technology they had, which were based on firearms, swords made by steel and iron and riding horses were a great advantage.

Also, they had better weapon and a lot of the Aztec were scared of horses. Moreover, the Spanish looked like gods to the Aztecs, because of their aggression in killing people. What is more, the diseases that the Spanish carried, like smallpox and malaria, helped them a lot in victorious. “ The pustules that covered people caused great desolation; very many people died of them, and many just starved to death; starvation regained, and no one took care of others any longer” (Sahagun, 2009, page 114).

On the other hand, before the Spanish reached Mexico, there were many problems that faced the Aztecs, for example because of the Aztecs religion, it requested a large number of human sacrifices, which considered as an honor, where to be made to the Gods. “ Once when Duran asked why the people were not content to sacrifice animals, he was told that the sacrifice of humans was the honored offering of a great lord “ (Duran,2009,page 407). Furthermore, the Aztecs were not able to be united with other tribes, so the Spanish took this point as an advantage, by united with other tribes to fight the Aztecs.

All of these factors were important reasons to destroy the Aztec’s civilization. In conclusion, the Spanish had no mercy in fighting with Aztec and they made many massacres back that time. They used many powerful battle methods against the Aztec, like swords, horses and diseases . Also, there were some interior troubles inside the Aztec society such as human sacrifices. after long battle between the Spanish and the Aztec and a long siege of the capital Tenochtitlan, where much of the population died from hunger and diseases.