why were the spaniards able to conquer the aztecs?

Question

4 paragraphs well thought out winner gets 22 points i will put up another question and give that person another best answer

im just saying im using this for info

Answer 1

This was one of the most epic conflicts in history and it puzzles me why no one has made a movie of it.
Cortez was a fearless commander, but he was also smart. The Spaniards had been in the Caribbean long enough for a few Native Americans to learn to speak Spanish. Cortez found a female who was a willing translator, and through her he learned that the Aztecs had many enemies. He posed as their liberator and used them for his own ends.
To complicate things the Aztec calendar was at a major break in its cycle and prophecies foretold that Quetzalcoatl would return from the East in floating houses (ships) and that his soldiers would wear stone armor (iron & steel, which the Aztecs knew nothing of). The Aztecs were armed with wooden swords which had jagged pieces of obsidian set into the edge. These swords were easily sharp enough to cut off people's heads and limbs, but were no match for steel swords, and obsidian is brittle. The Spaniards had a few firearms and a few cannon but not much in the way of ammunition. The Spaniards also had skilled cavalry. Horses were totally unknown in the New World and men charging on horses into a line of warriors can do a lot of damage (the horses were trained to fight too).
When Cortez kidnapped Moctezuma, this caused consternation and panic among the Aztecs, as no emperor had ever been kidnapped before. The Aztecs were preparing to storm the palace. Cortez led his men in a desperate escape over the causeways and came back at the head of a much larger Native American army. The Aztecs fell to this army and were also decimated by smallpox.

Answer 2

Most impt. thing was disunity between the natives. The Aztecs were a tribute empire; most people in the new world hated them as upstarts. It was therefore very easy to get them to rebel. Especially useful was Tlaxcala, a country that was an independent enclave right next to the Aztec capital. Tlaxcala and its neighbours were easily convinced to cut off the fresh water supply (which went from the hills surrounding the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan now called Mexico city); this factor alone meant the empire couldn't stand any long seige. There are many comments about Spanish armor, weapons, etc., but against 20 million people - Well, Cortes's couple of dozen guys couldn't defeat them, even if all of them were armed with laser beams. Help from other locals, more than anything else - as in the British conquest of India - was absolutely essential.

Answer 3

A major element of Aztec life was religion. A polytheistic people, they often practiced human sacrifice to please their gods. According to legend, the god Quetzalcoatl, characterized by light skin, red hair, and light eyes, was supposed to return to earth. This appearance is remarkably similar to European appearance, and may be why the Aztecs originally greeted the Spaniards with food, gold, and women.

The Spaniards, however, approached the Aztecs with an entirely different attitude. They had a strong sense of supremacy and intended to convert the natives to Christianity. But their ministering methods were radical. The Spaniards gathered the natives together and shouted the essentials of the Gospel, oblivious to the fact that the Aztecs did not understand their language. If the natives refused to fall to their knees and repent, the Spaniards assumed they were rejecting the word of God and killed or enslaved them.

Upon arrival in North America, Hernando Cortes founded the colony of New Spain in Mexico. On November 8, 1519, he challenged the native forces and entered Tenochititlan, taking the Aztec leader, Montezuma, hostage. This event led to an Aztec uprising that culminated in La Noche Triste. The Aztecs drove the Spaniards out of Tenochititlan in July of 1520. Men from both sides, as well as many Aztec treasures, were lost as a bridge collapsed during the desperate flight of the Spaniards. Nevertheless, Cortes survived, and led the final attacks on Tenochititlan. Throughout the warfare, the Spaniards were aided by the gruesome advantage of disease, for the Europeans brought ailments that the Aztecs had no immunity to. It is estimated that three-quarters of the native population died of violence or diseases like small pox and measles in just the first century of the conquest. Finally, the Aztec capital fell on August 13, 1521. After capturing Tenochititlan, the Spaniards destroyed the city, and built Mexico City on top of it. Just as Tenochititlan was destroyed, most of the Aztec civilization was destroyed with the European Conquest

Answer 4

In order of effectiveness:

1) Disease
2) Guns/Steel
3) Alliances with the Aztec's enemies
4) Using the Aztec's beliefs that Cortéz was Quetzalocoatl as an advantage

The Spaniards were able to conquer the vast Aztec empire through a combination of the four. After landing on the American mainland in 1519, Cortéz set about cultivating alliances with the various tribes who the Aztecs were forcing to pay tribute.

Initially, the Aztecs offered little resistance to the advances of the conquerors. In fact, ambassadors from Moctezuma II soon arrived with gifts to Cortéz. The Aztecs believed Cortéz to be an emissary of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, or the god himself. Cortéz initally used this to his advantage to demand more gifts and passage to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán.

Once there, the Spaniards easily seized control of the city through their superior weaponry and the forced house arrest of Moctezuma II. Cortéz made Moctezuma II his prisoner as insurance against Aztec revolt, and demanded an enormous ransom of gold, which was duly delivered.

Meanwhile, Aztec nobles were in dismay at the royal submissive attitude and planned a successful, but temporary, rebellion which resulted in driving Cortéz and his allies out of Tenochtitlan. Cortéz and his forces were forced to flee the city in July 1520. Cortéz fled to the Spanish allied city of Tlaxcalan.

While Cortéz was rebuilding his alliances and garnering more supplies, a smallpox epidemic struck central Mexico. 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. 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.

Through a combination of disease, superior weaponry, and native allies, Cortéz laid siege to the city in May of 1521. Although the Aztecs fought back, disease and starvation decimated the city, and the city surrendered in August of 1521.

It is well accepted that Cortéz's Indian allies, which may have numbered as many as 200,000, and Smallpox carried by the Spaniards were responsible for his success. After the fall of Tenochtitlán, there were several major Native allied groups, but no one in particular was able to take power, and the person who benefited was Cortéz.

Hope this helped,
Peace.

Answer 5

Other tribes hated the Aztecs, and allied themselves with the Spanish. Once their central structure fell, the whole kingdom came down with it.

Answer 6

Because they had better weapons and the Aztecs thought they were gods.

Answer 7

will you people stop doing everyone elses homework, all these questions are from school they are supposed to do their own homework

Answer 8

Because they had guns!