Why Did The Spanish Conquer The Aztec Empire

When Hernan Cortes landed on the Yucatan Peninsula in 1519, one would never believe that his army of around 500, could conquer an empire of nearly 25,000,000 people. However, Cortes and his men didn’t really win, yet rode the coattails of their allies. Though the Spanish were powerful fighters with strong weapons, their technology alone couldn’t match the sheer numbers that their allies, namely the Tlaxcalan brought to the table. One other advantage to the Spanish was what the Aztec traditions and religion meant for battles. A large problem for the Aztec, in favor of the Spanish, was their want to injure and sacrifice their enemies . Finally, the Aztec empire, which was more of a loose collection of city states under a weak umbrella of leadership,

A strong governing body is necessary to make sure any effort, be it war or other, is effective and the Aztec governing body was not effective at all which played to the advantage of the Spaniards. A major problem that was present in Aztec leadership was their lack of control over their tributary states. For a state to really control a territory, they need to be able to have physical control, or troops in the territory. however, the Aztec simply didn’t have enough soldiers to control all of their tributary states thus they could resist to rule more easily . These tribute states were often more likely to join the Spanish force as they were often heavily taxed and fed up with having to give their own people to sacrifice in Tenochtitlan . Furthermore, the face and “commanding” body of the entire Aztec leadership was the empire, in this time being Montezuma. The Aztec position wasn’t similar to monarchical positions in Europe as the Aztec

When they first landed, the entirety of the Spanish forces were around 500 men which was then later increased to 1,300 by other reinforcements 1. But how could only 1,300 men take over a professional army of over 50,000? The Spanish’s key to this were their allies, notably the translator Dona Marina and allied city states. Arguably the most significant individual, in the Conquest of the Americas was Dona Marina or La Malinche. Dona Marina was a slave woman who was given to Cortes and his men who understood the Aztec and Mayan languages and worked with another translator to help the conquistadors communicate with locals and forge alliances. Bernal del Castillo, a soldier in Cortes’ army who later wrote famous memoirs, said that, “... without the help of Dona Marina we could not have understood the language of New Spain and Mexico.” . This quote is especially important as del Castillo could have claimed Spanish superiority over the Aztec, yet he chose to give credit to one of the most significant world events, to a slave woman. However, her work would have been in vain if it weren’t for the relationships she made with native city states. These city states were a major factor in the Spanish win as they did what the Spanish couldn't, provided a large army. After a long period of turmoil