Victor Meza
MAS 141-503
10/27/22
Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
A look at the issue of the ðanish conquest of the Aztec Empire” shows that it is highly
debated. Particularly, it is interesting to note that there are differences of opinion when it comes
to determining how the empire was conquered. While the mainstream story shows Cortes as a
hero who spearheaded the Spaniards bravely to the conquest, Brinkerhoff questions how their
limited forces could take the empire. They argue that Cortes has been typecast as a conqueror
embellishing the true events.
An NPR article on the other hand brings forth the view of people who disagree with the
mystified history and states that history in itself is messy. Therefore, in this case, the story was
tidied up and the unpleasant war was depicted as a dramatic narrative with Cortes as the hero and
Montezuma as the antihero. It was then neatly wrapped in the glorious climatic ending of the
conquest.
There are also differing accounts of how the first meeting between Montezuma and Cortes
occurred. While they all show that Cortes and his team were received with honor, some say that
Montezuma surrendered his empire to Cortes while others indicate that Cortes took advantage of
the opportunity and seized Montezuma. He tried to rule with Montezuma detained and failed
later leading to the death of Montezuma which is theorized in different ways. The conquest later
happened after the Spaniards were driven out and returned to lay a siege on the city.
The aim of this paper is there to determine;
Question: What were the factors that led the Spanish to successfully conquer the Aztec Empire?
Thesis: While popular Spanish written history and some scholars claim that the conquest of the
Aztec Empire, which flourished between c. 1345-1521 in and around the Valley of Mexico was a
result of Montezuma surrendering the empire to Cortàand later the Spanish retaliating against
rebellious Aztecs who attacked them, I will argue that the conquest was an invasion whose
success was aided by complex territorial battles between the Aztecs and their rivals, deception,
betrayal by an Aztec ally and Smallpox.
Works Cited
Brinkerhoff, Thomas J. Reexamining the Lore of the “Archetypal Conquistador”: HernŠCortàand the Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire, 1519-1521 The History Teacher Vol.
49, No. 2 (February 2016), pp. 169-187 (19 pages) Available at
https://www.jstor.org/stable/24810472
Carrillo, Karen Juanita. How Hern CortàConquered the Aztec Empire May 21, 2021
https://www.history.com/news/hernan-cortes-conquered-aztec-empire
NPR. 500 Years Later, The Spanish Conquest Of Mexico Is Still Being Debated, November
10, 2019, Available at;
https://www.npr.org/2019/11/10/777220132/500-years-later-the-spanish-conquest-of-mexic
o-is-still-being-debated

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