And third is the belief Cortés’ Mesoamerican allies were largely to credit for his triumph. Second is the notion smallpox had so severely reduced the Aztecs that they were unable mount an effective resistance.

First was the relative superiority of Spanish military technology. Yet scholars of the period have long underrated his generalship, instead attributing his success to three distinct factors. On its face such a victory would suggest Cortés was a commander of tremendous ability. The force size ebbed and flowed, but he never commanded more than the 1,300 Spaniards he had with him at the start of the final assault. His initial force comprised 11 ships, 110 sailors, 553 soldiers-including 32 crossbowmen and 13 bearing harquebuses (early firearms)-10 heavy guns, four falconets and 16 horses. Envoys from every tribe in the former empire later came to gaze on the wrecked remains of the city that had held them in subjection and fear for so long.īut how had Cortés accomplished his conquest? Less than three years had passed since he set foot on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, yet he had destroyed the greatest power in Mesoamerica with a relative handful of men. House by house, street by street, building by building, his men pulled down Tenochtitlan’s walls and smashed them into rubble. After an 80-day siege Cortés had come to a terrible resolution: He ordered the city razed. The astonishing handover occurred amid the ruins of Tenochtitlan, the shattered capital of a mighty empire whose influence had stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific and extended from central Mexico south into parts of what would become Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. 13, 1521, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés received the surrender of Cuauhtémoc, ruler of the Aztec people.

American conquest no launch