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Aztec vs. Tech- The Power of Advantage and
Wartime Technology
Dylan Campbell
HIST 100, Foundations of Western Civilization
November 6, 2015
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Games, contests, and wars alike are all won as a result of advantage. Advantage is
defined as any state, circumstance, or opportunity that results in one side being in a favorable
position. It is generally believed that one party cannot defeat another in a contest without gaining
some sort of edge over their opponent, otherwise the contest would be rendered null and have no
victor. In the context of the battles between the Spanish conquistadors and the Aztecs, advantage
is easily seen. Despite having the greater number, militaristic history, and understanding of the
land, the Aztec civilization was systematically crushed by the Spanish under the leadership of
Don Hernando Cortes. The question is, how were the Spaniards, despite underwhelming
numbers, able to conquer one of the largest empires in Mesoamerican history?
The case can be made that the battle between the Spaniards and the Aztecs started even
before the Spaniards reached the shores of Central America. Prior to the first encounter between
the two, Motecuhuzoma and his people experienced eight bad omens. Ten whole years before the
Spaniards landed in Middle America, a blazing ear of corn filled the sky, burning through the
entire night and leaving at the breaking of the sun. This was the first bad omen, and caused mass
confusion amongst the people. The next omen to occur was a temple bursting into flames. The
flames swiftly occurred, and it was believed that nobody set the temple asunder. The temple was
called Tlacateccan, and the fire was unable to be put out before it burned to the ground. The third
omen was a temple that was struck by a lightning bolt. This omen was interpreted as such
because there was no thunder to indicate the strike, just rain and clouds. The temple was made of
straw, and was said to be struck down by a blow from the sun. The fourth omen was a stream of
fire that contradicted the sun, divided into three parts. It started in the west, where the sun sets,
and a flash shot to the east, where the sun rises. This flash gave off a shower of sparks. When the
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citizens saw the flash, there was widespread commotion, as if a thousand little bells were
shaking. The fifth omen started in a lake that was adjacent to a settlement; water started to boil
due to an increased wind current, and began to rise and splash against walls of various houses,
boiling them into the ground, almost as if the water were mad with rage. The sixth omen was
much more direct with the people of Mexico; a woman ran through the town crying for her
children in the middle of the night, saying that they needed to leave far from the city. Omen
number seven was in the form of a strange bird, resembling a crane. This crane was captured by
fishermen and brought back to Motecuhzoma. The bird had a mirror in the center of the head,
reflecting a night sky, however it was noon, and Motecuhzoma took a second look into the
mirror. During the second glimpse, he saw people moving very rapidly to make war against
another party. One side rode on the backs of horses, which were completely foreign to the
Aztecs. Interestingly enough, Motecuhzoma was the only one that could see the visions of war;
when he called for his high magicians, the apparition vanished, and the others saw nothing. The
final bad omen was in the form of monsters with two heads and one body, rampaging through the
town. However, when they were brought to Motecuhzoma, they instantly vanished as well.
Ten years after the omens begin to form, Cortes and the Spaniards landed on the coast of
Aztec territory. Knowing of their arrival, Motecuhzoma, the leader of Mexico, sends out
messengers to greet Cortes. At first, the Aztecs saw the Spaniards as gods, and therefore offered
many spoils like food, water, precious gems and garments, as well as laid down any guard they
had for an opposition upon arrival. At this point is where viewpoints are split between the two
sides of this conflict. This arrival, in the Aztec mind, started to battle that would eventually lead
to them being conquered. From the Aztec perspective, Cortes spoke of battling the Mexicans to
the messengers upon their arrival, and fired guns in order to intimidate them. However, in the
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Spaniard perspective, the battles began when they were ambushed by the Indians while trekking
to a nearby settlement. The Indians had far greater numbers than Cortes and his men, however
with advanced fighting techniques and determination, Cortes’ fleet survived and pushed the
Indians back into a retreat.
Capable warfare is a huge advantage to the side of the Spaniards. Cortes and his men had
access to a plethora of technology that was not available to the Indians. Technologies that
include better armor that can take more hits from arrows and spears, horses that serve as a
movement and power advantage so that the Spanish can kill much more swiftly, pursue quickly,
and retreat much more hastily, and advanced weaponry like cannons, which proved to kill much
more quickly and from longer ranges than just a bow. These wartime advancements can be seen
as being in favor of the Spaniards when they meet the Aztecs in close-range combat. Even in the
thick of the woods, where the Aztecs know, as it is their homeland, the Spaniards are able to rely
on their swordplay and advanced battle tactics to push opposition from the Aztecs back, no
matter how great the numbers seemed to be. To go along with their battle skills, the use of horses
is something that worked to the advantage of the Spaniards just by taking the Aztecs by surprise.
At first, the Indians thought that a Spaniard on horseback was one whole warrior, instead of a
human riding an animal. So, when they would kill the horse, they would be stunned to see the
rider continue to fight, despite slaying half of his body. Later in the conquest, the Aztecs learned
differently and started killing the horse first rather than attempting to slay the human on top
straight away. The Spaniards use of cannons also served to their advantage. When the Indians
would fall back to avoid a hand-to-hand situation with swords, they would gather in one area and
rain arrows onto their targets. The Spanish cannon was excellent in breaking up the groups with
one shot, frightening all Indians that heard the blast as well. At first, the Aztecs were not aware
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that the cannonball only goes in a straight line when it is fired. Therefore they would do nothing
that was effective to dodge the cannon shot, however near the end of the conquest, they learned
that they could move out of the way of a straight line to avoid the trajectory of the cannonball.
Lastly, the Spanish armor served as a huge tactical advantage to that of the Indian cloth armor
and minimal protection. The steel armor that the Spanish donned was able to withstand great
amounts of arrows, spears, tackles, basically anything that one may encounter during a battle.
Many of Cortes’ men report withstanding multiple arrow shots while fighting, while their
opponents fell to one swing of their swords. These advancements generated so much advantage
for the Spaniards when it came to direct conquest that it was hard for the Indians to resist even if
there were no factors outside of warfare that made things easier for Cortes’ and his troops.
However, there were in fact multiple things that worked to Cortes’ advantage outside of
technology on the battleground. One of which would be the genius of Cortes’ to use the Indian’s
resources to refresh his men between skirmishes. His conquest stretched over a large area, and it
is impractical to think that Cortes and the Spaniards could destroy all of the Aztecs in one sitting
with no rations or time to tend to wounds. Instead, Cortes took a systematic approach to his
conquest. Defeating villages one at a time and using their resources when the battles were over,
rather than retreating to the ships that were placed in nearby water. This tactic not only allowed
the Spaniards to jump in to battle more rapidly, but it depleted any resources that the Aztecs may
have been able to use to their advantage.
When the Spaniards came into contact with the Aztecs for the first time, their bodies were
used to different things. In Europe, different diseases existed than what was common in Middle
America. Likewise, it is easy to assume that neither the Aztecs nor the Spanish from that area
had any sort of medical advancement or knowledge comparable to what we have today. So,
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when the contaminants and bacteria from the Spaniards fell upon the Aztecs, widespread disease
started to occur within the Mexican settlements. This disease was nothing like an ordinary cough
or sore throat; symptoms included blood gushing from the nose as well as blood vessel damage,
damage to various organs like the stomach and kidneys, and hinders the body’s natural ability to
regulate itself. These symptoms seem to be common with modern epidemics like Ebola. This
was known as a hemorrhagic fever, and it killed many more Aztecs than the Spaniards did on the
battleground. Disease being rampant through Aztec settlements was perhaps the biggest reason
the Spaniards were able to defeat the Mexicans and conquer Middle America. After the
introduction of this sickness, Aztec warriors began to double over in pain, some not willing to
move or they would be subjected to horrible damage, which eliminated much of the opposition to
Cortes. If anything, the fever is what won many late battles in major cities for the Spaniards, due
to many warriors dying before they even got the chance to defend against the conquest. It would
be fair to assume that this is the main reason that the Spaniards were able to defeat the Aztecs.
Despite the Aztecs having greater numbers, a long history of militaristic conquests, and a
better understanding of the territory, they were not able to defeat the Spaniards. Eventually,
Cortes marched on the capital of Mexico and conquered to Aztec people. Cortes and his men
were able to do this because they had numerous significant advantages over their opponents.
These advantages being greater technology, better battle strategies, and of course, widespread
disease that crippled the larger Aztec cities. Along the way, Cortes even converted many Indians
to Christianity and they served as missionaries to spread both Spanish ideals and Spanish
religion, after being baptized by Cortes’ men themselves. At the end of the conquest, only a
burned city remained as the end of the Aztecs fell. Cortes and his men defeated the legendary
warriors with their use of disease, technologies, and wits on the battlefield.
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