Fall of Tenochtitlan Totally Explained

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The Fall of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire, came about through the manipulation of local factions and divisions by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés. Though numerous battles were fought between the Aztecs and the Spanish army, which was composed of predominantly indigenous peoples, it was the siege of Tenochtitlan that was the final, decisive battle that led to the downfall of the Aztec civilization and marked the end of the first phase of the Spanish conquest of Mexico. The conquest of Mexico was part of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.

Early events

The Road to Tenochtitlan

In April 1519, Hernán Cortés, previously the Chief Magistrate of Santiago, Cuba, landed on the coast of Mexico at a point which he named Vera Cruz with approximately 450 soldiers. Cortes was sponsored by the Governor of Cuba, Diego de Velazquez. Velazquez appointed Cortes to lead an expedition into Mexico after the reports from few previous voyages to the Yucatan caught the interest of Spanish colonists in Cuba. He soon came into contact with a number of tribes who resented the Aztec rule; Cortés skirmished with some of these natives, such as the Totonacs and Tlaxcalans. Bernal Diaz del Castillo wrote that they probably wouldn't have survived if it weren't for Xicotencatl the Elder and his wish to form an allegiance with the Spaniards against the Aztecs.
   A widely cited myth states that the Aztecs initially thought Cortés to be Quetzalcoatl, a mythical personage prophesized to return to Mexico in the year Cortes landed, and from the same direction. This is now widely-believed to be a post-conquest invention, and most scholars agree that the Aztecs were quite aware that Cortés wasn't a god. An encounter between Moctezuma, the Aztec ruler, and Cortes displays the notion the Aztecs realized Cortes wasn't a deity, but a human. Moctezuma lifted his shirt displaying his abdomen saying, "I am mortal blood as you're mortal blood,"; after this gesture gifts were exchanged.
   Moctezuma sent a group of noblemen and other agents of his to meet Cortes at Quauhtechcac. These emissaries brought golden jewelry as a gift, which greatly pleased the Spaniards.
   Cortes continued on his march towards Tenochtitlan. Before entering the city, on November 8, 1519 Cortes and his troops prepared themselves for battle, armoring themselves and their horses, and arranging themselves in proper military rank. Four horsemen were at the lead of the procession. Behind these horsemen were five more contingents: foot soldiers with iron swords and wooden or leather shields; horsemen in cuirasses, armed with iron lances, swords, and wooden shields; crossbowmen; more horsemen; soldiers armed with arquebuses; lastly, native peoples from Tlaxcalan, Tliliuhqui-tepec, and Huexotzinco. The indigenous soldiers wore cotton armor and were armed with shields and crossbows; many carried provisions in baskets or bundles while others escorted the cannons on wooden carts. Cortes’s army was amicably received by Moctezuma, who was later taken hostage as a safety measure by the vastly outnumbered Spanish. Other lords were also detained by the Spanish.
   Cortes and his army were permitted to stay in the Palace of Axayacatl, and tensions continued to grow. While the Spanish were in Tenochtitlan, Governor Velazquez, the highest Spanish authority in the Americas, assembled a force of nineteen ships, more than 800 soldiers, twenty cannons, eighty horsemen, one-hundred twenty crossbowmen, and eighty arquebusiers under the command of Pánfilo de Narváez to capture Cortes and return him to Cuba. Velasquez felt that Cortes had exceeded his authority, and had been aware of Cortes misconduct nearly a year before. He had to wait for favorable winds, though, and was unable to send any forces until spring. Narvaez’s troops landed at San Juan de Ulúa on the Mexican coast around April 20, 1520.
   After Cortes became aware of their arrival, he brought a small force of about three hundred to Narvaez’s camp in Cempohuallan on May 27. Cortes ambushed Narvaez’s camp late at night, taking Narvaez hostage and easily gaining his surrender. Evidence suggests that two were in the midst of negotiations at the time, and Narvaez wasn't expecting an attack. Cortes had also divided Narvaez’s forces with promises of the vast wealth in Tenochtitlan so they'd surrender quicker. Narvaez was imprisoned in Vera Cruz, and his army was integrated into Cortes’s forces.
   By the day of the festival, Cortes had been absent for twenty days. The Aztecs gathered very early in the morning in single file front of the image of Huitzilopochtli, and brought offerings. Many young warriors came, having had agreed beforehand to dance as best as possible to impress the Spanish. The celebrants then filed into the courtyard of the Great Temple to perform the Dance of the Serpent. When everyone had entered, the singing and dancing began. Keeping in file, the highest-esteemed warriors were in the lead, with the less experienced behind them.

Aztec revolt

When it became clear what was happening to the Aztecs outside the Temple, an alarm was sounded. Aztec warriors came running, and fired darts and launched spears at the Spanish forces., Cortés named one of Cacamatzin's brothers as new Tlatoani. He was Ixtlilxóchitl II, who was on dispute with his brother and always proved friendly to the spanish. Later, Cortés also occupied the city as base for the construction of brigantines. Nevertheless, a faction of tetzcocan warriors remained loyal to the aztecs.
Cortes had to put down internal struggles within the Spanish troops as well. The remaining Spanish soldiers were somewhat divided; many wanted nothing more than to go home, or at the very least back to Vera Cruz to wait for reinforcements. Cortés quickly squelched this faction and was determined to finish what he started. Not only had he staked everything he'd or could borrow on this enterprise, he'd completely compromised himself by defying his superior Velazquez. He knew that in defeat he'd be considered a traitor to Spain, but that in success he'd be its hero. So he argued, cajoled, bullied and coerced his troops, and they began preparing for the siege of Mexico. Clearly, Cortes was skilled at exploiting the divisions within and between the Aztec states while hiding those of his own troops.

Smallpox decimates the local population

While Cortes was rebuilding his alliances and garnering more supplies, a smallpox epidemic struck. The disease was brought by a Spanish slave from Narvaez’s forces, who had been abandoned in the capital during the Spanish flight. The disease broke out in Tenochtitlan in late October; the epidemic lasted sixty days, ending by early December. Many of the residents of Tenochtitlan died from disease, but starvation also devastated the population. Since so many were afflicted, people were unable to care for others, and many starved to death. While the population of Tenochtitlan was recovering, the disease continued to Chalco, a city on the southeast corner of Lake Texcoco that was formerly controlled by the Aztecs but now freed by the Spanish. The disease killed an estimated forty percent of the native population in the area within a year. The Aztecs codices give ample depictions of the diseases progression. It was known to them as the huey ahuizotl (great rash).
Cuitlahuac contracted the disease and died after ruling for only eighty days. Though the disease drastically decreased the numbers of warriors on both sides, it had more dire consequences for the leadership on the side of the Aztecs, as they were much harder hit by the smallpox than the Spanish leadership.

Aztecs regroup

It is often debated why the Aztecs took little action against the Spanish and their allies after they fled the city. One reason was that Tenochtitlan was certainly in a state of disorder: the smallpox epidemic ravaged the population, killing still more important leaders and nobles, and a new king, Cuauhtémoc, son of King Ahuitzotl, was placed on the throne in February 1521. The people were in the process of mourning the dead and rebuilding their damaged city. Also, it's possible that the Aztecs truly believed that the Spanish were gone for good. In any case, staying within Tenochtitlan as a defensive tactic may have seemed like a reliable strategy at the time. This would allow them the largest possible army that would be close to its supplies, while affording them the mobility provided by the surrounding lake. And any Spanish assault would have come to through the causeways, where the Aztecs could easily attack them.

Siege of Tenochtitlan

Cortes plans and prepares

Cortes’s plan for his siege was to trap the Aztecs within their capital. Cortes intended to do that by increasing his mobility on the lake, previously one of his main weaknesses. He ordered the construction of thirteen brigantines by his master shipbuilder, Martín López, and sent to Vera Cruz for the ships he'd previously had scuttled and any other supplies that had arrived. Cortes continued to receive a steady stream of supplies from Vera Cruz, some of it intended for Narvaez, since he'd left the city.
Cortes originally decided to have his ships assembled in Tlaxcala, while moving his base of operations to Tetzcoco. With his headquarters in Tetzcoco, he could keep his forces from being spread too thin around the lake, and from there could send them where they were needed. Nonetheless, this plan proved ineffective, and he moved his shipbuilders and his other supplies to Tetzcoco in the beginning of February 1521.
Cortes had 86 horsemen, 118 crossbowmen and harquebusiers, and 700 Spanish foot soldiers. He put 25 soldiers plus artillerymen on each ship, since each was equipped with a cannon. He partitioned his remaining land forces into three groups. Under the command of Alvarado were 30 horsemen, 18 crossbowmen and harquebusiers, 150 Spanish foot soldiers and 25,000 Tlaxcalans, to be sent to Tlacopan. Cristobel de Olid commanded 20 crossbowmen and harquebusiers, 175 foot soldiers, and 20,000 native allies, who would go to Coyohuacan. Gonzalo de Sandoval was in charge of 24 horsemen, 14 harquebusiers, 13 crossbowmen, 150 foot soldiers, and 30,000 natives, who would go to Ixtlapalapan. One of the three major causeways that connected Tenochtitlan to the mainland were in each of these cities. Cortes forces set out for their positions on May 22.

The first battles

The forces under Alvarado and Olid marched first towards Chapultepec to disconnect the Aztecs from their water supply. There were springs there that supplied much of the city’s water by aqueduct; the rest of the city’s water was brought in by canoe. The two generals then tried to bring their forces over the causeway at Tlacopan, resulting in the Battle of Tlacopan. The Aztec forces managed to defeat the Spanish and halt the march to the capital in a brilliant, though bloody and long, land and naval attack.
   The Aztec canoe fleets worked well for attacking the Spanish because they allowed the Aztecs to surround the Spanish on both sides of the causeway. Cortes decided to make an opening in the causeway so that his brigantines could also be used on both sides of the causeway. Now the Aztecs could no longer attack from their canoes on the opposite side of the Spanish brigantines.
   With his brigantines, Cortes could also send forces and supplies to areas he previously couldn’t, which put a kink in Cuauhtémoc's plan. To make it more difficult for the Spanish ships, the Aztecs dug deep pits in shallow areas of the lakes and also stuck pointed sticks into the lake bottom to spear ships.
   Cortes was forced to adapt his plans again, as his initial land campaigns were ineffective. He had planned to attack on the causeways during the daytime and retreat to camp at night; however, the Aztecs moved in to occupy the abandoned areas as soon as the Spanish forces left. Consequently, Cortes had his forces set up on the causeways at night to defend their positions. This allowed the Spanish to progress closer and closer towards the city.

The Spanish advance closer

As the Spanish employed more successful strategies, their stranglehold on Tenochtitlan evolved, and famine began to affect the Aztecs. The Aztecs were cut off from the mainland because of the occupied causeways. In addition, Cortes maintained a blockade with the help of the canoes of his indigenous allies, as his brigantines were not so useful in this situation. Both sides utilized ambushes in naval battles for a while, attempting to lure enemy ships or canoes into a trap or separate them from the group.
   Cortes also had the advantage of fighting a mostly defensive battle. Though Cuauhtémoc organized a large-scale attack on Alvarado’s forces at Tlacopan, the Aztec forces were pushed back. As Cortes attained victory after victory, more tributary states joined his side. Even smaller states were useful for contributing food, laborers, and supplies. This only worsened the position of the Aztecs. Throughout the siege, the Aztecs had little aid from outside of Tenochtitlan. The remaining loyal tributaries had difficulty sending forces, because it would leave them vulnerable to Spanish attack. Many of these loyal tributaries were surrounded by the Spanish.
   Though the tributaries often went back and forth in their loyalties at any sign of change, the Spanish tried hard not to lose any allies. They feared a “snowball effect,” in that if one tributary left, others might follow. Thus, they brutally crushed any tributaries who tried to send help to Tenochtitlan. Any shipments of food and water were intercepted, and even those trying to fish in the lake were attacked. Many Aztecs drank salt water because of their severe thirst and contracted dysentery. The famine was so severe that the Aztecs ate anything, even wood, leather, and bricks for sustenance.
   The Spanish continued to push closer to Tenochtitlan. The Aztecs changed tactics as often as the Spanish did, preventing Cortes’s forces from being entirely victorious. However, the Aztecs were severely worn down. They had no new troops, supplies, food, nor water. The Spanish received a large amount of supplies from Vera Cruz, and, somewhat renewed, finally entered Tenochtitlan.

Fall of Tenochtitlan

The Aztecs’ Last Stand

When the Spanish forces made it into the city, virtually every rooftop was an enemy stronghold. Once again, the Aztecs adopted new tactics, and now attacked the Spanish from their buildings. This held back the Spanish for a while, but it couldn't prevent their advance through the city. By early August, most of the population of the city had retreated into Tlatelolco. Cortés sent indigenous emissaries from a conquered Aztec city to invite the Tlatelolcas to join his side and surrender the Aztec refugees, but the Tlatelolcas remained loyal to the Aztecs. In the chronicles of Tlatelolco, they told they took the last burden of the battle, and at the end the women cut their hair and joined the battle.
The Aztecs faced another major obstacle when the people of Tetzcoco who were still loyal to the Aztecs fell into Spanish hands. For four days, all three armies of Alvarado, Olid, and Sandoval pushed towards the Tlatelolco marketplace. They eventually gained control of seven-eighths of the city. Even in the final days of the siege, when the Aztecs were pitted in open combat against the indigenous allies of the Spanish, the exhausted Aztecs were far superior, and crushed their opponents.
In these last desperate days, the Aztecs decided to send the quetzal owl warrior, an Aztec warrior outfitted in a ceremonial costume, into battle: they believed if he succeeded in battle, this would be a sign from the gods that the Aztecs should continue fighting against the Spanish. Throughout their encounters with the Spanish, the Aztecs continued to practice their traditional ceremonies and customs. The warrior Tlapaltecatl Opochtzin was chosen to be dressed in the quetzal owl costume. Once outfitted, he was supplied with darts sacred to Huitzilopochtli, with wooden tips and flint tops. When he appeared, the Spanish soldiers seemed genuinely frightened and intimidated. They pursued the owl-warrior, but he wasn't captured or killed. The Aztecs took this is as a good sign, especially because the Spanish forces didn't attack for the rest of the day or the day after. Yet, the Aztecs could fight no longer, and after consulting with the surviving nobles, Cuauhtémoc commenced negotiations with the Spanish.

The Surrender

The Aztecs surrendered on August 13, 1521. Supposedly, Cortes demanded the gold lost during La Noche Triste soon after. Cuauhtémoc was taken hostage and later executed.
Aztecs fled the city as the Spanish forces continued to attack the city even after the surrender, slaughtering thousands of the remaining population and looting the city. As this practice was generally not done in European warfare, it suggests that Cortes’s indigenous allies had more power over him than he suggested. The survivors marched out of the city for the next three days. Almost all of the nobility were dead, and the remaining survivors were mostly very young children. Two-hundred and forty thousand Aztecs are estimated to have died during the siege, which lasted eighty days. The remaining Spanish forces consisted of 900 Spaniards, eighty horses, sixteen pieces of artillery, and Cortes’s thirteen brigantines.
It is well accepted that Cortes’s indigenous allies, which may have numbered as many as 200,000, were responsible for his success, though their aid was virtually unacknowledged and they derived little benefit. As there were several major allied groups, no one in particular was able to take power, and the person who benefited was Cortes. Further Information

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