FALL of the Aztecs: How 400 Spaniards Toppled an Empire | Animated History

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In Mexico, the conquest is not seen as a defeat or victory but rather the birth of a new people. Makes sense given most of us are both descendants of the conqueror and the conquered

This is why diplomacy is always so important, had Cortez started conflict with the Aztec Empire vassals he would have lost more troops at the beginning just like he would have missed key allies that helped the Spaniards bringing down the tlatoani's reign.

400 Spaniards and a whole lot of locals who didn't much care for the ruling Aztecs. That, plus the devastation both intentional and unintentionally wrought by introduced diseases, is a story played out again and again in the new world conquests. The Inca were also brought down by a small group of Spaniards supported by various local groups who saw an opportunity to bring down their rivals.

Not only did Cortez happen upon a sailor who knew spanish and mayan but he happened upon 1 of only 2 men in the ENTIRE WORLD known to have spoken both languages. The other was Aguilar’s shipmate who decided to stay at the Mayan village where they had lived for the past year or two instead of look for the ship they had heard about from Mayan scouts. And not only did he find this guy but the slave he was gifted, was apparently one of a few people that could speak Aztec (Nahuatl), Mayan, and Tecpillahtolli (a courtly language used by Aztec nobility). Cortez was certainly a talented man but he also benefited from some insanely good luck.

Fun fact, marriage with natives was legalized in Spain in 1514, this is because native were seen subjects of the crown just like the rest of the Spanish, these marriage lead to a massive mixing of races. For context, the USA legalized interracial marriages in the 1960s, more than 400 years later.

Just one small thing about this video. The fact you animated that sponsor, which probably took a long time instead of being lazy is just amazing You didn’t even need to and they probably wouldn’t even care if you did it

when I read la conquista de Mexico by Hernán Cortez I couldnt believe that book wasnt more famous, its absolutely crazy that he wrote down so much of what happened

Also, during the seige was an event where the Spanish tried to make a trebuchet to make up for a lack of seige artillery. Because none of the engineers had made one before (and was about 80 years out of date), when the trebuchet was fired, it shot the stone directly into the air, which then came crashing down on the trebuchet, destroying it

The Aztecs had it coming. They were quick to make enemies with their neighbors, which in turn made it easy for their neighbors to join the Spanish in their conquest

It's great to see more non-world war 2 videos

Love the culturally localized animation style. You should do it more often when explaining past civilizations

I'm Colombian. I grew up hearing stories about the Spanish (the bad guys) and that the natives were peaceful people. When I was about 8 years old I asked my grandparents about our family lineage and was surprised to learn my family had immigrated in the late 1800's from Spain from both sides 😮, our skin tone/hair color should have given it away but when you are little you don't think about things like that. I suddenly found the Spanish to be a lot more likeable 😂😂😂

Really loving the more varied content of late! Not that I don't love your content dealing with modern military history; I just love seeing your high quality approach being applied more liberally to eras and events that are more peripheral to your more commonly covered subjects. Thank you🙏

In Mexico many see Doña Marina or Malinche as a kind of villain who sold her people (the natives) by aiding the Spaniards. The girl had been sold as a slave by her family and later gifted as a trophy to a Mayan chief; her aiding the side who treated her as someone useful and decent by comparison makes perfect sense. Latin American historiography often portrays the native cause as good and noble, even though most countries are composed in varying degrees by creole, mixed race and aboriginal population, and that most of us descend both from conqueror and conquered. A biased narrative that downplays that inter-native politics (and in this case, bloody Aztec tyranny which had caused vast resentment) had as much to do with the downfall of the native empires as gunpowder, horses, tactics and smallpox.

The bit about Cholula is missing some context. According to the Spanish, La Malinche was sent to the female quarters after the Spanish had been invited into the city. There she overheard some of the women talking about how the Cholulans were setting up an ambush for the Spanish, so she informed them of the danger. The Spanish then prevented the ambush and wanted to stop the fighting after a certain point but their native allies continued on, slaughtering the population. I'm not saying this is what happened, but that's from the Spanish perspective from one of the soldiers that was there, Bernal Diaz Del Castillo. The other narratives for the battle came from Diego Muñoz Camargo who was a historian born shortly after Del Castillo's book was published. He sent people out to the various villages so they could record the histories of their people, which is why you can get the perspective from the Spanish, the Tlaxcaltecas, and the Cholulans.

Cortes was a genius. I feel like the "Guns, Germs, and Steel" argument really takes away from Cortes' military and diplomatic skills, and completely overlooks the almost divine stroke of luck that Cortes had in having Jeronimo de Aguilar and La Malinche as translators that he was able to utilize to gain allies.

This whole event is one of the most amazing stories in history. How has this not been made into like an epic 10-part tv show, with a huge budget and a team of knowledgeable writers behind. It's not like theres a lack of source material

It's crazy how the conquistadors managed to still go proceed to conquer, knowing they were fewer in number, were marching into unknown territory, and knew if they got captured they would be used as human sacrifices. That's badassary in it's own respect.

An empire fell, but from its remains was born an even greater civilisation. The viceroyalty of New Spain.