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The masacre of the city was not without advise. They said human sacrifice was not alowed and they wanted to do it even with the prohibition so the masacre was a consecuence of having a small garrison with a riot.
This is why diplomacy is always so important, had Cortez started conflict with the Aztec Empire vassals he would have lost more troops at the beginning just like he would have missed key allies that helped the Spaniards bringing down the tlatoani's reign.
one of the craziest stories in human history honestly. The fact they could achieve this so far away from home, in a place with no supply lines, where diseases are rampant and still accomplish this is insane. There were so many factors against them yet it seemed like destiny.
In Mexico, the conquest is not seen as a defeat or victory but rather the birth of a new people. Makes sense given most of us are both descendants of the conqueror and the conquered
It's more complicated than that. The end of the conquista saw the beginning of the exploitation, abuse and cultural genocide of the native peoples of Mesoamerica. This ended with the Independence and the creation of the nation state of México, and its current people. Most people would agree that our nation was born during the Independence from Spanish rule, with Hidalgo as its "father", and also understand that our ethnicity and nationality existed in spite of the Spanish, and not thanks to it.
@@VagrantDune es curiosos como los extranjeros hablan de esto, nos toman como sus etnoestados de anglos, literalmente del pueblo del que desciendo vivió subyugado a los Mexicas y fueron los españoles quienes los liberaron y de echo colaboraron mucho con ellos, no se como dices que fueron los españoles quienes empezaron la explotación, literalmente es la noción de los anglos de el paraíso indígena que no tienen ningún fundamente
Not only did Cortez happen upon a sailor who knew spanish and mayan but he happened upon 1 of only 2 men in the ENTIRE WORLD known to have spoken both languages. The other was Aguilar’s shipmate who decided to stay at the Mayan village where they had lived for the past year or two instead of look for the ship they had heard about from Mayan scouts. And not only did he find this guy but the slave he was gifted, was apparently one of a few people that could speak Aztec (Nahuatl), Mayan, and Tecpillahtolli (a courtly language used by Aztec nobility). Cortez was certainly a talented man but he also benefited from some insanely good luck.
Imo it was way beyond luck. Factor in that the Aztecs had a prophecy that white gods would come from the east and conquer them. This was like manifest destiny for real.
@@RealAmericanStar the belief was immediately debunked after they made the Spanish bleed and perish the same way a person from the City of Tenochtitlan would. After they made them bleed they knew they were just regular men
The Aztecs had it coming. They were quick to make enemies with their neighbors, which in turn made it easy for their neighbors to join the Spanish in their conquest
Sounds like america and the west. You people talk about the fall of the Roman Empire.But in fact the fall of the azteks and incas more closely resembles what the fall of america will look like and the atmosphere that existed in the Aztek empire before the spainish came, is the same as in america, europe today. Oppressing neighbors and yes human sacrifice. And now, the Spanish, Europeans and Americans have it coming
The azteks were not the only indigenous people.They were other indigenous that were the victims of the aztecs and/or were peaceful people that never even came contact into contact with the aztecs across modern mexico..The Spaniards also oppressed murdered.R@pe them and enslaved them also , your comment implies all brown indigenous people had it coming.
@@Yanel5795 I guess? I can’t say much about an event that hasn’t happened. But what I can say is having enemies is something someone can take advantage of.
@@Yanel5795no one is getting sacrificed in America nor are their neighbours getting oppressed. wtf are you on? Like seriously. The last war between Canada and America was in 1812. Mexico’s last war with them was in 1846. If a war a century and a half ago is oppressive, then you need a reality check Edit: also, no, his comment does NOT imply all brown indigenous people had it coming. He specifically stated the Aztec Empire. Learn to read.
@@Yanel5795you're right, this entire video is just Spanish colonialism glorification from the perspective of Cortez, dj peach cobbler made a much better series covering the fall from openly biased men not liars like Cortez, how many comments speak of his luck and skill but he wasn't skilled he just lied about what happened retroactively to make his little influence seem like he was treated as a god. The azteks were a great people with wonderful art and literature, wish we could see and read it but we know what happened to it, all of it
400 Spaniards and a whole lot of locals who didn't much care for the ruling Aztecs. That, plus the devastation both intentional and unintentionally wrought by introduced diseases, is a story played out again and again in the new world conquests. The Inca were also brought down by a small group of Spaniards supported by various local groups who saw an opportunity to bring down their rivals.
Let's face it. Whatever the "story" (Cortez is not exactly a reliable narrator), 400 men would not be able to conquer a healthy, united, empire. Something went down, but Spanish preferred the laughable story of being welcomed as Gods and burned all the other sources extremely thoroughly. Although I think Griffin is doing a disservice by propagating a few almost certainly false narratives (scuttling ships, treasure room etc). as facts. DJ Peach has a much longer and much more critical video about this.
Fun fact, marriage with natives was legalized in Spain in 1514, this is because native were seen subjects of the crown just like the rest of the Spanish, these marriage lead to a massive mixing of races. For context, the USA legalized interracial marriages in the 1960s, more than 400 years later.
Yeah, and that's because the English had a very different view of colonization than the Spanish, or even most other Europeans. For the Spanish, colonization of the Americas was primarily to exploit its resources and convert the native population to Christianity and somewhat integrate them into Christendom. Don't get it mixed up, the Spanish (and others) treated Indians horribly, but their intentions always involved absorbing these people rather than exterminating them. This meant that marrying converted Indians was rather common, because they were viewed as fellow Christians and subjects of the Spanish crown, if not subjects of a much lower social status than their European counterparts. The English, by contrast, settled in the New World with the goal (at least in New England) of building a new society separate from that of all others. They viewed Indians and Africans not as people to be integrated into the Christian fold, but (in some cases) as literal agents of Lucifer, whose purpose was to tempt and challenge the English. As such, the English colonists of America believed it was their religious duty to either exterminate or subjugate non-Englishmen in order to "purify" their country. And this is why marrying Indians or Africans was not only considered taboo, but outright illegal, as it was seen as "tainting" their society by introducing "inferior" blood into the mix.
Way too much ofa satinized view on the english, the spanish had a view of empire building like old rome had, wich meant they built their culture and aclimatized where they went, lima , mexico city, and every piece of infraextructure had the objective of replicating spain, everywhere basically. The spanish hardly treated natives under them bad, or at least, no more bad than they treated tehir own european peasants, reformations laws, and a lot of burocracy was made to stop that. I will put it like this: by the time of indpeendance quechau was spoken by about 60% of the peruvian viceroyalty, half of the mexica inhabitants spoke nahuatl, and most of the armies and officers of spains cotnra revolution, loyalist armies, were natives. The british colonists adopted a racist, exterminative model when treating with natives, the spanish didn't, it's quite simple really. Mind you, the british did what they did as colonists because they were too weak to replicate what spain did, and were silly enough to think that the spanish actually just went around slaying natives by the 100's with their super technology. Turns out, you can't do that, you will fail, adn your colony will be the size it was with that method, you needed politics, diplomacy, and working with the people of the land.
@@cseijifjaand Americans try to teach us Mexicans that we're oppressed because the Spanish committed "genocide and enslaved" the native populations of Mexico, when really they're just projecting their English ancestors actions onto our ancestors when it's really not that simple lmao.
@@AnimeLover-dh4fm the casta system does not exists, nor is it ever recorded legally nor in informal custom, it's a myth from abd research adn anglos wanting to relate south america and indian "social systems".
Just one small thing about this video. The fact you animated that sponsor, which probably took a long time instead of being lazy is just amazing You didn’t even need to and they probably wouldn’t even care if you did it
@@HistoricalFanaticsThe sponsor absolutely paid more in order to have the ad animated. It's not about going the extra mile for the sponsor. It's getting paid and delivering what was agreed
Also, during the seige was an event where the Spanish tried to make a trebuchet to make up for a lack of seige artillery. Because none of the engineers had made one before (and was about 80 years out of date), when the trebuchet was fired, it shot the stone directly into the air, which then came crashing down on the trebuchet, destroying it
One of the most brutal sieges in history. -Infantry vs Infantry on bridges while each side try to demolish/secure a part of the bridge. -Hundreds of canoes trying to besiege 5 spanish wood ships on the lake NEAR said bridges. -People being sacrificed on top of temples during the battle with drums beating to encourage/discourage each side. -Aztecs fighting house by house, throwing javelins and darts from every corner. Spaniards being forced to demolish building after building to advance when their goal was to keep such a marvel of a city intact. -Spaniards being shocked by their own allies canibalizing enemy prisoners during the night. Situation was so grim durig the siege they could not stop Tlaxcalans and others doing so cause of the risk of them abandoning them due to how had the siege was going. -Spaniard band was RPG tier. They had female warriors (Maria de Estrada), a necromancer (dont recall the name), their crossbow leader was adicted to prostitutes... -Spaniards knew that a friend captured on the melee at the bridges, was someone they'd had to see being sacrificed alive on top of temples. -Aztecs refused any negociation attempt. While spaniards wanted to preserve the city with aztecs as vassals, aztecs chose to fight snd die till the last brick. Literally. -Aztec resistance was so big the city became nothing but ruins and smoke. Cortez cried once he won since he thought he had ruined his chance with his Monarch (Charles V) of giving him such a wonder intact.
when I read la conquista de Mexico by Hernán Cortez I couldnt believe that book wasnt more famous, its absolutely crazy that he wrote down so much of what happened
Yeah, it was very common for the captains of these expeditions to write extensively about their experiences to facilitate reporting. Christopher Columbus also has several navigation charts that are, to say the least, interesting to read.
I've heard of the accounts but didn't know it had been collected into a book, I'm looking up an English translation now. Primary sources like this are incredible, even if it's probably a biased source.
Really loving the more varied content of late! Not that I don't love your content dealing with modern military history; I just love seeing your high quality approach being applied more liberally to eras and events that are more peripheral to your more commonly covered subjects. Thank you🙏
yeah its real nice to see more early modern stuff cause the era is pretty underrated a time when swords and guns were equally valid weapons on the battlefield is a pretty metal time to be alive
This whole event is one of the most amazing stories in history. How has this not been made into like an epic 10-part tv show, with a huge budget and a team of knowledgeable writers behind. It's not like theres a lack of source material
Two words: -It's Spain For some people just because it's Spanish history, they won't even talk about it, and if they could it would be deleted from existence And if they did a show or film about this, the spaniards would be the bad guys, monsters that annihilated every native they found
@@tanker102 Because that's actually the truth....lmao. The Spanish literally only wanted gold and killed natives brutally to obtain it. Nobody in Hollywood wants to remind the population of what Europeans did to the natives of the land. It's history that is kept hush hush. Only spoken about when absolutely needed.
It's crazy how the conquistadors managed to still go proceed to conquer, knowing they were fewer in number, were marching into unknown territory, and knew if they got captured they would be used as human sacrifices. That's badassary in it's own respect.
@@superburrito9797 Its still crazy to do what they did with so few of them not knowing how things would turn out and take on an Empire. It took European balls to bring the Aztecs to heel.
@@PentaRaus europeans have no claim to the success of the conquistadors serving under the Flag of Castille. The conquistadors werent also just spaniards. Cortes had brought moors, africans, and other people from around the Meditarranean. Indigenous people were also conquistadors. The conquistadors never returned to europe they settled and stayed in the Americas. Being european had nothing to do with it. Cortes took a gamble in order to not be punished by the crown, as he was wanted in Cuba.
It was at the beginning. They fought a bloody battle against the tlaxcalans before they became allies and inflicted severe losses on them despite being hopelessly outnumbered
@@superburrito9797that big army only came after the Spanish won their respect by defeating the tlaxcalans in battle they were also Outnumbered 10to1 at the battle of Otumba before having a big army
Cortes was a genius. I feel like the "Guns, Germs, and Steel" argument really takes away from Cortes' military and diplomatic skills, and completely overlooks the almost divine stroke of luck that Cortes had in having Jeronimo de Aguilar and La Malinche as translators that he was able to utilize to gain allies.
He was a criminal desperately fleeing the law even if that meant killing and raping thousands. He was no genius; divide and conquer is the oldest trick in the book.
It also takes away from the geopolitical atmosphere of the land that facilitated the alliances that the conquistadors were able to forge with the native peoples.
@@luisricardonavarretecadena6587, I always thought it was hilarious how Cortes was basically a scrawny Spanish aristocrat who went to the New World to make it big by himself (and by that, I mean become an American landowner owning tons of slaves), and then decided to basically take over one of the most powerful nations in Mesoamerica and make it his own petty kingdom. That dude was wild.
The most incredible conquest in human history. Such a detailed story, and you managed to fit all the important bits in less than 20 minutes. Awesome content.
Most incredible? A technologically superior nation trouncing another nation whose tributaries are extremely disloyal? It’s definitely not the most incredible in human history.
It is indeed phenomenal the events that transpired, Amazon prime's Hernan did a great job conveying the story. However I believe the downfall of the Inca are even richer, especially if you include Manco Inca's rebellion.
I feel like too much was washed over including the battles and kidnapping of the emperor. This needed to be longer than 20minutes. This video basically sums it up as they came, they saw, they conquered. There are better videos of this on youtube.
@@bagel3703 Charlemagne's Conquest, Norman Conquest of England, Mongol conquest of China, the Conquest of the Inca Empire, Conquests of Justinian, Mexican-American War, among many others. All of these conquests were done quickly against a very strong nation. Even the Incan conquest was a more impressive conquest due to the fact that the Inca Empire was more powerful than the Aztec Empire. The conquest of the Aztecs was as stated before, a technologically superior enemy taking advantage of an unstable empire who's vassals were rebellious.
The bit about Cholula is missing some context. According to the Spanish, La Malinche was sent to the female quarters after the Spanish had been invited into the city. There she overheard some of the women talking about how the Cholulans were setting up an ambush for the Spanish, so she informed them of the danger. The Spanish then prevented the ambush and wanted to stop the fighting after a certain point but their native allies continued on, slaughtering the population. I'm not saying this is what happened, but that's from the Spanish perspective from one of the soldiers that was there, Bernal Diaz Del Castillo. The other narratives for the battle came from Diego Muñoz Camargo who was a historian born shortly after Del Castillo's book was published. He sent people out to the various villages so they could record the histories of their people, which is why you can get the perspective from the Spanish, the Tlaxcaltecas, and the Cholulans.
It surprising that you missed the episode when Cortez arrived to the Mayan coast and find out that the inhabitants, besides not understanding each other's language they knew the name of Castille. These was because a Spanish surviving castaway that arrived to these coasts and formed a family and after the arrive of Cortez serve him as translator.
@@jasonscottjenkins yes, indeed. They talk about the guy but I meant the moment when they talked to the mayas and they knew the name of Castille which is preatty shocking and unespected.
In fact, there were two of them. Gerónimo de Aguilar who never had a family and joined Cortez, and Gonzalo Guerrero who was, already, a cacique, had a family and didn't join Cortez. Guerrero would lead the Mayan resistance against the Spaniards later on.
In Mexico many see Doña Marina or Malinche as a kind of villain who sold her people (the natives) by aiding the Spaniards. The girl had been sold as a slave by her family and later gifted as a trophy to a Mayan chief; her aiding the side who treated her as someone useful and decent by comparison makes perfect sense. Latin American historiography often portrays the native cause as good and noble, even though most countries are composed in varying degrees by creole, mixed race and aboriginal population, and that most of us descend both from conqueror and conquered. A biased narrative that downplays that inter-native politics (and in this case, bloody Aztec tyranny which had caused vast resentment) had as much to do with the downfall of the native empires as gunpowder, horses, tactics and smallpox.
This rethoric of natives good and europeans bad is present across all Latin America, which I assume comes from leftist academia. America natives and europeans were the same, it just happens the europeans were hundreds of years ahead. The same way the europeans invaded, fought wars and stole stuff, the rival native tribes did the same to each other. At least under european rule, society developed and no more human sacrifices or canibalism lol
Don’t forget the large numbers of Afro Hispanics too . Descendants of African slaves . Especially in Brazil , Columbia , Cuba , Dominican and Haiti . Large numbers of of Lebanese and Asians too immigrated to South America .
Are you really crying about it? The Europeans were in reality the true savages. Despite Spanish propaganda to further their endless thirst for gold the truth still remains, not known to all but slowly becoming more well known. Of course European allies are treated as traitors, they literally helped enslave an entire people. The descendants of those that help eventually also were seen as the rest of the conquered people. By any metric they are correct to see them negatively. And while most Mexicans are mix of both people Mexicans mainly identify with their native side/culture. This is a fact and reality, no matter how much you wish it to be otherwise it is not.
@@JamesPeach Look mate, I don't really care, as there's not much we can do about it now, but there's almost no story in reality of good vs. evil. Things are more complex and even though one side or the other can be sometimes generally in the right about some particular, lacking nuance is a characteristic of either fanatics or people with lower mental faculties, and there's no point on further engaging in conversations with either of those.
@@lpcanilla92 Now now, don't be a co ward. Don't throw the rock and run away now. La Malinche has become a national symbol for the representation of a traitor. Historically, we can say she suffered sure, but that does not absolve her for her role in the geno cide of an entire continent. She might be a nuance historical character for those that benefited from her actions but not for all those that died thanks to her.
Thank you so much for covering this! It doesn't matter where in the US you live, the history of our neighbors tends to be greatly dumbed down. It's nice to know that there was more nuance than: Cortez came in, smallpox happened, all the Aztecs are dead.
Granted illness such as smallpox, was the one of the main reasons why the the native people almost died out in South America. Argentina is a good example of that.
@@randomanon8631 of course, easier to kill off and neutralize hence why a lot of Argentinas are very light skinned compared to other South American countries.
@@Waynebruce234 oh, that, and maybe also the fact Argentina received unstoppable waves of European immigration, 1860-1930, over 7 million More European immigration than ANY other country, bar the U.S., with 22 million during the same period. No other nation, not Canada or Australia, received as many European immigrants. Argentina’s neighbor, Uruguay, is similarly populated by 19th and early 20th century European immigration. Southern Brazil also received massive European immigration. The River Plate and Brazilian southern states have a history completely unlike the rest of Latin America.
9:50 the absolute balls to walk into someone's city of 300k with a couple hundred of your own men and just go "I'm in charge, go to your room" is almost unbelievable.
@brandonsheets1883 if stated alone. Sure. But there isn't a nation on earth that has a right to exist. So yes. Might makes right here and I dont feel bad for the aztecs because they were horrible. Human rights exist. Not country rights.
@@Byronthebull And by imposing themselves onto Native lands completely unprovoked, they are violating human rights. If this had occurred today, the parties involved would be considered war criminals. An attack on a nation constitutes an attack on the people of that nation. Their actions alone resulted in the deaths of 4 percent of the global population at the time.
@@Byronthebull Human rights exist, not country rights. However, considering historical events such as the bombing of Japan, the Crusades, Romans persecuting Christians with lion feeding, British colonialism resulting in the deaths of millions of Indians, and the Holocaust in Germany, etc. we can see that human rights violations have occurred repeatedly. Should we not then acknowledge that the Aztec people, despite their empire's actions, also had human rights that were violated by the Spanish conquistadors? It's important to recognize the complexity of history and that all human beings deserve consideration of their rights, regardless of their nation's actions.
The irony is Cortez’s antics would lead to him making enemies in the Spanish court, to the point he had to hop onto the king’s chariot from the crowd once to even get a chance to speak with him and wasn’t even recognized. He would die from inflammation of tissue around the heart. Poetic irony considering he said his fellows suffered from a disease to which gold was the cure.
The decision to expand beyond WW2 has been incredible, I'm back to watching every video of this channel again! Some of the comments people are leaving are concerning but that's unfortunately not uncommon when it comes to historical discussion.
Imagine being the leader of one of the three largest empires in America, and some random dude that doesn’t even speak your language puts you under house arrest
Divide and conquer was also done here in the Philippines by the Spanish. Earliest example has to be Magellan offering to help Raja Humabon deal with the latter's rival, Lapu-Lapu did not end well for the explorer.
The confluence of so many factors at the same time still makes the quick amd relatively easy toppling of the Atzec empires by Cortez amd associates one of the most surreal events in history, at least for me.
The Spanish didn't conquer the Aztecs. It was the Aztecs that defeated the Aztecs. Ruling with an iron fist (due to religious reasons) and surrounded by rival tribes fueled the downfall.
A great read is "The conquest of New Spain" by Bernal Díaz del Castillo, one of the men that were actually there. It reads something like a comic book, but it REALLY happened! For example, just happening to hear about 2 men in the jungle that were Spaniards that spoke the native languages, and one of them packed up his bags and went with Cortes, and then they ran across a girl that could translate. The freaking odds! People talk about Cortes having help from the local neighbors and bringing diseases that the locals had no resistance from, which are both true and VERY valid statements. But also, one thing I don't see mentioned is the gall, determination, and perseverance that the Spaniards had. Those guys just did not give up. Cortes had some massive stones. He had the Aztecs in front of him and a pissed off governor behind him wanting his head. And he still came out on top. You don't get that without being timid.
Yes you totally right, but you forget the most important thing to not paint this carachter or his actions in a better light nowadays. He is from the wrong country.
I would like to see more Spanish conquest videos. Being Hispanic myself, I don't have much knowledge of my people. And I did quite enjoy this video. Thank you.
If you speak Spanish i recommend the channels Pax Hispanica and Brigada Antifraude, they talk a lot about Hispanic history and hispanic geopolitics if you only speak English also Hispanidad translations is a good channel
What does "being Hispanic" even mean? If you were born in the US then that's your peopl. I guarantee you have more in common with any white guy from the deep South than with any person from Latin America. Sincerely, a Latin American.
Also, another Spanish channel that explains all this histories and many more is "Pero eso es otra historia". Recently he made a series about the Conquest of the New World and the life and independence of the Spanish Virreinatos.
It's surprising to hear mention of Pedro De Alvarado as a side character in this history. Keep in mind, he would later go on to fight the Mayans in the Yucatan and Central America.
i know you mostly do under 20mins sum-ups, yet i MUST shout out to DJ PEACH COBBLER's channel for describing the 'Fall of Aztecs' the BEST way on whole pf youtube
My sister used to have this great 70s graphic novels from Mexico 🇲🇽 about the Aztecs and Mayans , it was like mythical stories 😮😢 but it was good reading and viewing 😮😢
I was literally just learning about this in class! I was thinking… how crazy would it be if the Armchair Historian made a video about this… they didn’t go into enough detail on the battles and how he actually managed to do that… I mean, that kind of battle would be INSANE to see… AND HERE IT IS!
Another great video and one I been so intrigued to see you branch out to talk about the Spanish Conquest of the New World and the creation of New Spain. So many details I didn't knew before. Also love how great the animation team has done. I hate Cortes, but I got to appreciate that he had the best facial expressions in the video. XD
If you liked this video and speak spanish i urge you to read the wikipedia article. It's insanely huge and provides way more detail. Took me 2 hours and by the end i was like "this is better than game of thrones".
Almost perfect video. Just one detail. The final stand of the Meshica were in Tlatelolco, the twin city/neighborhood a couple of kilometers north from Templo Mayor.
This must be a joke. Look at the crimes against civilization committed by the Spanish and tell me New Spain added anything to the world even resembling civilization. It was constructed on lies about the people of Mesoamerican people and built through their eradication, whether it was through direct violence like forced labor and massacre or through disease. It was an appalling colonial project and a stain on the history of humanity.
400 spaniards and around 200k native allies. Who knew being a lawyer was the best base for conquering meso-america? Either way it shows how awful the aztecs were that the people around them chose foreigners from another land to side with instead of their own “people”.
8:10 in the reasons there is the fact that La Maliche was warned by some local that they were going to attack the Spanish, to make her go with the aztecs, but backfired
It's crazy to think that the Aztec Empire had only been formed just 91 years prior to the arrival of the conquistadors, with the Incan Empire only existing for 95 prior to Spanish contact. Out of all of the time that had spanned prior, neither was able to reach 100 years of existence.
How I understand the massacre at this celebration was because there were rumors that aztecs wants to kill the rest of spaniards and liberate Moctezuma and that festival was only a pretext to execute that plan. At this time Moctezuma was already under "obervation" of the spaniards.
I like this kind of video. It’s pretty much an unbiased description of what happened and in an era of people criticizing history I like that you can learn the history and make your own conclusions.
@@lazerbean8423I say they follow similar paths but DJ Peach Cobblers vid is over all better going into more detail and depth for what actually happened. Including the more mysterious bits of the story. Which naturally happens with a 2+ hour series. But Armchairs historians vid is overall fine.
I actually helped DJ cobbler with his videos. I think he and I did a better job delving into the actual political dynamics on both the Spanish side and especially the Mesoamerican side (particularly if you read the comments I left on each video), wheras ArmchairHistorian's video really skips over a lot of that and incorrectly states that Cortes got allies due to the Aztec being resented and demanding people as tribute (which they generally didn't; the real reason Cortes got allies is the Aztec political system was hands off and that enabled opportunistic side switching as a method of political advancement... again, check out my comments), BUT Armchair Historian's video generally does a better job with authentic visuals: Not that Cobbler didn't use any good images, especially in parts 2 and 3 I supplied him with accurate images, but he also tended to use a lot of historical paintings and some AI generated images which weren't accurate too
I do posts on Mesoamerican history and archeology and consulting on it: It's cool to see you cover this, but I wanted to provide some clarification and corrections. That's not to say the video is bad, there's stuff I want to praise too: The maps shown actually depicts some of the other major non-Aztec states in Mesoamerica; the clothing, architecture, shown is largely authentic, it covers the Tlaxcalteca interests in the Cholula Massacre; and you avoid calling local city-states, kingdoms etc "tribes": Many people don't get those right! But something I feel needs correction is that contrary to the video, the Aztec DIDN'T generally demand sacrificial victims as tribute, nor was resentment towards Aztec rule/it being oppressive the main reason why Cortes got allies: It was opportunism. Tribute (which were really *taxes*, as they had arranged terms, an actual bureaucracy to oversee collection, and some taxes were re-distributed to subjects) were almost entirely economic goods (gold, jade, cacao, incense, textiles, feathers, military supplies etc) or military and labor service. Look at Aztec tax records like the Codex Mendoza or the Paso y Troncoso, and you'll see slaves or captives as taxes were rare: The Mendoza only has a single province, Tochtepec, which had to supply captured soldiers, specifically ones taken from Tlaxcala and co, which enemy states the Aztec were at war with, not subjects they controlled. In other words, Tochtepec was indirectly being made to wage war against Tlaxcala, it wasn'tsupplying it's own people as taxes. In the Paso y Troncoso etc there's other mentions of "captives" (again, can refer to those taken from enemy states, not from the local subject populace) or slaves (which may have been local people) demanded as taxes, but those are listed for only a small fraction of the listed subjects. Of course, sacrifices did 100% happen (tho not all slaves/captives got sacrificed; and per the recent Tzompantli excavations, at scales of 100s-1000s per year, NOT merely within a few days as the video says), but most victims were taken during as a state, town etc was fought and conquered, not as regular tax payments after they submitted. In general, while the Mexica and by extension the "Aztec Empire" were conquerors and a large military power, they did not actually have a hands on imperial political system over the places they conquered: It's not like there were usually governors, or installed kings, or garrisons, or colonies being founded (though those weren't unheard of) nor was there any sort of attempt at instilling a national or cultural identity across the empire: Conquered subjects generally kept their rulers, laws, and customs (and could even have their own subjects or wage war against other Aztec subjects) as long as tax demands were still met, that tax apparatus being the only widespread "imperial" administrative system. It was more a network of independent or quasi-independent states then it was an "empire" in the way most people think of the term. As a result, subject states had their own ambitions and the ability to pursue them: Attempts to secede via stopping payment of taxes, or switching allegiances to that of a different political network/kingdom/empire etc were common (not because the Mexica were nessacarily. resented, but simply to pursue their own interests: keep reading!), the former particularly after the death of an Aztec Emperor, to see what they could get away with but also as a sort of traditional test to force the new emperor to prove their military might, since the threat of being reconquered, moreso then actual administrative control, was one of the things which kept subjects in line. On the other hand, some states benefitted from Aztec rule: Some merely transactionally, such as vassals which joined the empire voluntarily for protection or better trade access; or on a more systemic level, such as the core states which flourished from the tax influx into the valley they shared with Tenochtitlan, and who heavily intermarried with Mexica royalty and had more influence as a result, so it was in their interest for it's military power to be respected and new emperors to be tested just the same. Tlaxcala resented the Mexica, yes, but Tlaxcala was merely ONE of the 7-8+ states which participated in the Siege of Tenochtitlan alongside the Conquistadors, and as I mentioned, WAS NOT an Aztec subject, but an enemy state the Aztec were at war with (on that note, the Flower Wars were as pragmatic as they were ritual, such as to slowly wear it down for full conquest, some researchers even assert it was merely Mexica revisionism to justify their failure to do so! Flower Wars also weren't forced on existing subjects, they were mutually arranged so BOTH cities could collect captives: Everybody did sacrifices). In contrast, Texcoco, Chalco, Xochimilco, Iztapalapa etc, the states which allied with Cortes actually within the Aztec Empire, only joined Cortes AFTER Moctezuma II's death, the massacre of the nobles and elite soldiers during the Toxcatl ceremony, Tenochtitlan being struck by Smallpox, etc... all of which would have undermined Mexica military power, it's ability to collect taxes and project it's political influence, etc. They joined out of opportunism, not resentment, as evidenced the fact they only joined Cortes after all of that: These were all core states whom, again, married Mexica royalty and benefitted from the taxes they brought in. They DEPEDENED on Mexica power and supremacy for their own political influence and economic prosperity, and only jumped ship when Tenochtitlan was vulnerable anyways and wasn't netting them those benefits. Some did have grievances (EX: Ixtlilxochitl II was a prince and claimant to the throne in Texcoco who was passed over in favor of a Mexica backed candidate: it was specifically him and the allies he had which joined Cortes), but overall Cortes got most of his allies not due to the Mexica being resented, but just due to the nature of how it's political system worked. This, and the indirect political systems that encouraged it, were very common in Mesoamerica. In fact, the Aztec Empire was founded in almost the same way: after Azcapotzalco had a succession dispute which destabilized it's political influence, Tenochtitlan, it's subject which gained renown in it's own right, overthrew it, with Tlacopan/Tacuba (which was a city of 10,000-20,000 people, not a village) and Texcoco allying with it to piggyback off it's success: They had little to lose by pleding themselves to Tenochtitlan in a system where you mostly kept your independence as part of another "empire" anyways. Similarly, plenty of states totally unrelated to the Aztec Empire opportunistically used Conquistadors to take out their rivals or capitals, like the Zapotec kingdom of Tehuantepec doing so against the Mixtec kingdom of Tututepec, or the Iximche Maya doing so against the Kiche, etc. By extension, the video is overly Cortes centric: All of these states and specific political figures like Ixtlilxochitl II, Xicotencatl I and II, etc were manipulating Cortes and calling the shots in many cases. The video already notes how the sack of Cholula may have been a Tlaxcalteca plot to put the city back within their political sphere, but say, Xicomecoatl, the king of Cempoala also tricked the conquistadors into raiding their rival city of Tzinpantzinco, I already mentioned Ixtlilxochitl II, etc. There's a lot more examples I could list of different officials playing Conquistadors and their rivals against one another, but i'm almost at the char. limit! The last thing I'll say regarding these political dynamics is with all that said, Moctezuma's actions are far from overcautious and inactive, but rational: Him letting Cortes and the Tlaxcalteca into Tenochtitlan makes sense in this context, as to deny them could be seen as an act of cowardice and undermine Mexica military influence and showing them the city is a flex to court potential allies and subjects by showing them the grandeur of the city (something often done when kings visited for diplomatic visits and religious festivals where sacrifices of captured soldiers would also display military prowess; and children of foreign kings likewise served in Mexica palaces). He even gave princesses as attempted political marriages to various Conquistador captains which were misinterpreted as concubines. Some misc minor nitpicks: Tenochtitan probably didn't have 300,000 denizens: the standard estimate in most academic publications these days is just above 200,000 (still much larger then almost any city in Europe at the time), though some go with a smaller figure of around 50,000 (As large as some of the largest Spanish cities like Seville or Granada). Next, while the visuals are pretty good, there are a few times say Mixtec clothing or designs are used in place of Aztec/Nahua ones, and more significantly, a gold Tumi dagger from Andean civilizations down in South America is shown alongside Mesoamerican goldwork. There are also a few depictions of Moctezuma II which shows him with headdresses, a gold diadem, and tunics rather then the turquoise mosaic diadem and the geometric patterned blue cloak/mantle he actually would have worn. Finally, while the architectural styling of them is good there weren't many (any?) stacked two story residences as shown, and in the thumbnail, Chichen Itza's Temple of Kukulkan is erroneously used. Overall tho, as I said, most of the visuals in the video were good! I hope this comment doesn't come off as too critical: As I said at the start, the video does do many things right, and "The Aztec were hated which led to Cortes getting allies" is a very widespread misconception which even some otherwise reputable sources repeat, so it's inclusion is somewhat understandable, but I still felt it was important to correct.
Damn that's a lot of coping. Aztecs were savages and rightfully taken down. You base all your info on a few Aztec survivors. Because they surely wouldn't have a grudge against the Spanish for kicking their ass lmao.
@@mr.g5309 The Codex Mendoza and Paso y Troncoso are literally Spanish produced documents, especially the latter which doesn't even use Prehispanic scribal conventions. Literally everything I said in my comment comes from Spanish source or actual archeological evidence. Name a specific thing I said you're skeptical of and I'll provide actual sources and citations for it.
Thanks for this long contextual comment! I'm sorry it's now buried far below others, but I really appreciated the greater context and corrections I knew the video lacked. (on the off chance you see and feel like responding to this comment, I'll appreciate any nudge towards some modern English literature on the subject) Gracias!
This is why I am not ashamed of my bloodline, unlike the majority of Mexicans that view themselves as "victims" and that believe "wE wUz aZtEc" or that natives lived in a paradise where no violence, crime and brutality occurred. The country Mexico was built by the Spanish and all their Native allies. All the culture we are so proud of is a product of conquest and colonization. Through the union of Spanish and Native a new race of people was born, one that inherited the best of both worlds. It's time for us Mestizos to quit looking at our origins like it was some kind of tragedy or mistake.
The conquest of America was much better than the appropriation and destruction carried out by the British and French, and I think that Spain cared more about the indigenous people than other European countries.
Not an expert but it seems like France was/is by far the worst. Seems like a lot of former territories of Spain and the uk get along with their former colonizers but France is having difficulties to this day in places like Africa with their former colonies. They sound like they treated their colonies poorly and ran/managed them poorly.
@@okami425 not really here in Mexico , many people hate the Spanish just because of this event, many even hate the etnic groups that joined Cortez during "La conquista",especially the tlaxcaltecans.
In a way the Aztecs ended their own Empire the inept inaction and the fact they had treated their neighbours so abhorrently was the main issue Cortez just set its collapse in motion.
One thing that you didn't mention was the influence of the Aztec's belief system. They believed that the world had ended five times before and that they were next. Coincidently, the year the Spanish arrived was the year they believed the world would end, resulting in the emperor trying to appease who they believed were the bringers of the apocalypse.
“The Rest is History” podcast is in the middle of an eight-part series on this for anybody who wants to know more. This video is a great addition to that.
Thank you for pointing out the significant contributions made by native allies to the success of the expedition. It's baffling how one of the most highly acclaimed books on this topic - "Guns, Germs and Steel" - completely ignore the native contributions and instead attribute the success solely to superior tech and diseases, thus indirectly spreading the notion of European superiority.
Exactly, it‘s a shame that most people discussing the topic nowadays have such a euro-centric view on it, though I suppose that‘s not entirely those people’s fault all the time. People definitely underestimate the amount of luck the Spanish had during their conquest, most of it wasn’t ww2-style “pushing the front”, but rather usurping already established governments and political entities and simply reshaping them. Also, this video is of course oversimplified [covering the full story would take way more than 19 minutes] however it would’ve been useful to mention that the Aztecs weren’t a territorial empire, but a tributary one, collecting taxes from subjugated nations and cities. Conquering Tenochtitlan essentially destroyed the whole empire, because in essence, it was the whole empire.
Basically they gathered the enemies of the empire and with combination of fire arms, diseases never seen before by the aztec people and siege tactics, was the key and the only option to surrender the Tenochtitlan city.
The night was called by the survivors and all subsequent literature "la noche triste". The most literal and best translation is just "sad night". I guess the English writer who translated it as "night of sorrows" wanted it to sound more metal.
Keep the great content coming. I'd love to see a video on the Eureka Stockade, it's a big moment in Australian history. You'll see the Eureka flag flying at construction sites to this day
Precisely, I'm tired of reading these deluded fantasies the iberians were some high IQ ubermensch that did everything on their own, nothing could be farther from the truth.
Your graphics have gotten so cool. While I still respect simple history the evolution of your videos is unbeatable. I hope this is your full time job if you want it to be. You put a lot into this and it shows.
It’s probably worth mentioning that many of the Spanish soldiers were captured and sacrificed on the Pyramid as well. Their heads cut off and placed on pikes to be paraded around by the wealthy Aztec priests. As well as having there limbs dismembered and cannibalized by the cheering crowd once their bodies were tossed down the pyramid.
Conquestados vs Mayans are like modern mechanized infantry vs musket armed soldiers. Obsidian swords and arrows can't do much to plate armored men with cannon and horses.
Except that Conquistadors didn’t used a lot of guns. They used mostly crossbows and swords, and fully metal armors would be fucking unpractical in Mesoamerica. They used the cotton armor of their fellow Tlaxcaltec allies and later the Chimalli (the wooden shields)
I feel like too much was washed over including the battles, kidnapping of the emperor, and the conversations. This needed to be longer than 20minutes. This video basically sums it up as they came, they saw, they conquered.
Great video. The Aztec empire was conquered by a mix of military innovation, diplomacy and diseases. But much more important than winning the war was "winning the peace". Ethnic intermixing was key and you can see that in Mexico today everything is a mix of local and Spanish cultures. I am Spanish and my girlfriend is Mexican and whenever I visit I feel this is my country too. Viva Mexico.
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As a spaniard I am thankful for you making a video about my country. Are you planning to make a video about the Spanish American War of 1898?
Yoooo
The masacre of the city was not without advise. They said human sacrifice was not alowed and they wanted to do it even with the prohibition so the masacre was a consecuence of having a small garrison with a riot.
Can you please do a updated video of the Swedish empire and it’s involvement in the 30 years war also the great northern war.
P.S. I love your videos and I love that you put so much research and time into those videos
This is why diplomacy is always so important, had Cortez started conflict with the Aztec Empire vassals he would have lost more troops at the beginning just like he would have missed key allies that helped the Spaniards bringing down the tlatoani's reign.
Diplomacy was crucial, it would've been impossible to do what they did alone.
And in the case of moctezuma, aggressiveness is as important
one of the craziest stories in human history honestly. The fact they could achieve this so far away from home, in a place with no supply lines, where diseases are rampant and still accomplish this is insane. There were so many factors against them yet it seemed like destiny.
@@bvyup2112 and only in 2 years too
And then later Cortez would later double-cross those same key allies.
In Mexico, the conquest is not seen as a defeat or victory but rather the birth of a new people. Makes sense given most of us are both descendants of the conqueror and the conquered
That's subjective, I've often heard completely opposite viewpoints from your countrymen.
votante de morena promedio
It's more complicated than that. The end of the conquista saw the beginning of the exploitation, abuse and cultural genocide of the native peoples of Mesoamerica. This ended with the Independence and the creation of the nation state of México, and its current people. Most people would agree that our nation was born during the Independence from Spanish rule, with Hidalgo as its "father", and also understand that our ethnicity and nationality existed in spite of the Spanish, and not thanks to it.
@@VagrantDune es curiosos como los extranjeros hablan de esto, nos toman como sus etnoestados de anglos, literalmente del pueblo del que desciendo vivió subyugado a los Mexicas y fueron los españoles quienes los liberaron y de echo colaboraron mucho con ellos, no se como dices que fueron los españoles quienes empezaron la explotación, literalmente es la noción de los anglos de el paraíso indígena que no tienen ningún fundamente
Cope harder.
Not only did Cortez happen upon a sailor who knew spanish and mayan but he happened upon 1 of only 2 men in the ENTIRE WORLD known to have spoken both languages. The other was Aguilar’s shipmate who decided to stay at the Mayan village where they had lived for the past year or two instead of look for the ship they had heard about from Mayan scouts.
And not only did he find this guy but the slave he was gifted, was apparently one of a few people that could speak Aztec (Nahuatl), Mayan, and Tecpillahtolli (a courtly language used by Aztec nobility).
Cortez was certainly a talented man but he also benefited from some insanely good luck.
Such an insane amount of luck, literally at coast, is where he found these people. Seems that Cortez didn't even need to go far inland.
Imo it was way beyond luck.
Factor in that the Aztecs had a prophecy that white gods would come from the east and conquer them.
This was like manifest destiny for real.
@@RealAmericanStar that is a myth
@@RealAmericanStar the belief was immediately debunked after they made the Spanish bleed and perish the same way a person from the City of Tenochtitlan would. After they made them bleed they knew they were just regular men
@@mischievousjr.9299 that came true
The Aztecs had it coming. They were quick to make enemies with their neighbors, which in turn made it easy for their neighbors to join the Spanish in their conquest
Sounds like america and the west.
You people talk about the fall of the Roman Empire.But in fact the fall of the azteks and incas more closely resembles what the fall of america will look like and the atmosphere that existed in the Aztek empire before the spainish came, is the same as in america, europe today.
Oppressing neighbors and yes human sacrifice.
And now, the Spanish, Europeans and Americans have it coming
The azteks were not the only indigenous people.They were other indigenous that were the victims of the aztecs and/or were peaceful people that never even came contact into contact with the aztecs across modern mexico..The Spaniards also oppressed murdered.R@pe them and enslaved them also , your comment implies all brown indigenous people had it coming.
@@Yanel5795 I guess? I can’t say much about an event that hasn’t happened. But what I can say is having enemies is something someone can take advantage of.
@@Yanel5795no one is getting sacrificed in America nor are their neighbours getting oppressed. wtf are you on? Like seriously. The last war between Canada and America was in 1812. Mexico’s last war with them was in 1846. If a war a century and a half ago is oppressive, then you need a reality check
Edit: also, no, his comment does NOT imply all brown indigenous people had it coming. He specifically stated the Aztec Empire. Learn to read.
@@Yanel5795you're right, this entire video is just Spanish colonialism glorification from the perspective of Cortez, dj peach cobbler made a much better series covering the fall from openly biased men not liars like Cortez, how many comments speak of his luck and skill but he wasn't skilled he just lied about what happened retroactively to make his little influence seem like he was treated as a god. The azteks were a great people with wonderful art and literature, wish we could see and read it but we know what happened to it, all of it
400 Spaniards and a whole lot of locals who didn't much care for the ruling Aztecs. That, plus the devastation both intentional and unintentionally wrought by introduced diseases, is a story played out again and again in the new world conquests. The Inca were also brought down by a small group of Spaniards supported by various local groups who saw an opportunity to bring down their rivals.
Let's face it. Whatever the "story" (Cortez is not exactly a reliable narrator), 400 men would not be able to conquer a healthy, united, empire. Something went down, but Spanish preferred the laughable story of being welcomed as Gods and burned all the other sources extremely thoroughly.
Although I think Griffin is doing a disservice by propagating a few almost certainly false narratives (scuttling ships, treasure room etc). as facts. DJ Peach has a much longer and much more critical video about this.
The Incas had also just gotten out of a civil war and suffered massive losses from diseases brought from europe
@@gundissalinus I was talking about conquests in the new world very broadly, not just the Spanish.
The Spaniards must've been great diplomats/manipulators.
@@TheoHawk316 and mass murderers.
Fun fact, marriage with natives was legalized in Spain in 1514, this is because native were seen subjects of the crown just like the rest of the Spanish, these marriage lead to a massive mixing of races. For context, the USA legalized interracial marriages in the 1960s, more than 400 years later.
Yeah, and that's because the English had a very different view of colonization than the Spanish, or even most other Europeans.
For the Spanish, colonization of the Americas was primarily to exploit its resources and convert the native population to Christianity and somewhat integrate them into Christendom. Don't get it mixed up, the Spanish (and others) treated Indians horribly, but their intentions always involved absorbing these people rather than exterminating them. This meant that marrying converted Indians was rather common, because they were viewed as fellow Christians and subjects of the Spanish crown, if not subjects of a much lower social status than their European counterparts.
The English, by contrast, settled in the New World with the goal (at least in New England) of building a new society separate from that of all others. They viewed Indians and Africans not as people to be integrated into the Christian fold, but (in some cases) as literal agents of Lucifer, whose purpose was to tempt and challenge the English. As such, the English colonists of America believed it was their religious duty to either exterminate or subjugate non-Englishmen in order to "purify" their country. And this is why marrying Indians or Africans was not only considered taboo, but outright illegal, as it was seen as "tainting" their society by introducing "inferior" blood into the mix.
Way too much ofa satinized view on the english, the spanish had a view of empire building like old rome had, wich meant they built their culture and aclimatized where they went, lima , mexico city, and every piece of infraextructure had the objective of replicating spain, everywhere basically.
The spanish hardly treated natives under them bad, or at least, no more bad than they treated tehir own european peasants, reformations laws, and a lot of burocracy was made to stop that. I will put it like this: by the time of indpeendance quechau was spoken by about 60% of the peruvian viceroyalty, half of the mexica inhabitants spoke nahuatl, and most of the armies and officers of spains cotnra revolution, loyalist armies, were natives.
The british colonists adopted a racist, exterminative model when treating with natives, the spanish didn't, it's quite simple really. Mind you, the british did what they did as colonists because they were too weak to replicate what spain did, and were silly enough to think that the spanish actually just went around slaying natives by the 100's with their super technology. Turns out, you can't do that, you will fail, adn your colony will be the size it was with that method, you needed politics, diplomacy, and working with the people of the land.
@@cseijifjaand Americans try to teach us Mexicans that we're oppressed because the Spanish committed "genocide and enslaved" the native populations of Mexico, when really they're just projecting their English ancestors actions onto our ancestors when it's really not that simple lmao.
The casta system plays a role in this .. look it up :)
@@AnimeLover-dh4fm the casta system does not exists, nor is it ever recorded legally nor in informal custom, it's a myth from abd research adn anglos wanting to relate south america and indian "social systems".
Just one small thing about this video. The fact you animated that sponsor, which probably took a long time instead of being lazy is just amazing
You didn’t even need to and they probably wouldn’t even care if you did it
I actually hope the sponsors were impressed by the animation. To them it would show a great collaboration.
You are a fool if you think he did that as charity. Grow up
@@Lemosa3414 I’m just saying it was cool that he did a animation instead of being lazy
@@HistoricalFanaticsThe sponsor absolutely paid more in order to have the ad animated. It's not about going the extra mile for the sponsor. It's getting paid and delivering what was agreed
The ad was awesome
Also, during the seige was an event where the Spanish tried to make a trebuchet to make up for a lack of seige artillery. Because none of the engineers had made one before (and was about 80 years out of date), when the trebuchet was fired, it shot the stone directly into the air, which then came crashing down on the trebuchet, destroying it
lol yes, i saw that on Dj Peach Cobbler's video about the Fall of Aztecs 👍🏿
Never heard about this . Very interesting, I can only imagine how brutal the siege was.
LMFAO. Trial and error can often be fatal
Didnt now. Funny, and scary hahaha
One of the most brutal sieges in history.
-Infantry vs Infantry on bridges while each side try to demolish/secure a part of the bridge.
-Hundreds of canoes trying to besiege 5 spanish wood ships on the lake NEAR said bridges.
-People being sacrificed on top of temples during the battle with drums beating to encourage/discourage each side.
-Aztecs fighting house by house, throwing javelins and darts from every corner. Spaniards being forced to demolish building after building to advance when their goal was to keep such a marvel of a city intact.
-Spaniards being shocked by their own allies canibalizing enemy prisoners during the night. Situation was so grim durig the siege they could not stop Tlaxcalans and others doing so cause of the risk of them abandoning them due to how had the siege was going.
-Spaniard band was RPG tier. They had female warriors (Maria de Estrada), a necromancer (dont recall the name), their crossbow leader was adicted to prostitutes...
-Spaniards knew that a friend captured on the melee at the bridges, was someone they'd had to see being sacrificed alive on top of temples.
-Aztecs refused any negociation attempt. While spaniards wanted to preserve the city with aztecs as vassals, aztecs chose to fight snd die till the last brick. Literally.
-Aztec resistance was so big the city became nothing but ruins and smoke. Cortez cried once he won since he thought he had ruined his chance with his Monarch (Charles V) of giving him such a wonder intact.
when I read la conquista de Mexico by Hernán Cortez I couldnt believe that book wasnt more famous, its absolutely crazy that he wrote down so much of what happened
Yeah, it was very common for the captains of these expeditions to write extensively about their experiences to facilitate reporting. Christopher Columbus also has several navigation charts that are, to say the least, interesting to read.
Best to take them with a grain of salt
I've heard of the accounts but didn't know it had been collected into a book, I'm looking up an English translation now. Primary sources like this are incredible, even if it's probably a biased source.
@@willfakaroni5808 its basically what we saw in the video with more details and soul
Hernán Cortés as other conquistadors were educated in the University. Most of them knew latin and had a degree in laws. So it's not extrange
Really loving the more varied content of late! Not that I don't love your content dealing with modern military history; I just love seeing your high quality approach being applied more liberally to eras and events that are more peripheral to your more commonly covered subjects. Thank you🙏
It's great to see more non-world war 2 videos
yeah its real nice to see more early modern stuff cause the era is pretty underrated
a time when swords and guns were equally valid weapons on the battlefield is a pretty metal time to be alive
This whole event is one of the most amazing stories in history. How has this not been made into like an epic 10-part tv show, with a huge budget and a team of knowledgeable writers behind. It's not like theres a lack of source material
Two words:
-It's Spain
For some people just because it's Spanish history, they won't even talk about it, and if they could it would be deleted from existence
And if they did a show or film about this, the spaniards would be the bad guys, monsters that annihilated every native they found
@@tanker102
Because that's actually the truth....lmao.
The Spanish literally only wanted gold and killed natives brutally to obtain it.
Nobody in Hollywood wants to remind the population of what Europeans did to the natives of the land. It's history that is kept hush hush. Only spoken about when absolutely needed.
True. They would flip it upside down..
Spain had massive beef with the Britsh, which in turn was inherited by Americans
You seem to underrate the level of hatred english and dutch people have for Spain as a nation.
Love the culturally localized animation style. You should do it more often when explaining past civilizations
Too bad the narrator can't pronounce "Tenochtitlan" to save his life
@@davidcarpenter494 I'd like to see you pronounce it
@@phoenixrider4622Teh-no-cheat-lawn. Not that hard, sport.
@@davidcarpenter494 whyte people suck at pronouncing anything non English lol
It's crazy how the conquistadors managed to still go proceed to conquer, knowing they were fewer in number, were marching into unknown territory, and knew if they got captured they would be used as human sacrifices. That's badassary in it's own respect.
Because it wasnt just conquistadors.
Cortes allied himself with other groups and as a result had an army of 100,000 indigenous.
@@superburrito9797 Its still crazy to do what they did with so few of them not knowing how things would turn out and take on an Empire. It took European balls to bring the Aztecs to heel.
@@PentaRaus
europeans have no claim to the success of the conquistadors serving under the Flag of Castille.
The conquistadors werent also just spaniards. Cortes had brought moors, africans, and other people from around the Meditarranean. Indigenous people were also conquistadors.
The conquistadors never returned to europe they settled and stayed in the Americas.
Being european had nothing to do with it.
Cortes took a gamble in order to not be punished by the crown, as he was wanted in Cuba.
It was at the beginning. They fought a bloody battle against the tlaxcalans before they became allies and inflicted severe losses on them despite being hopelessly outnumbered
@@superburrito9797that big army only came after the Spanish won their respect by defeating the tlaxcalans in battle they were also Outnumbered 10to1 at the battle of Otumba before having a big army
Cortes was a genius. I feel like the "Guns, Germs, and Steel" argument really takes away from Cortes' military and diplomatic skills, and completely overlooks the almost divine stroke of luck that Cortes had in having Jeronimo de Aguilar and La Malinche as translators that he was able to utilize to gain allies.
He was a criminal desperately fleeing the law even if that meant killing and raping thousands. He was no genius; divide and conquer is the oldest trick in the book.
It also takes away from the geopolitical atmosphere of the land that facilitated the alliances that the conquistadors were able to forge with the native peoples.
Yes, indeed hernan cortes was a clever guy the dude saw the opportunity a took it, doing a lot of massacre but it was war anyway
@@luisricardonavarretecadena6587, I always thought it was hilarious how Cortes was basically a scrawny Spanish aristocrat who went to the New World to make it big by himself (and by that, I mean become an American landowner owning tons of slaves), and then decided to basically take over one of the most powerful nations in Mesoamerica and make it his own petty kingdom. That dude was wild.
@@occam7382 so true man
The most incredible conquest in human history. Such a detailed story, and you managed to fit all the important bits in less than 20 minutes. Awesome content.
Most incredible? A technologically superior nation trouncing another nation whose tributaries are extremely disloyal? It’s definitely not the most incredible in human history.
@@somehistorynerd Then what is more incredible in your opinion? Also, proof read your reply before posting. That second sentence was rough.
It is indeed phenomenal the events that transpired, Amazon prime's Hernan did a great job conveying the story. However I believe the downfall of the Inca are even richer, especially if you include Manco Inca's rebellion.
I feel like too much was washed over including the battles and kidnapping of the emperor. This needed to be longer than 20minutes. This video basically sums it up as they came, they saw, they conquered. There are better videos of this on youtube.
@@bagel3703 Charlemagne's Conquest, Norman Conquest of England, Mongol conquest of China, the Conquest of the Inca Empire, Conquests of Justinian, Mexican-American War, among many others. All of these conquests were done quickly against a very strong nation. Even the Incan conquest was a more impressive conquest due to the fact that the Inca Empire was more powerful than the Aztec Empire. The conquest of the Aztecs was as stated before, a technologically superior enemy taking advantage of an unstable empire who's vassals were rebellious.
The bit about Cholula is missing some context. According to the Spanish, La Malinche was sent to the female quarters after the Spanish had been invited into the city. There she overheard some of the women talking about how the Cholulans were setting up an ambush for the Spanish, so she informed them of the danger. The Spanish then prevented the ambush and wanted to stop the fighting after a certain point but their native allies continued on, slaughtering the population. I'm not saying this is what happened, but that's from the Spanish perspective from one of the soldiers that was there, Bernal Diaz Del Castillo. The other narratives for the battle came from Diego Muñoz Camargo who was a historian born shortly after Del Castillo's book was published. He sent people out to the various villages so they could record the histories of their people, which is why you can get the perspective from the Spanish, the Tlaxcaltecas, and the Cholulans.
Cholula is a great spicy 🥵 sauce 😮😢goes well with eggs
It surprising that you missed the episode when Cortez arrived to the Mayan coast and find out that the inhabitants, besides not understanding each other's language they knew the name of Castille. These was because a Spanish surviving castaway that arrived to these coasts and formed a family and after the arrive of Cortez serve him as translator.
He talked about it.
@@jasonscottjenkins yes, indeed. They talk about the guy but I meant the moment when they talked to the mayas and they knew the name of Castille which is preatty shocking and unespected.
In fact, there were two of them. Gerónimo de Aguilar who never had a family and joined Cortez, and Gonzalo Guerrero who was, already, a cacique, had a family and didn't join Cortez. Guerrero would lead the Mayan resistance against the Spaniards later on.
A detail like that would have taken another week of animation, scripting, editing, etc
Leaving out the fact those Mayans had cannabilized the crew mates, leaving just those two survivors.
In Mexico many see Doña Marina or Malinche as a kind of villain who sold her people (the natives) by aiding the Spaniards. The girl had been sold as a slave by her family and later gifted as a trophy to a Mayan chief; her aiding the side who treated her as someone useful and decent by comparison makes perfect sense. Latin American historiography often portrays the native cause as good and noble, even though most countries are composed in varying degrees by creole, mixed race and aboriginal population, and that most of us descend both from conqueror and conquered. A biased narrative that downplays that inter-native politics (and in this case, bloody Aztec tyranny which had caused vast resentment) had as much to do with the downfall of the native empires as gunpowder, horses, tactics and smallpox.
This rethoric of natives good and europeans bad is present across all Latin America, which I assume comes from leftist academia. America natives and europeans were the same, it just happens the europeans were hundreds of years ahead. The same way the europeans invaded, fought wars and stole stuff, the rival native tribes did the same to each other. At least under european rule, society developed and no more human sacrifices or canibalism lol
Don’t forget the large numbers of Afro Hispanics too . Descendants of African slaves .
Especially in Brazil , Columbia , Cuba , Dominican and Haiti .
Large numbers of of Lebanese and Asians too immigrated to South America .
Are you really crying about it? The Europeans were in reality the true savages. Despite Spanish propaganda to further their endless thirst for gold the truth still remains, not known to all but slowly becoming more well known. Of course European allies are treated as traitors, they literally helped enslave an entire people. The descendants of those that help eventually also were seen as the rest of the conquered people. By any metric they are correct to see them negatively.
And while most Mexicans are mix of both people Mexicans mainly identify with their native side/culture.
This is a fact and reality, no matter how much you wish it to be otherwise it is not.
@@JamesPeach Look mate, I don't really care, as there's not much we can do about it now, but there's almost no story in reality of good vs. evil. Things are more complex and even though one side or the other can be sometimes generally in the right about some particular, lacking nuance is a characteristic of either fanatics or people with lower mental faculties, and there's no point on further engaging in conversations with either of those.
@@lpcanilla92
Now now, don't be a co ward. Don't throw the rock and run away now.
La Malinche has become a national symbol for the representation of a traitor. Historically, we can say she suffered sure, but that does not absolve her for her role in the geno cide of an entire continent. She might be a nuance historical character for those that benefited from her actions but not for all those that died thanks to her.
Thank you so much for covering this! It doesn't matter where in the US you live, the history of our neighbors tends to be greatly dumbed down. It's nice to know that there was more nuance than: Cortez came in, smallpox happened, all the Aztecs are dead.
Granted illness such as smallpox, was the one of the main reasons why the the native people almost died out in South America. Argentina is a good example of that.
Yeah seriously if you want a more in depth look into MesoAmerican history you have to take a college course.
@@Waynebruce234 not to mention Argentina was never a densely populated by natives
@@randomanon8631 of course, easier to kill off and neutralize hence why a lot of Argentinas are very light skinned compared to other South American countries.
@@Waynebruce234 oh, that, and maybe also the fact Argentina received unstoppable waves of European immigration, 1860-1930, over 7 million
More European immigration than ANY other country, bar the U.S., with 22 million during the same period. No other nation, not Canada or Australia, received as many European immigrants.
Argentina’s neighbor, Uruguay, is similarly populated by 19th and early 20th century European immigration. Southern Brazil also received massive European immigration.
The River Plate and Brazilian southern states have a history completely unlike the rest of Latin America.
Thanks for the aztec empire video! You guys are the best youtube historians.
Aztecs: *winning the war against the spaniards*
Smallpox: allow us to introduce ourselves!
In reality it was salmonella
no more blood for the blood god!
@@keikun145then became blood for Gold
Can we take a moment to appreciate how great the animation looks
9:50 the absolute balls to walk into someone's city of 300k with a couple hundred of your own men and just go "I'm in charge, go to your room" is almost unbelievable.
kinda funny tbh
@@Juve_Fan2601oh!
I will never feel bad for the Aztec. They were an empire and got out empired. That's all
same could be said of many nations
So you’re saying that might makes right? You could justify anything with that sentiment.
@brandonsheets1883 if stated alone. Sure. But there isn't a nation on earth that has a right to exist. So yes. Might makes right here and I dont feel bad for the aztecs because they were horrible. Human rights exist. Not country rights.
@@Byronthebull And by imposing themselves onto Native lands completely unprovoked, they are violating human rights. If this had occurred today, the parties involved would be considered war criminals. An attack on a nation constitutes an attack on the people of that nation. Their actions alone resulted in the deaths of 4 percent of the global population at the time.
@@Byronthebull Human rights exist, not country rights. However, considering historical events such as the bombing of Japan, the Crusades, Romans persecuting Christians with lion feeding, British colonialism resulting in the deaths of millions of Indians, and the Holocaust in Germany, etc. we can see that human rights violations have occurred repeatedly. Should we not then acknowledge that the Aztec people, despite their empire's actions, also had human rights that were violated by the Spanish conquistadors? It's important to recognize the complexity of history and that all human beings deserve consideration of their rights, regardless of their nation's actions.
The irony is Cortez’s antics would lead to him making enemies in the Spanish court, to the point he had to hop onto the king’s chariot from the crowd once to even get a chance to speak with him and wasn’t even recognized.
He would die from inflammation of tissue around the heart. Poetic irony considering he said his fellows suffered from a disease to which gold was the cure.
He died poor
“Le traje a su dominio más provincias de las que ha heredado”
The decision to expand beyond WW2 has been incredible, I'm back to watching every video of this channel again! Some of the comments people are leaving are concerning but that's unfortunately not uncommon when it comes to historical discussion.
Speaking of Spain, can you discuss Spain's occupation of the Philippines? Thanks a lot in advance.
I think the Philippine occupation is a little more interesting than Mexico's. 🙃
Or the American Empire's occupation of the Philippines
yes they might do that if that's interesting in the future.
My mum is phillipino. She speaks highly of the Spanish.
@@jboydayz it's Filipino and there's an autocorrector
Imagine being the leader of one of the three largest empires in America, and some random dude that doesn’t even speak your language puts you under house arrest
Tbf they weren't armed
Yeah, it kinda doesn't make any sense.
Divide and conquer was also done here in the Philippines by the Spanish. Earliest example has to be Magellan offering to help Raja Humabon deal with the latter's rival, Lapu-Lapu did not end well for the explorer.
Magellan lost his life in the Philippines 🇵🇭 for taking them lightly and not sticking to the object of his trip 😮😢
The confluence of so many factors at the same time still makes the quick amd relatively easy toppling of the Atzec empires by Cortez amd associates one of the most surreal events in history, at least for me.
The Spanish didn't conquer the Aztecs. It was the Aztecs that defeated the Aztecs. Ruling with an iron fist (due to religious reasons) and surrounded by rival tribes fueled the downfall.
If the Puritans didn't get banished to the new world, this is what would've happened to them in Britain and Holland.
A great read is "The conquest of New Spain" by Bernal Díaz del Castillo, one of the men that were actually there. It reads something like a comic book, but it REALLY happened!
For example, just happening to hear about 2 men in the jungle that were Spaniards that spoke the native languages, and one of them packed up his bags and went with Cortes, and then they ran across a girl that could translate. The freaking odds!
People talk about Cortes having help from the local neighbors and bringing diseases that the locals had no resistance from, which are both true and VERY valid statements. But also, one thing I don't see mentioned is the gall, determination, and perseverance that the Spaniards had. Those guys just did not give up.
Cortes had some massive stones. He had the Aztecs in front of him and a pissed off governor behind him wanting his head. And he still came out on top. You don't get that without being timid.
I heard all of it wasn't true, but i might be wrong, also Díaz might have exaggerated a bit.
Yes you totally right, but you forget the most important thing to not paint this carachter or his actions in a better light nowadays. He is from the wrong country.
This is probably one of the best videos you have ever made. Keep up the good work!
I love this type of content. It really fills in the gaps from history class and I appreciate how it covers my heritage.
Beautiful high quality video, well done guys!
The Formation of Austria and its rise to power would be a good video idea.
I would like to see more Spanish conquest videos. Being Hispanic myself, I don't have much knowledge of my people. And I did quite enjoy this video. Thank you.
@@gundissalinus tremendo canal, justo esta cerrando el tema de los virreinatos
@@gundissalinus gracias
If you speak Spanish i recommend the channels Pax Hispanica and Brigada Antifraude, they talk a lot about Hispanic history and hispanic geopolitics if you only speak English also Hispanidad translations is a good channel
What does "being Hispanic" even mean? If you were born in the US then that's your peopl. I guarantee you have more in common with any white guy from the deep South than with any person from Latin America. Sincerely, a Latin American.
Also, another Spanish channel that explains all this histories and many more is "Pero eso es otra historia". Recently he made a series about the Conquest of the New World and the life and independence of the Spanish Virreinatos.
Alfredo: "Stop the human sacrifices".
Aztecs: "Oh no, it's the alt-right..."
What did he mean by this
@@BPDemonsI don't get it either
Also the Spaniards: *burning people alive suspected of “witchcraft”*
It's surprising to hear mention of Pedro De Alvarado as a side character in this history. Keep in mind, he would later go on to fight the Mayans in the Yucatan and Central America.
My fav conquistador cabeza de vaca 😮😢, cow head 😮😢
In reality he was no side character
@@ander__h8446 I know. I grew up in Guatemala.
Never would expected this video. So well done and I love it.
Thanks for Sharing this history chapter of Mexico.
i know you mostly do under 20mins sum-ups, yet i MUST shout out to DJ PEACH COBBLER's channel for describing the 'Fall of Aztecs' the BEST way on whole pf youtube
I remember learning about the Aztecs in middle school, so names like Tenochtitlan and Moctezuma rang a bell in my mind
My sister used to have this great 70s graphic novels from Mexico 🇲🇽 about the Aztecs and Mayans , it was like mythical stories 😮😢 but it was good reading and viewing 😮😢
I was literally just learning about this in class! I was thinking… how crazy would it be if the Armchair Historian made a video about this… they didn’t go into enough detail on the battles and how he actually managed to do that… I mean, that kind of battle would be INSANE to see…
AND HERE IT IS!
Another great video and one I been so intrigued to see you branch out to talk about the Spanish Conquest of the New World and the creation of New Spain. So many details I didn't knew before. Also love how great the animation team has done. I hate Cortes, but I got to appreciate that he had the best facial expressions in the video. XD
@bvillafuerte765Cortés hizo en el Anáhuac lo que César en la Galia
I would love to see a "Cortez" movie. This whole conflict has such great movie potential.
As long as Ridley Scott doesn't make it! 😅
If you liked this video and speak spanish i urge you to read the wikipedia article. It's insanely huge and provides way more detail. Took me 2 hours and by the end i was like "this is better than game of thrones".
The one about the Inca conquest is more interesting, I would like to see a historically correct series of conquests.
That was an awesome video. Love the ones focusing on history that’s a little older!
Almost perfect video. Just one detail. The final stand of the Meshica were in Tlatelolco, the twin city/neighborhood a couple of kilometers north from Templo Mayor.
An empire fell, but from its remains was born an even greater civilisation. The viceroyalty of New Spain.
and even greater still the independence of all the nations that comprised it
This must be a joke. Look at the crimes against civilization committed by the Spanish and tell me New Spain added anything to the world even resembling civilization. It was constructed on lies about the people of Mesoamerican people and built through their eradication, whether it was through direct violence like forced labor and massacre or through disease. It was an appalling colonial project and a stain on the history of humanity.
@@tdallin1750There were no nations that comprised it. There was Spain, and nothing more.
@@fearthemasked another case of conflating "state" and "nation". stay in school
@@tdallin1750 Still no nations buddy. Spain was no Britain.
400 spaniards and around 200k native allies. Who knew being a lawyer was the best base for conquering meso-america? Either way it shows how awful the aztecs were that the people around them chose foreigners from another land to side with instead of their own “people”.
8:10 in the reasons there is the fact that La Maliche was warned by some local that they were going to attack the Spanish, to make her go with the aztecs, but backfired
It's crazy to think that the Aztec Empire had only been formed just 91 years prior to the arrival of the conquistadors, with the Incan Empire only existing for 95 prior to Spanish contact. Out of all of the time that had spanned prior, neither was able to reach 100 years of existence.
Yeah it's kinda sad they didn't get to reach their potential, maybe a golden age could've/would've happened had they not gotten conquered/found
1325 - 1521?
@@deltachimaera The Aztec Empire was founded in 1428 from a collection of city-states and continued until 1521.
How I understand the massacre at this celebration was because there were rumors that aztecs wants to kill the rest of spaniards and liberate Moctezuma and that festival was only a pretext to execute that plan. At this time Moctezuma was already under "obervation" of the spaniards.
I like this kind of video. It’s pretty much an unbiased description of what happened and in an era of people criticizing history I like that you can learn the history and make your own conclusions.
Obligatory, "No this video is biased and innacurate" without me saying what the bias or innacuracy is comment.
Your channel is a jewel. Outstanding content of an outstanding quality. You make people fall in love with history and its beauty.
Thanks!
Chad Spaniard:"Sorry but the human sacrifice will stop"
Virgin Aztec: Oh yeah. How are you going to make us stop?
Chad Spaniard: By killing all pagans in the name of Jesus Christ.
Europeans did a lot of human sacrifices too.
@@dodododododododo8216 sure before rome and christianity, the same thing happened to us bud just a couple thousand years before
Also Spaniards: *burning people alive for suspected “witchcraft”*
@@manfredganmor search witch hunting. It was done by churches too
Been wishing for this for a while, but never thought it would happen. If only it were longer, but an amazing video overall.
Perfect timing! I just finished watching DJ Peach Cobbler’s series on the fall of the Aztec Empire, and was yearning to learn more.
Did both there info match up?
Also, try History Scope's approach. It's more infographics style and was very informative.
@@lazerbean8423I say they follow similar paths but DJ Peach Cobblers vid is over all better going into more detail and depth for what actually happened. Including the more mysterious bits of the story. Which naturally happens with a 2+ hour series. But Armchairs historians vid is overall fine.
I actually helped DJ cobbler with his videos. I think he and I did a better job delving into the actual political dynamics on both the Spanish side and especially the Mesoamerican side (particularly if you read the comments I left on each video), wheras ArmchairHistorian's video really skips over a lot of that and incorrectly states that Cortes got allies due to the Aztec being resented and demanding people as tribute (which they generally didn't; the real reason Cortes got allies is the Aztec political system was hands off and that enabled opportunistic side switching as a method of political advancement... again, check out my comments), BUT Armchair Historian's video generally does a better job with authentic visuals: Not that Cobbler didn't use any good images, especially in parts 2 and 3 I supplied him with accurate images, but he also tended to use a lot of historical paintings and some AI generated images which weren't accurate too
You should make a video about the Roman conquest of the Iberian peninsula it would be very cool
Really liking more non ww2 videos! Good stuff man, keep them coming!
I do posts on Mesoamerican history and archeology and consulting on it: It's cool to see you cover this, but I wanted to provide some clarification and corrections. That's not to say the video is bad, there's stuff I want to praise too: The maps shown actually depicts some of the other major non-Aztec states in Mesoamerica; the clothing, architecture, shown is largely authentic, it covers the Tlaxcalteca interests in the Cholula Massacre; and you avoid calling local city-states, kingdoms etc "tribes": Many people don't get those right! But something I feel needs correction is that contrary to the video, the Aztec DIDN'T generally demand sacrificial victims as tribute, nor was resentment towards Aztec rule/it being oppressive the main reason why Cortes got allies: It was opportunism.
Tribute (which were really *taxes*, as they had arranged terms, an actual bureaucracy to oversee collection, and some taxes were re-distributed to subjects) were almost entirely economic goods (gold, jade, cacao, incense, textiles, feathers, military supplies etc) or military and labor service. Look at Aztec tax records like the Codex Mendoza or the Paso y Troncoso, and you'll see slaves or captives as taxes were rare: The Mendoza only has a single province, Tochtepec, which had to supply captured soldiers, specifically ones taken from Tlaxcala and co, which enemy states the Aztec were at war with, not subjects they controlled. In other words, Tochtepec was indirectly being made to wage war against Tlaxcala, it wasn'tsupplying it's own people as taxes. In the Paso y Troncoso etc there's other mentions of "captives" (again, can refer to those taken from enemy states, not from the local subject populace) or slaves (which may have been local people) demanded as taxes, but those are listed for only a small fraction of the listed subjects.
Of course, sacrifices did 100% happen (tho not all slaves/captives got sacrificed; and per the recent Tzompantli excavations, at scales of 100s-1000s per year, NOT merely within a few days as the video says), but most victims were taken during as a state, town etc was fought and conquered, not as regular tax payments after they submitted.
In general, while the Mexica and by extension the "Aztec Empire" were conquerors and a large military power, they did not actually have a hands on imperial political system over the places they conquered: It's not like there were usually governors, or installed kings, or garrisons, or colonies being founded (though those weren't unheard of) nor was there any sort of attempt at instilling a national or cultural identity across the empire: Conquered subjects generally kept their rulers, laws, and customs (and could even have their own subjects or wage war against other Aztec subjects) as long as tax demands were still met, that tax apparatus being the only widespread "imperial" administrative system. It was more a network of independent or quasi-independent states then it was an "empire" in the way most people think of the term.
As a result, subject states had their own ambitions and the ability to pursue them: Attempts to secede via stopping payment of taxes, or switching allegiances to that of a different political network/kingdom/empire etc were common (not because the Mexica were nessacarily. resented, but simply to pursue their own interests: keep reading!), the former particularly after the death of an Aztec Emperor, to see what they could get away with but also as a sort of traditional test to force the new emperor to prove their military might, since the threat of being reconquered, moreso then actual administrative control, was one of the things which kept subjects in line. On the other hand, some states benefitted from Aztec rule: Some merely transactionally, such as vassals which joined the empire voluntarily for protection or better trade access; or on a more systemic level, such as the core states which flourished from the tax influx into the valley they shared with Tenochtitlan, and who heavily intermarried with Mexica royalty and had more influence as a result, so it was in their interest for it's military power to be respected and new emperors to be tested just the same.
Tlaxcala resented the Mexica, yes, but Tlaxcala was merely ONE of the 7-8+ states which participated in the Siege of Tenochtitlan alongside the Conquistadors, and as I mentioned, WAS NOT an Aztec subject, but an enemy state the Aztec were at war with (on that note, the Flower Wars were as pragmatic as they were ritual, such as to slowly wear it down for full conquest, some researchers even assert it was merely Mexica revisionism to justify their failure to do so! Flower Wars also weren't forced on existing subjects, they were mutually arranged so BOTH cities could collect captives: Everybody did sacrifices). In contrast, Texcoco, Chalco, Xochimilco, Iztapalapa etc, the states which allied with Cortes actually within the Aztec Empire, only joined Cortes AFTER Moctezuma II's death, the massacre of the nobles and elite soldiers during the Toxcatl ceremony, Tenochtitlan being struck by Smallpox, etc... all of which would have undermined Mexica military power, it's ability to collect taxes and project it's political influence, etc.
They joined out of opportunism, not resentment, as evidenced the fact they only joined Cortes after all of that: These were all core states whom, again, married Mexica royalty and benefitted from the taxes they brought in. They DEPEDENED on Mexica power and supremacy for their own political influence and economic prosperity, and only jumped ship when Tenochtitlan was vulnerable anyways and wasn't netting them those benefits. Some did have grievances (EX: Ixtlilxochitl II was a prince and claimant to the throne in Texcoco who was passed over in favor of a Mexica backed candidate: it was specifically him and the allies he had which joined Cortes), but overall Cortes got most of his allies not due to the Mexica being resented, but just due to the nature of how it's political system worked.
This, and the indirect political systems that encouraged it, were very common in Mesoamerica. In fact, the Aztec Empire was founded in almost the same way: after Azcapotzalco had a succession dispute which destabilized it's political influence, Tenochtitlan, it's subject which gained renown in it's own right, overthrew it, with Tlacopan/Tacuba (which was a city of 10,000-20,000 people, not a village) and Texcoco allying with it to piggyback off it's success: They had little to lose by pleding themselves to Tenochtitlan in a system where you mostly kept your independence as part of another "empire" anyways. Similarly, plenty of states totally unrelated to the Aztec Empire opportunistically used Conquistadors to take out their rivals or capitals, like the Zapotec kingdom of Tehuantepec doing so against the Mixtec kingdom of Tututepec, or the Iximche Maya doing so against the Kiche, etc.
By extension, the video is overly Cortes centric: All of these states and specific political figures like Ixtlilxochitl II, Xicotencatl I and II, etc were manipulating Cortes and calling the shots in many cases. The video already notes how the sack of Cholula may have been a Tlaxcalteca plot to put the city back within their political sphere, but say, Xicomecoatl, the king of Cempoala also tricked the conquistadors into raiding their rival city of Tzinpantzinco, I already mentioned Ixtlilxochitl II, etc. There's a lot more examples I could list of different officials playing Conquistadors and their rivals against one another, but i'm almost at the char. limit!
The last thing I'll say regarding these political dynamics is with all that said, Moctezuma's actions are far from overcautious and inactive, but rational: Him letting Cortes and the Tlaxcalteca into Tenochtitlan makes sense in this context, as to deny them could be seen as an act of cowardice and undermine Mexica military influence and showing them the city is a flex to court potential allies and subjects by showing them the grandeur of the city (something often done when kings visited for diplomatic visits and religious festivals where sacrifices of captured soldiers would also display military prowess; and children of foreign kings likewise served in Mexica palaces). He even gave princesses as attempted political marriages to various Conquistador captains which were misinterpreted as concubines.
Some misc minor nitpicks: Tenochtitan probably didn't have 300,000 denizens: the standard estimate in most academic publications these days is just above 200,000 (still much larger then almost any city in Europe at the time), though some go with a smaller figure of around 50,000 (As large as some of the largest Spanish cities like Seville or Granada). Next, while the visuals are pretty good, there are a few times say Mixtec clothing or designs are used in place of Aztec/Nahua ones, and more significantly, a gold Tumi dagger from Andean civilizations down in South America is shown alongside Mesoamerican goldwork. There are also a few depictions of Moctezuma II which shows him with headdresses, a gold diadem, and tunics rather then the turquoise mosaic diadem and the geometric patterned blue cloak/mantle he actually would have worn. Finally, while the architectural styling of them is good there weren't many (any?) stacked two story residences as shown, and in the thumbnail, Chichen Itza's Temple of Kukulkan is erroneously used. Overall tho, as I said, most of the visuals in the video were good!
I hope this comment doesn't come off as too critical: As I said at the start, the video does do many things right, and "The Aztec were hated which led to Cortes getting allies" is a very widespread misconception which even some otherwise reputable sources repeat, so it's inclusion is somewhat understandable, but I still felt it was important to correct.
Damn that's a lot of coping. Aztecs were savages and rightfully taken down. You base all your info on a few Aztec survivors. Because they surely wouldn't have a grudge against the Spanish for kicking their ass lmao.
@@mr.g5309 The Codex Mendoza and Paso y Troncoso are literally Spanish produced documents, especially the latter which doesn't even use Prehispanic scribal conventions. Literally everything I said in my comment comes from Spanish source or actual archeological evidence. Name a specific thing I said you're skeptical of and I'll provide actual sources and citations for it.
Tbh with you for all the things you say you mostly focused in the Aztec side there.
Thanks for this long contextual comment! I'm sorry it's now buried far below others, but I really appreciated the greater context and corrections I knew the video lacked. (on the off chance you see and feel like responding to this comment, I'll appreciate any nudge towards some modern English literature on the subject) Gracias!
@@mr.g5309 Europeans are savages, stay coping
200k of natives plus Cortez’s leadership vs Aztecs is what defeated the Aztecs.
The numbers is what is often overlooked
All those natives just waiting for men with balls to show up and lead them to victory.
its like a story in which everyone is the bad guy
History be like
This is why I am not ashamed of my bloodline, unlike the majority of Mexicans that view themselves as "victims" and that believe "wE wUz aZtEc" or that natives lived in a paradise where no violence, crime and brutality occurred. The country Mexico was built by the Spanish and all their Native allies. All the culture we are so proud of is a product of conquest and colonization. Through the union of Spanish and Native a new race of people was born, one that inherited the best of both worlds. It's time for us Mestizos to quit looking at our origins like it was some kind of tragedy or mistake.
no one does
This was great! Loved seeing a new area of history. Would love more of this and others like maybe ancient China and other parts of Asia.
The conquest of America was much better than the appropriation and destruction carried out by the British and French, and I think that Spain cared more about the indigenous people than other European countries.
That's right!
Not an expert but it seems like France was/is by far the worst. Seems like a lot of former territories of Spain and the uk get along with their former colonizers but France is having difficulties to this day in places like Africa with their former colonies. They sound like they treated their colonies poorly and ran/managed them poorly.
@@okami425 not really here in Mexico , many people hate the Spanish just because of this event, many even hate the etnic groups that joined Cortez during "La conquista",especially the tlaxcaltecans.
Absolute bollocks.
The Spanish were brutal.
The French were worse though.
@@mrfreeman2911 proofs?
2:30 - "Who's that Pokémon?!" 😆
In a way the Aztecs ended their own Empire the inept inaction and the fact they had treated their neighbours so abhorrently was the main issue Cortez just set its collapse in motion.
kiel ĉiam, La Manseĝa Historisto (Armchair Historian) produktas bonegajn filmetojn! Ĉiam amis ĉi tiun kanelon kaj ĉiam amos ĝin!
What language is it?
@@markolysynchuk5264Esperanto
@@markolysynchuk5264 Ĝi estas Esperanto
Me pregunto cómo chota sabes esperanto, gratulon per tio :)
This is an incredibly detailed and intriguing story that I’ve always wanted to know more about. Thanks and well done!
Let’s gooo!!! I’m learning about the Aztecs in class currently. Perfect timing
Love this, great to see less WW2 topics! (Not that I don’t love them) Please keep them coming!
One thing that you didn't mention was the influence of the Aztec's belief system. They believed that the world had ended five times before and that they were next. Coincidently, the year the Spanish arrived was the year they believed the world would end, resulting in the emperor trying to appease who they believed were the bringers of the apocalypse.
*4 times before*
interesting but i think it would lead kinda offtrack, the armchair historian focus on military histry, commander and battles.
This was a Maya belief system, stop intertwining them to fit some weird narrative.
“The Rest is History” podcast is in the middle of an eight-part series on this for anybody who wants to know more. This video is a great addition to that.
I loved the coins from the Pirates of the Caribbean, it was a nice touch!
There's a small statue of a Grey Alien being given as part of the gifts offered to Cortes in 6:20 lmao
Can we just appreciate
Captain General Hernan Cortes of the Vise royalty of New Spain.
Thank you for pointing out the significant contributions made by native allies to the success of the expedition.
It's baffling how one of the most highly acclaimed books on this topic - "Guns, Germs and Steel" - completely ignore the native contributions and instead attribute the success solely to superior tech and diseases, thus indirectly spreading the notion of European superiority.
cope
Exactly, it‘s a shame that most people discussing the topic nowadays have such a euro-centric view on it, though I suppose that‘s not entirely those people’s fault all the time.
People definitely underestimate the amount of luck the Spanish had during their conquest, most of it wasn’t ww2-style “pushing the front”, but rather usurping already established governments and political entities and simply reshaping them.
Also, this video is of course oversimplified [covering the full story would take way more than 19 minutes] however it would’ve been useful to mention that the Aztecs weren’t a territorial empire, but a tributary one, collecting taxes from subjugated nations and cities. Conquering Tenochtitlan essentially destroyed the whole empire, because in essence, it was the whole empire.
Europeans literally had guns. What better technology did the Indians have? Pointy rock on a stick?
As the other guy said, keep coping. You lost.
@@laksio227 What would make the Aztec-centric story better? Look at these people sacrificing other humans and eating them?
Real inspiring stuff. /s
that's why "Guns, Germs and Steel" is bad history and tells bad history.
Basically they gathered the enemies of the empire and with combination of fire arms, diseases never seen before by the aztec people and siege tactics, was the key and the only option to surrender the Tenochtitlan city.
Ya
The night was called by the survivors and all subsequent literature "la noche triste". The most literal and best translation is just "sad night". I guess the English writer who translated it as "night of sorrows" wanted it to sound more metal.
nah just to be poetic
Thank you so much! I had been waiting for this video for so long!!! Thank you thank you!
I will not gonna lie there is nothing can beat your history video channel❤❤❤❤❤😊😊😊
Hi, I love that you are doing the early modern period now. Could you do a video on the English civil war?
This is literally perfect timing because I’m writing a final year dissertation on this, thanks so much!
Keep the great content coming. I'd love to see a video on the Eureka Stockade, it's a big moment in Australian history. You'll see the Eureka flag flying at construction sites to this day
The march of the conquistadors! I am so excited about this video, this was the only stuff I would read about back when I was in highschool.
Correction: how 400 Spaniards and 200,000 native Allies toppled 80,000 Aztecs.
Precisely, I'm tired of reading these deluded fantasies the iberians were some high IQ ubermensch that did everything on their own, nothing could be farther from the truth.
And that is precisely why you recruit allies.
Your comment is irrelevant. Just watch the video.
Copium
copium of what?@@willevensen7130
wish this part of history had more movies on it
This moment of history, when the "new world" were discovered is absolutely incredible for me... i could hear/read and listen about it all day long
Your graphics have gotten so cool. While I still respect simple history the evolution of your videos is unbeatable. I hope this is your full time job if you want it to be. You put a lot into this and it shows.
It’s probably worth mentioning that many of the Spanish soldiers were captured and sacrificed on the Pyramid as well. Their heads cut off and placed on pikes to be paraded around by the wealthy Aztec priests. As well as having there limbs dismembered and cannibalized by the cheering crowd once their bodies were tossed down the pyramid.
There even found the tower of skulls in 2017 that was supposed to be a "myth" in Mexico City. There were even children's skulls in the tzompantli
a very good video in the Armchair Historian style.
Conquestados vs Mayans are like modern mechanized infantry vs musket armed soldiers. Obsidian swords and arrows can't do much to plate armored men with cannon and horses.
Except that Conquistadors didn’t used a lot of guns. They used mostly crossbows and swords, and fully metal armors would be fucking unpractical in Mesoamerica. They used the cotton armor of their fellow Tlaxcaltec allies and later the Chimalli (the wooden shields)
@@deltachimaera evidence?
I feel like too much was washed over including the battles, kidnapping of the emperor, and the conversations. This needed to be longer than 20minutes. This video basically sums it up as they came, they saw, they conquered.
True
I mean honestly it could've been at least half an hour to 2 hours but they might do a video like that for Patron
thank you for this masterpiece of a video
Great video. The Aztec empire was conquered by a mix of military innovation, diplomacy and diseases. But much more important than winning the war was "winning the peace". Ethnic intermixing was key and you can see that in Mexico today everything is a mix of local and Spanish cultures.
I am Spanish and my girlfriend is Mexican and whenever I visit I feel this is my country too. Viva Mexico.
Really hoping for a video about the Royal Navy similar to the Kriegsmarine one