Why Is Mctezuma Considered A Traitor

Moctezuma (1466-1520), was the ninth emperor of Mexico from 1502 to 1520. The Aztec Empire, which Moctezuma ruled until 1520, was taken over by Guetemoc after he was killed by his own men. The fall of the Aztec Empire was caused by Hernan Cortes, a Spaniard who invaded Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Empire, in the year 1519. This letter will include reasons as to why Moctezuma is considered to be a traitor and coward by his own people for betraying them in a time when they needed a strong leader. Hernan Cortes was one of the most famous conquistadors in Spanish history. Cortes left Spain and arrived in Hispaniola, current day Haiti and Dominican Republic, in 1504 where he stayed for two years before leaving for Cuba. From 1511 to 1518, Cortes

What made the empire so strong was their agriculture and military strength. The empire consisted of roughly five million people. The capital was n, present day Mexico City, and it contained about 200,000 citizens. Moctezuma broadened the gap between commoners and Nobel’s. Nobel’s were a part of the government and own most of the land while commoners made up 95 percent of the population and did most of the labor. While Moctezuma was a strong leader, he was also very strict and many did not like the separation between the commoners and Nobel’s, although it did not matter because commoners had no power over the government even though they made up 95 percent of the

He was so widely known because of this power and fight tactics that the Empire most likely would not have ever been attacked again. But, under Cortes’ orders, Moctezuma could not convince his people to accept Cortes as his ruler. Moctezuma was forced to go out on a balcony outside of his palace and approach his people with the idea of surrendering to Cortes and his people. At this point, Moctezuma became viewed as a coward and traitor. He was seen as a coward because he did not even attempt to fight Cortes. He did not stand by the Empire and protect its people. Instead, he surrendered himself to Cortes’ orders and lost control of his Empire. Although an eventual fall of the Aztec Empire was inevitable because of disease and other hardships, it didn't have to end because of the invasion of Cortes and Moctezumas negligence. The Aztecs were outraged by Moctezumas plea to get them to surrender to Cortes’ control so much that they essentially stoned him to death. By Cortes’ account, he claims that Moctezuma was stabbed to death by the swords of his men, many native accounts claim that Moctezuma was killed by stones. Moctezuma was pronounced dead on July 1, 1520. Bernal Diaz del Castillo was a soldier for Cortes who was involved in the hostage of Moctezuma and was there when Moctezuma was stoned to death by his own people. Bernal Diaz del Castillo