1 Military might: the conquest of Mexico
The conquest of Mexico, under Hernán Cortés, involved a comparatively tiny force of Europeans overcoming a powerful ruler and his empire. How did this happen?
When the Spanish encountered the Aztec empire early in the sixteenth century, it was more powerful than it had ever been. In 1502 or 1503, Moctezuma II had become the ninth ‘great speaker king’ of the Mexica.
As Cortés’ expedition marched towards the Mexica capital of Tenochtitlán in 1519, they encountered altepetls (political entities or city-states) which were subjects of the Aztecs. Often these had only recently been incorporated into the Mexica empire and had been forced to provide children as sacrificial tribute. Cortés used translators including a Nahua woman, born to a noble family but later captured and enslaved called Doña Marina. She was ‘gifted’ to Cortés and later bore him a child. This allowed him to negotiate alliances to support a challenge to Moctezuma.
The Spanish-commanded force numbered around 10,000, even if Moctezuma had defeated them, he would likely have sustained large casualties and may have risked his authority and power (Townsend, 2019).
Some 400 Spaniards entered Tenochtitlán. As they approached, the chronicler Bernal Díaz del Castillo (1492–1581) noted the ‘great towns and cues [temples, step pyramids] and buildings rising from the water, all made of stone ... like an enchanted vision’ (1963, p. 214). The Spanish were impressed at these sights, which showed a level of power, wealth, and sophistication which they had not known existed in the Americas.
They were greeted with courtesy by Moctezuma. Precisely what transpired during their discussions is unknown. Cortés claimed that Moctezuma handed his kingdom over to King Charles V of Spain, yet modern scholars are unpersuaded, and indeed Cortés had an obvious personal stake in making this claim.
Six days after the first meeting, Cortés arrested Moctezuma on overblown charges of killing Spaniards. Cortés was now the power behind the throne, and he ruled through Moctezuma for eight months. Moctezuma issued a public declaration of fealty to Charles V, made in front of the assembled Mexica nobility. The nobles then swore allegiance to Charles V and promised to provide the tribute and service. ‘All of this’, claimed Cortés, ‘was said before a notary public, who set it down in a formal document ... attested by many Spaniards’ (Cortés, 1986, p. 99).
For Charles V and his advisers, the legalism of this purported transfer of power was reassuring as it meant those Mexica who contested could be treated as rebels. Equally, Spaniards who tried to subvert Charles V’s new subjects were traitors.
When Cortés left the city in 1520, tensions between the Spaniards and the Aztecs erupted and the colonists were driven out. When Cortés returned in 1521, he mounted a military siege which drew on all the Spaniards’ technological advantages. Moctezuma was killed during the events and his heir died of smallpox. The Spaniards decimated the Aztecs and their capital to achieve a victory.
So, what forms of power were exercised in the defeat of Moctezuma? There was the obvious military force, this included technological power in the form of artillery, but other forms of power were also important. Diplomatic power was used to form alliances with disgruntled local groups. Cortés used legal frameworks and bureaucracy to legitimise Spanish rule (even though these might not have been recognised by indigenous people). We can also see the ways that indigenous people tried to negotiate with Spanish power through forms of cooperation and collaboration. Although we might ask what choice they had?
Activity 1 The spectacle of technological power
The so-called ‘Florentine Codex’ is a manuscript composed in the later sixteenth century by Bernardino de Sahagún along with Nahua writers, part of which describes the conquest of Mexico by the Spanish. Although it is far from direct evidence of Moctezuma’s thinking, it gives some indications of how Nahua people viewed these intruders. Read the following extract from the Codex.
- What does this extract tell you about how the Nahua viewed Spanish power?
When he [Moctezuma] heard what the messengers reported, he was greatly afraid and taken aback … It especially made him faint when he heard how the guns went off at [the Spaniards’] command, sounding like thunder, causing people actually to swoon, blocking their ears. And when it went off, something like a ball came out from inside, and fire went showering and spitting out. And the smoke that came from it had a very foul stench, striking one in the face. And if they shot at a hill, it seemed to crumble and come apart. And it turned a tree to dust; it seemed to make it vanish, as though someone had conjured it away. Their war gear was all iron. They clothed their bodies in iron, they put iron on their heads, their swords were iron, their bows were iron, and their shields and lances were iron.
And their deer that carried them were as tall as the roof. … And their dogs were huge creatures, with their ears folded over and their jowls dragging. They had burning eyes, eyes like coals, yellow and fiery. They had thin, gaunt flanks with the rib lines showing; they were very tall. They did not keep quiet, they went about panting, with their tongues hanging down. … When Monteucçoma [Moctezuma] heard it, he was greatly afraid; he seemed to faint away, he grew concerned and disturbed.
Discussion
The extract identified Spanish military and technological power as a threat to the Moctezuma and the Mexica empire. It described the Nahua’s reaction of several aspects of the Spanish that were unfamiliar. The spectacle of firearms was disturbing – not merely their destructive power, but the noise and smells they created. Their armour and weaponry were made of iron which would have been visually impressive and practically superior for defence and protection. They also place considerable emphasis on the Spanish horses (referred to here as deer), a species not previously found in the Americas, as well as their dogs. We might conclude that these signs that the Spanish had access to entirely unknown technology or power was highly alarming to the Nahua.