Aztecs: Arrival of Cortes and the Conquistadors

[Music] the conquest of Mexico was the fatal result of the meeting of two worlds the Spanish conquest was shaped not only by military matters but also by language diplomacy and the laws of Spain and the Triple Alliance in this video we will look at how Ann and Cortez started the conquest of Mexico Moctezuma had been plateau and knee of the Aztec empire since 1502 under his rule the Empire had reached never-before-seen heights and its borders reached their greatest extent his people were made rich by the taxes and tribute flowing in from across the Empire when reports began to slowly trickle in of strange encounters on the coast with pale skinned men they seemed innocuous moctezuma's capital was already filled with foreigners and the air at the great market of classy loco buzzed with a cacophony of different languages meanwhile in Cuba events were ramping up after two disasterous expeditions governor Diego velázquez was planning a third hoping that riches could be found on the nearby landmass in and Oh Cortes was appointed the Calvillo of the upcoming expedition and tasked with exploration and modest trade however soon Velazquez lost his trust in Cortes and another caudillo was appointed soon this captain was murdered while Cortes hastily left the island for the Yucatan on the 18th of February 15 19 he had 530 European soldiers among them 30 crossbowmen 2rq busman and two conquistadores and also a few hundred cuban natives and african slaves most importantly 16 horses were also taken along with war dogs usually Irish Wolfhounds and Mastiffs Cortes also had several cannon Cortez won his first victory in Maya territory but it was linguistic in nature as he discovered a castaway Spanish priest Errani Modi Aguilar who had learned one of the Maya languages after moving on from Cozumel and landing at Pathan Chan Cortes defeated the local Maya in a battle and he was given some women by them one of them spoke both Maya and the Mexico language dubbed La Malinche she translated moussaka into Maya which was translated by her own emoji Alcala into Spanish many things were lost in translation but for the first time diplomacy between the natives and Spaniards was possible language would become just as important as horse or cannon in this conflict with translators by his side and tales of a goldrich Empire further north Cortes moved further up the coast and landed in modern-day Veracruz over the next few days moctezuma's diplomats arrived golden gifts were poured upon the conquistadors sleeping quarters were built and servants were made available for them as both of these representatives of two great empires mingled and gorked at each other on the beach one of the most dangerous questions in history was asked Cortes said to the Mexican ambassador does Moctezuma possess much gold the response was yes Moctezuma was in the house of serpents a part of his zoo when the messengers arrived these were the same men reported over the years they rode bizarre-looking deer and had sticks that created lightning along with beasts that launched rocks from their bellies that could destroy hillsides Moctezuma the all-powerful God Emperor who was famously decisive was unsure of how to proceed should he kill these foreigners immediately this would violate all Mexico diplomatic customs could he use them for his own gain then what exactly were their motives and could they threaten the stability of his empire the Emperor's brother quit now whack along with his cousin Cao jamoke continuously pushed the idea that these were Raiders who shouldn't be trusted quit Lau work advise Moctezuma not to allow into your house someone who will put you out of it meanwhile Cortez was discussing Moctezuma with the local Tata nack to informed the conquistadors that his people had to pay yearly tribute to the massacre this chief informed Cortez of others that disliked Moctezuma lords who felt passed over for rulership in Texcoco vassals unhappily paying tribute and especially the clash Cala who would all join his side if he chose to march on Tenochtitlan this promise changed everything for Cortez until now his highest goal would have been to win some land and to extract as much gold as possible now the opportunity to take an empire for himself was within reach however Cortez had another issue to resolve since his departure from Cuba he had been acting illegally not only had he left after being replaced his orders to explore and trade had obviously been completed at this point in order to circumnavigate the legality of his actions Cortez and his men founded a town villarrica de la Veracruz a town council was quickly appointed and Cortez presented himself before them it was decided that Cortez's mission had been completed and he stepped down as caudillo immediately the council nominated Cortez as captain of his Majesty's armies until instructions would state otherwise this was an obvious misuse of the law but if Cortez could conquer Mexico quickly then it would surely be accepted by the king with his translators and native allies Cortes set out towards Tenochtitlan the expedition soon entered slash Carla territory the first encounters were violent constantly harassed by trash Karla and her tommy warriors the conquistadors suffered their worst losses up until then a number of invaluable horses were killed and many Spaniards were wounded they were overwhelmed by the trash Colin numbers but these numbers also allowed the horses and cannon to smash through the in tightly packed armies and thousands were killed however the Spaniards suffered some casualties in each battle and that was untenable for the conquistadors they couldn't defeat the trash Cala outright and couldn't continue taking small numbers of casualties the trash Karla had been in a perpetual state of war with the Empire and soon concluded that these powerful foreigners were more useful to them alive than dead no one had more motive to topple the Aztec empire on the 23rd of September 15 1940s entered slash Calais City and an alliance was secured Cortes now set off towards Tenochtitlan with an army that was less than 5% Spanish while Cortes moved his massive multi-ethnic army through trash karla territory moctezuma's emissaries continued to visit him bringing gifts and warning him that the trash Karla could not be trusted Cortez ignoring that continues to march towards the massacre allied city of Cholula home to the largest pyramid structure on earth and an extremely important pilgrimage site in the Mesoamerican world the Lords of Cholula welcomed them however the Spaniards suspected a conspiracy planned either by the Lords of Cholula or Moctezuma Cortes asked them to meet him at the temple of Quetzalcoatl they poured into the courtyard after which the doors were closed by the conquistadors Cortes demanded to know why the lords had planned to kill him and his men and decreed that by the laws of Spain treason such as this must be punished an alchemist was fired as a signal and she conquistadors began to cut down the lords the killing continued in the streets by the end of the two-day sacking the city was in flames and 3,000 lay dead prisoners were sent off to trash Calliphora tears and his army again set off on the 8th of November 1519 the Spanish and their native allies marched down the main causeway two Tenochtitlan crossbowmen gunmen horses and war painted natives streamed up the wooden causeway in a tight formation despite all that had occurred Moctezuma agreed to meet Cortes on the causeway the Meshiach a tradition of hospitality could not be broken on that causeway an emperor and a conquistador met and the history of our world changed forever the Spaniards were given lodgings in a palace that once belonged to moctezuma's father over the next few days they toured the city which bored the Spaniards however soon they noticed their precarious position and became Restless the massacre could easily kill them all in their sleep or cut off any retreat by removing the wooden bridges each lash calles distrust only worried the conquistadors more soon Cortes found his man in a near panic and wanting to leave in order to restore faith in the mission a decision had to be made Cortez and Moctezuma met only 14th of November for one of their regular discussions they had become accustomed to speaking to each other about their respective empires and religions with him Cortes brought about 30 armed men as well as his interpreters soon Cortes accused Moctezuma of treason he said that he was willing to forgive Moctezuma if he accompanied the Spaniards do their lodgings if he made a noise however his captains may kill him thus Moctezuma traveled across Terence ticklin on a litter carried by his noblemen several of whom asked if they should fight the Spaniards but were ordered not to and started ruling his empire as a prisoner the curiosity of the massacre turned to resentment and for the first time they were questioning the actions of their Emperor meanwhile Cortes got news that a Spanish ship had been spotted near Veracruz Pan fellow de Nevarez had been sent by the last guest to kill or capture Cortes leaving his least reliable soldiers under the command of Pedro de Alvarado to guard Moctezuma Cortes set out against in Nevarez he brought La Malinche with him which left the Spanish in Tenochtitlan without a translator the mood in the streets and squares near the Spanish quarters was volatile the massacre no longer considered the Spaniards to be guests the tensions came to a head during the celebration of the Feast of tashkent in the lead-up to the feast it seems Alvarado grew more and more paranoid he captured and tortured citizens to learn about what was going on the force dancers and bad translations only proved more to him that the people were planning a revolt the fear of being attacked and sacrificed could no longer be contained Alvarado decided to strike first the day of the festival arrived priests made offerings the music of drums and flutes filled the air feathered dancers put on magnificent shows while on lookers watched and prayed Alvarado and his troops entered the temple grounds wearing armor little attention was paid to them the conquistadors slowly moved into strategic locations around the festival-goers while others blocked the exits Alvarado shouted let them die and swords were drawn soon three thousand people lay dead in the temple and the killing continued in the streets most of the Aztec nobility lay dead only Moctezuma and a lucky few survived madness took the city as the massacre organized a counter-attack things settled down only after Alva forced Moctezuma to address his people and beg them to stop the spaniards hid in their quarters as the city mourned meanwhile Cortes had won his battle at the coast and absorbed most of the enemy soldiers into his own army as he entered Tenochtitlan the city was completely silent Cortes met with Alvarado in their quarters and heard about what has transpired the Spanish in the city soon found themselves attacked whenever they ventured into the streets Cortez was surrounded and besieged the people had rallied behind moctezuma's brother qui t'a looook who had been planning resistance for some time now join us on Sunday for the bloody conclusion in this series the siege of Tenochtitlan make sure you are subscribed to our channel and have pressed the bell button we would like to express our gratitude to our patreon supporters and channel members who make the creation of our videos possible now you can also support us by buying our merchandise via the link in the description this is the kings and Generals channel and we will catch you on the next one

Channel: Kings and Generals

Views: 596,292

Rating: 4.9026818 out of 5

Keywords: aztec empire, hernan cortes, the last aztec documentary, conquistadors documentary, spanish conquistadors documentary, aztec empire documentary, ancient aztec documentary, the conquistadors documentary, conquistadors documentary michael wood, conquistadors documentary bbc, hernan cortez, kings and generals, history lesson, ancient history, documentary film, full documentary, world history, animated documentary, decisive battles, historia civilis, maya, inca, moctezuma, montezuma

Id: suRAVIndO4Y

Length: 14min 6sec (846 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 11 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/redjoker00]

ah the favorite touchy subject of this subreddit, throw some americans "stealing" "our clay" video while you're at it.