Cortez & Montezuma Appointment With Destiny

the following program is being brought to you in a specially prepared gold tinted process [Music] the central highlands of Mexico the heart of an empire unseen by European man the gods ruled this land God's the demand human sacrifice even the Aztec emperor Montezuma must serve the gods he must appease the gods or they will turn nature against his people with fire flood and drought [Music] and the day upset Apple in the 17th year of his reign Montezuma is troubled by reports that a strange God is approaching his land so God comes his messengers tell him in mountains that move on the scene March 15 19 along the coasts of the new world the galleons of Hernando Cortes bring men in search of gold [Music] Spaniards encounter almost immediate resistance Indians from a coastal tribe outnumber them three hundred to one the Spaniards use of muskets and cannons save them from being instantly overwhelmed but the artillery only temporarily stops [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the spaniards faced debt when suddenly Cortes and 15 mounted horsemen appear the Indians food stood up against the cannon they're not brave their fears of the horse an animal they have never seen jubilant at their first victory the conquistadors will soon make peace with the coastal Indians they will demand and receive gifts of gold for the first time Cortes and his men will hear tales of the great Aztec city far off in the mountains a city of gold filled with all the treasures and tribute of conquered tribes the city was called Tenochtitlan it was 250 miles inland on the side of what is now called Mexico City it was the capital of the Aztec empire the seat of power of the great Lord Montezuma and for Cortes its conquest was to become an overwhelming obsession Cortez wanted fame as much as fortune and he knew that the European who conquered the Aztecs and carried off their treasure would have both 26 years had passed since Columbus had discovered the new world and no one had yet found the riches that were supposed to abound in the land Cortez's ambition and courage would lead him to stake his life in the challenge to reach Montezuma's capital [Music] ruthlessly what des takes the offensive with the zeal of a crusader he imposes the god of Catholics pain on the coast of Indians Cortez expects his victories to echo in the capital of Montezuma the reports alarmed the 52 year old monarch they confirm his belief that Cortez is Quetzalcoatl the God of the dawn and the light once one of the greatest of the Aztec gods Quetzalcoatl has been driven out of Mexico but a God of War but he has promised to return one day to reclaim his power Montezuma appears that Quetzalcoatl's return will provoke a cataclysmic war among the gods a war that could destroy the world increasingly Montezuma has been troubled by strange omens of Quetzalcoatl Second Coming comets with three tails have sped across the night sky fire has twice raged through the guards temples fire that water could not stop a furious storm erupted in the lake washing away the people's homes [Music] Montezuma himself has had a vision in which he saw an image of the God Quetzalcoatl return a God or the white face and a long beard he would come from the east from across the goal from the direction of the Sun and the Morningstar [Music] [Applause] vehicle of the consequences of Quetzalcoatl is coming to the capital Montezuma tries to turn him aside with gibbous from his Mountain Citadel to Cortez on the coast Montezuma sends the robes and other worldly possessions of Quetzalcoatl gold which the Spaniards of demander in each Indian village is sent in great abundance with the gifts comes an intriguing Cortes would stay away from Tenochtitlan and [Applause] [Music] Cortez replies to the Aztecs through one of his intermediaries an Indian woman he calls Dona marina part of the booty won in the last battle she quickly learns the language of portraits but Cortez does not answer the Aztec appeals with words alone [Music] [Applause] Cortez says he has come to this land in peace he then tells Montezuma's emissaries that to ensure peace he must have more gold later a member of the Spanish expedition remembers the Sun that they gave us was a pure gold and the moon was silver and there was Jade and there was jewels and it was more than any of us could ever dream of all of it was a gift from Montezuma we were told Montezuma Lydon a great the fortress city in a valley high in the mountains a city filled with even greater treasures Cortez behaved as if nothing unusual was happening to him he was treated like a god but even then I knew that with all that treasure around he has his mind pretty well made up he was not going to go away Cortez remained on the coast and although his instructions from the Spanish authorities are only to confirm reports of gold in Mexico and not to settle there he now leads scouting parties to find a site for a new village he will call the settlement Lobby arica della Veracruz the rich town of the true cross intent on gathering souls as well as gold he quickly imposes his faith on the neighboring Indians from Donna morena he learns much about the land and the people she tells him of a hatred many tribes feel against the oppressive rule of the aspects shrewdly Cortes determines to use that hatred the Tata Knox a coastal tribe have long been suffering under Aztec power aroused by Cortez the Tata Knox arrests Montezuma's tax collectors by this maneuver Cortez has forced the Tata knives into an alliance Cortez's pass has hardly prepared him for the role of conquering God reared in the provinces of sixteenth century Catholic Spain for tears was a brilliant law student who dropped out of school to become a gambler and a playboy then caught up in the fever of his time he followed Columbus to the West Indies in search of easy portrait though he prospers he still hungers for Fame and greater riches by political maneuver he wins command of an expedition to explore for gold in Mexico still a gambler he invests his entire personal fortune in the project and now in Mexico it takes an even bigger gamble to guard against desertion of his men Cortes destroys his own ships [Music] some of his men protest and are arrested on his hand others cry out that Cortez is leading them to slaughter they remind Cortez that he has overstepped his orders only to explore in answer what is speaks of the gold the riches that await them those that go with him will receive half of all the time the lure of gold is too great to resist despite Montezuma's hardening opposition to their coming the men elect to go forward backed by his men Cortes commits himself to march against Montezuma and the Aztec nation commissioned only to explore Cortez embarks on a road of conquest [Music] August 16th 1519 six months after landing in Mexico Cortez leaves his small but determined army on the first leg of their journey to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan not knowing what obstacles lie ahead these sixteenth-century fortune hunters set out on an incredible adventure that pits them against a nation of millions to reach the aspect capital the Spaniards must march 250 miles inland over two mountain passes more than ten thousand feet high before they encounter Montezuma zombies they must first conquer or make peace with successive Indian tribes along the way internethead lon Montezuma a man so powerful that no one may look upon his face now seeks the counsel of his magic men more than ever he believes that Cortez is the returning God Quetzalcoatl but troubled and filled with doubt he must now try to understand what the God wants the magic men and the priests only increased Montezuma's dilemma Cortez they tell him must be kept away from the capital yet under no circumstances can Montezuma hurt Cortez later an Aztec prince remembers in Topeka Kinki Mariah they came with priestly the clash between the God of War and Quetzalcoatl wait the quickly Moctezuma what earlier for this field Montezuma with a great anguish of wings when you're careful Ali's he could not eat come over later and I say was he could not sleep with a goat cheese he could not put his mind to anything or take ATP's or in a mechanic here they came Aquilani Coelho he did not want hotels to come to Tenochtitlan masking court Cortez colony Moctezuma the more gold he sent him to placate him paramatma wanna get him to go away every pan coil Cortez Amahl Cortez pushed forward [Music] the first week of the March is strenuous and taxing yet the Spaniard spirits are high along the way they hear more stories about the gold and treasures in Tenochtitlan the March is filled with tension but Cortes is wary about what Fox Montezuma is devising against him he tries to read the mind of an adversary he has never met [Music] [Applause] [Music] on August 23rd hungry and tired Cortez and his men approached the town of Chipotle now occupied by a garrison of Montezuma's Warriors Diego - Oh does remembers what happened next we're marching ready for battle and there in the plaza instead of encountering the Aztec army we encounter these skulls human skulls flying up so you can count them I don't know how many these were it seems like a hundred thousand of it the Aztec army there didn't move against us but we were warned that Montezuma will stop us with more than 150 thousand troops if we continue our march they warned us not to go to dinner state planning we would never get into that city it was an island alpha lake the only four cosway's leading to it they were telling us to go home because Tenochtitlan was impregnable the spaniards march on across the mountains there they encountered a strange barrier the indians from floods color have strong charms across the path hoping to stop the spaniards advance with magic the warnings ensure cortland and the mysterious charms have an unsettling effect on the Spaniards big on September 2nd the 18th day of their March the Spaniards enter the territory of influx Cullen Indians Cortez and his men are now only 80 miles from Montezuma's capital [Music] it's westfalen indians are at a disadvantage their religion compels them to take to the nose but sacrifice to other than kill the enemy in battle [Applause] but there's firepower turns back the first assaults but that night Cortes and his men desperately take shelter in the ruins of a nearby temple they've been warned that they will be attacked by an even greater army of flux columns the soldiers fearing death have their confessions heard by the priest on the expedition [Music] 45 Spaniards are already dead many are sick or wounded Cortese himself has the fever supplies and ammunition are low and with no possibilities of help from anywhere the spaniards prospects seemed hopeless a group of offices petitions cocktails to make an immediate withdrawal to the coast they won't cortez that even if they survive this battle they still must face the superior might of Montezuma's Aztec army you knowing that flight would be fatal Cortez counters we cannot retreat God's do not run away [Applause] unable to break the Spanish defense the clucks columns suddenly quit the battle when a major teeth is slain [Music] the chips from pluck Scala now make peace with Cortez they tell him that they too are enemies of Montezuma [Music] manipulating their hatred for the Aztecs Cortez now forms his first major war Alliance the warriors from pluck Scala will greatly increase the size of cortezes army the news of the alliance spreads alarm in the Aztec capital Montezuma crippled by uncertainty sacrifices to the war god [Music] he is increasingly people of a confrontation between the war guard and his old adversary Quetzalcoatl who is now rapidly approaching the city [Music] advancing torture Luna foretells is now only 60 miles away [Music] Oh [Music] he marches against the advice of his Indian allies Cholula they say is an Aztec stronghold they warned Cortes that Montezuma is certain to take action against the Spaniards there [Music] [Applause] but Cortese knows he's engaged in a war of nerves with Montezuma in a calculated gamble he decides not to bypass Tallulah later Donna marina Cortez's Indian translator remembers how the spaniards view the crisis our friend stole us we were working in to attack they told altered moctezuma's I mean was waiting for us at Tallulah that it was here that he meant to destroy us I myself was warned by an old woman who came to me in the night she told me to run away to skate immediately for the next day she said we were all to be killed I told Cortes about the old woman's warning and the next day when we march into town there were no women or children or all men in the streets because there's now believing that was going to be an ambush so he acted first hotels confront the Lords of Cholula with the rumours of an Aztec ambush then he orders his troops to kill them [Music] thousands died because fortes believes the rumors Montezuma's response to the massacre at Sevilla is Swift and battling he sends Cortez more gold [Music] instead of seeking revenge Montezuma sends a delegation of Aztec Lords to appease the Spaniards they tell Cortez that Montezuma has finally consented to allow him to visit to knock stickler [Music] the spaniels elation is tempered by distrust Montezuma would be laying a crap but Cortez's ambition is stronger than fear on November 8 15 1950 three days after leading Veracruz nine months after landing in Mexico Cortes and his men approached the outskirts of the fabled city of Tenochtitlan in an unprecedented gesture the great Lord Montezuma comes out of the Aztec capital to welcome Cortes who he believes is a returning God yet strangely Cortez's attempt to embrace the Emperor is restrained as an indignity [Applause] montezuma tells Cortez that the wise men have told him of his coming and he has prepared a royal palace for him but where's replies that he comes in feasts [Music] then Montezuma haunted by his doubts leads the Spanish army into the heart of his empire because Montezuma the most powerful man in the Western Hemisphere what is as his Conqueror enters the city as an invited guest he's filled with foreboding what turmoil will the returning God bring triumphant without battle Cortez and his men are also uneasy they remember the warnings that Montezuma would kill them once they were inside the Nazi plan [Music] but now they as a member of the expedition later recalls that eventful day we were scarcely 400 strong and that we were imagining to what was probably the biggest city in the world it was a daring thing to do I remember it like it was yesterday it was like a dream we were seeing things we have never seen before never even heard of the city was more beautiful than Toledo Segovia or Barcelona and clean it was impeccable a thousand Indians swept it every day but it was the canals that impressed off the most in this regard it was an even more beautiful city than Venice that night but his orders his cannon fired the intimidating sounds echo through the city the next day Cortes visits Montezuma he does not talk of gold he talks of Jesus Montezuma is an attentive but puzzle boo sauna Cortez asks the Emperor to abandon his multitude of gods and accept only Jesus Christ stunned Montezuma now realizes that Cortez cannot be the God Quetzalcoatl in the next days and Cortez tours the city Montezuma tries to redefine for himself who Cortez might be is it possible that he is a descendant or a messenger from Quetzalcoatl both of whom could demand that Montezuma renounced the old gods but to that question Montezuma has no answer or Cortez there are no uncertainties atop the pyramid of the war God fired by his nape he denounces Montezuma city he decries it as Satan's Citadel honor [Music] inside the temple Cortez insults the very God who banished Quetzalcoatl he denounces the war god and urges Montezuma to cast it out and replace it with an altar to the Virgin and her child in great alarm Montezuma orders Cortez from the temple to atone for the insult he makes a sacrifice to the war God unaware of the growing dissension among the Aztecs blow tears relentlessly pursues his main objectives souls for God and gold for men [Applause] during the first week in the city the spaniards find Montezuma's treasure it is discovered in a sealed room in the very palace they occupy Cortes order secrecy and that the treasure be sealed again until he is ready to act gustavo santa balkan padam to Cortese recalls what happened next now that we had the gold the question became how are we going to keep it and carry it away a few offers propose that we take him up to assume a prisoner call him as a ransom for our own security we figure that as long as we have him no one would hurt us but Patel turns down at least at first he was waiting for an excuse to move against Moctezuma it came when thematics attacked and killed one of our men De La Villa Rica de la Veracruz on November 14 Cortes with an incredible audacity places Montezuma under arrest Cortes knows the Aztec emperor can with a nod of his head have the Spaniards destroyed yet incomprehensibly Montezuma submits the Cortez's will he's removed to the Spaniards Palace there to remain under house arrest it was a very strange situation to understand that we must accept the fact that Montezuma believed that the gods wanted him to be Cortes prison it was really not a prison of Cortez but of himself his own believes he could have escaped anytime I had great affection for Moctezuma we all did even Cortez I could see with my own eyes how he looked assumed I knew to care for each other you know that fort is whose religion was a passionate one really was concerned tupac assumed I was an incident in the following months Cortez and Montezuma entered into a strange accommodation a sharing of power in a joint rule of the Empire strangers from different worlds they draw closer day by day talking and even playing games but beneath their pastimes they are playing a larger game Montezuma is buying time waiting for a sign from the gods Cortez is hoping to win one last act of submission from the Aztec emperor he achieves it in December 15 19 - oh ma swales loyalty to Cortez in the spanish king he gives them the entire Aztec treasure Cortez has his conquest he throws it away almost immediately in an impulsive gesture for Christ [Music] Cortez attacks the God of War not assume as priests now ordained that Cortes and his men must die the amount of war had broken the peace and now were the priests against them the Spaniards feared an attack [Music] in May of 1524 Tears prepares to leave the city Montezuma bids his Conqueror a strained farewell portes leaves behind the garrison of only 80 spaniards under the command of his hot-tempered captain Ted rota Alvarado he expects a quick in successful campaign and an early return to Tanaka class Donna marina however else Cortez that the Aztecs believe he will be defeated Montezuma she says hopes never to see Cortez again in cortezes absence the important annual Fiesta of hospital in honor of a God of War it's celebrated by the Aztec warrior [Music] the Aztecs have brought no weapons into the plaza but the Spaniards nervous and tense see the gathering of warriors as a prelude to insurrection [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] every man in the sacred square is slaughtered there go to Alvarado who ordered the massacre recalls what happened next the city exploded citizens and slaves the briefs and the army fell on us on such a fury we were driven back to the palace well we were long fearing hell happened we were trapped inside the new chief lon Alvarado and his men are cut off from food and water Montezuma still held hostage inside the Spaniards Palace is a helpless spectator to the sea [Music] Cortez receives word by messenger of Alvarado's plight confident he can lift the siege he orders a series of exhausting forced marches back to Kenosha clan he reaches the Aztec capital on June 24th he leads his men toward the palace along the route of their once triumphal entry the streets are uncannily quiet there is no welcomed or a show of opposition having allowed Cortes to enter the palace the Aztecs resumed the sea instead of lifting the siege Cortes is now also trapped with the battle going badly for the Spaniards Cortez's only hope is to appeal to Montezuma for help [Music] but Montezuma no longer rules in Mexico shamed before the Aztec Lords he's been stripped of his throne Cortez has destroyed the only man who now could help him with the Spanish forces near collapse Cortez asks Montezuma to negotiate a truce evil would draw his men from the city if the Aztecs will stop their attacks Montezuma answers that he is helpless to stop the war the Aztec warriors have named the new Emperor he says and that new emperor has resolved that Cortez shall die but on four tears his further appeals Montezuma agrees to play out of drama he no longer understands [Music] [Applause] warriors who once peered even to look at his face now see Montezuma has a compromised and deposed monarch tears drown out his plea for them to lay down their eyes suddenly Montezuma once the most powerful man of the empire is struck down [Music] Montezuma's wounds are only superficial but he is suffering now from a deeper wound he cannot live without his honor he refuses all foods or medicine seeking death [Music] [Music] on June 30th 1520 less than 8 months after his first meeting with Hernando Cortez Montezuma dies in depth Montezuma cheats Cortez of a final victory he refuses conversion to the Spaniards faith Cortez wept for him the captain in the soldiers wept for him but he was like a father and he was good his body was given back to the Aztecs and when they saw him dead we heard our cries of grief for the great Montezuma gone we knew we had but one course we must escape for death was staring us in the face the night after Montezuma's death Cortez and his men prepared to escape from the city the soldiers carry away what they can a be a state treasure burdened with gold they forget the only way out of Tenochtitlan is over water near midnight Cortez leads the Spaniards and their Indian allies on to the tacuba causeway beyond it lies safety for the first time the Spaniards encounter the legendary courage of the Aztecs [Music] [Music] you [Music] no longer protected by the myth that he's a god Cortez tastes the Davina's of defeat the gold for which the Spaniards had risked everything drags many of them to the bottom of the lake [Applause] [Music] the next morning Cortese measures the dimensions of his defeat he has lost more than half of his men most of his horses and all of this cannon and ammunition after one of the most extraordinary marches in history he has lost everything on his authority alone he has waged the campaign of conquest and failed now instead of glory and fame he faces disgrace and Punch fortune said Cortes is always on the side of the brave he believed that a man of courage could achieve anything simply by persevering in the days of Pranav his first defeat at the hands of the Aztecs Cortes persevered he fell back to clucks collar the city of his Indian allies and they rebuilt his army five and a half months later he reinvade it to nut Caitlyn the battle for the Aztec capital raged for months when it was over Cortes had achieved his conquest but the once beautiful city of Tenochtitlan was completely destroyed atop its ruins Cortes began to build a new capital today Mexico City is one of the great cities in the Western Hemisphere [Music] Cortez's future however was not as bright as the city he founded for all his achievements he died in Spain at the age of 62 ignored by his king and robbed of the glory he so desperately craved [Music] Donna marina endowed by Cortez died a rich woman in Mexico although she bore Cortez a son he never married him some of the Spaniards in Cortez asami died in bed but most met their end on the battlefield others were hanged as criminals of Cravens the Aztec civilization with its mystery and beauty disappeared forever I hope you've enjoyed the special presentation of Cortez in Montezuma now stay with us as we continue our celebration of premiere week here on A&E with an equally special episode of Sherlock Holmes mysteries and join me next week at this time when we explore the mysteries of the Great Pyramid I'm David Wolper thanks for watching [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Bob Daugherty

Views: 2,324

Rating: 4.5999999 out of 5

Keywords: Cortez, Cortes, Moctezuma, Montezuma, Spanish Conquest, Sacrifice, Black Legend, Aztec

Id: fmSb_YVqyOY

Length: 45min 18sec (2718 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 13 2017